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The Passage

Play trailer Poster for The Passage R 1979 1h 39m Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 3 Reviews 39% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
During the Nazi occupation of France, a group of French Resistance leaders is desperate to smuggle professor John Bergson (James Mason) and his family safely out of the country. As their options dwindle, they decide to hire a crusty Basque shepherd (Anthony Quinn) to guide the Bergsons across the treacherous, snowcapped Pyrenees. No sooner do they get started, however, than the Nazis catch wind of their plan and send the sadistic Capt. Von Berkow (Malcolm McDowell) to bring them back.
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The Passage

Critics Reviews

View All (3) Critics Reviews
Matt Brunson Creative Loafing Even an experienced scenery-chewer like Anthony Quinn is no match for Malcolm McDowell, whose smirking, bug-eyed performance singlehandedly places the picture in the realm of camp and foreshadows his even more insane work in the same year's Caligula. Rated: 2/4 Feb 13, 2016 Full Review Chuck O'Leary FulvueDrive-in.com A lurid, exciting World War II chase thriller with Malcolm McDowell chewing the scenery as a sadistic Nazi. Rated: 7/10 Feb 17, 2006 Full Review Shane Burridge rec.arts.movies.reviews Would not nearly be as watchable without McDowell relishing his role as [a] fanatical German officer May 23, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (7) audience reviews
A.L.Jude P Sad It could have been much better. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/10/23 Full Review sista s I want to download this movie Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Cheap movie with some great actors as bait. Not McDowell... he's awful as usual. His "acting" would look ridiculous even in cartoons. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member Controversial and violent film that's really a rather old-fashioned, straightforward adventure with gratuitous lashings of violence. McDowell chews the scenery and pursues the excellent cast across a wild open terrain, but there's not really any pursuing until the last half hour or so, during which he cuts peoples' fingers off, sets them on fire and displays his schwastika-covered jockstrap. His exploits dominate the film, but as a result the rest of the cast seem rather wasted, particularly Mason, who as the centre of the film has very little to do. Watch out for Lee in one of his atypical good-guy roles, also proving he can do accents! Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member Controversial and violent film that's really a rather old-fashioned, straightforward adventure with gratuitous lashings of violence. McDowell chews the scenery and pursues the excellent cast across a wild open terrain, but there's not really any pursuing until the last half hour or so, during which he cuts peoples' fingers off, sets them on fire and displays his schwastika-covered jockstrap. His exploits dominate the film, but as a result the rest of the cast seem rather wasted, particularly Mason, who as the centre of the film has very little to do. Watch out for Lee in one of his atypical good-guy roles, also proving he can do accents! Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member This is the film that was allegedly so controversial that it only played for one week in one theatre in the US and has only been released once on VHS in Europe but never in the States. *SPOILERS* It wasn't half as gruesome as I had expected based on all that hype. Maybe it was the cracktasticness of Malcolm's character that made people so averse to this film? There were plenty of films around in the 70's that depicted the Nazis in a sadistic and sexual manner ? Ilsa She-Wolf of the SS ('74), Salon Kitty ('76), The Night Porter ('74) and a whole bunch of different kinds of Camps ? but not necessarily as big jokesters, which is what Von Berkow is. Sadistic, yes, but in a facetious way. Or maybe it was the snow, like James Mason said? But having to watch people being surrounded by cold, damp snow half of the film isn't enough to give it an R rating, now is it? There are only about three somewhat disturbing scenes and one really sad one, but that's it. A Clockwork Orange ('71) and Caligula ('79) are way worse. Moving on... The Passage doesn't have much of a plot. I don't know whether reading the book first helps at all, as I haven't had the pleasure(?) of doing so. A Basque shepherd is hired by the French Resistance to transport Some Very Important Professor and his family from Toulouse across the Pyrenees to safety before the SS get to them. A bunch of running around, hiding, and interrogating people ensues. And, well, that's about it. If it weren't for Malcolm, this film would hardly be worth a watch. But thanks to his brilliant mind, it's not really all that bad. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Passage

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Movie Info

Synopsis During the Nazi occupation of France, a group of French Resistance leaders is desperate to smuggle professor John Bergson (James Mason) and his family safely out of the country. As their options dwindle, they decide to hire a crusty Basque shepherd (Anthony Quinn) to guide the Bergsons across the treacherous, snowcapped Pyrenees. No sooner do they get started, however, than the Nazis catch wind of their plan and send the sadistic Capt. Von Berkow (Malcolm McDowell) to bring them back.
Director
J. Lee Thompson
Producer
John Quested, Maurice Binder, Lester Goldsmith
Rating
R
Genre
Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
May 2, 2021
Runtime
1h 39m
Sound Mix
Surround
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