The Ritchie Boys

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The Ritchie Boys

2004

1h 36m

Documentary

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

69%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

They may have been run out of Germany, but a group of Jews eventually got their revenge, courtesy of the U.S. military. Indeed, these men became the perfect weapon for Uncle Sam against Hitler, and now many of them reunite to share tales of boot camp, returning to their former homeland turned enemy territory, D-Day and more. While their knowledge of the German landscape and people made them invaluable assets, it's clear that for them that the war was never anything less than personal.

Kenneth Turan

Los Angeles Times

This is a film with a story we have not seen before, a story about American troops so unusual it needed a German director to ferret it out.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 12, 2007

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Elizabeth Weitzman

New York Daily News

Still witty and eloquent, these cerebral boys became the haunted men who do their best to share their experiences with us, even as they know we'll never truly understand.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 13, 2006

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Neil Genzlinger

New York Times

This documentary, named for a military boot camp in Maryland, tells of a group of Jewish immigrants who fled Germany for the United States in the years of the Nazi buildup.

Rated: 3.5/5

Oct 12, 2006

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Jules Brenner

Cinema Signals

No sign of memory loss among these articulate intellectual warriors now in their eighties.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 25, 2007

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Laura Kelly

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Just when you think every chapter in World War II has been covered cinematically, along comes an energetic, uplifting and little-known angle about the good guys.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 20, 2006

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Steve Rhodes

Internet Reviews

Another wonderfully involving story crafted by documentarian Christian Bauer (Missing Allen) ... is filled with great stories, many of them quite funny.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 10, 2005

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Audience Member

"The Ritchie Boys" is a little know compelling story of courage, cunning with brief flashes of humor and pathos. Trained in Camp Ritchie in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Maryland, a group of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany were able to serve our country in a unique and fascinating way. Excellent editing of new and historic footage, coupled with extraordinary storytelling by the Ritchie Boys themselves are the hallmarks of this important documentary which should take its place among the important cinematic records of the Holocaust.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

If your a historian of WW2, you must see this documentary. A fascinating side of the war that I never knew about.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Audience Member

(***): Thumbs Up An interesting documentary.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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Audience Member

This could have been a LOT more informative, but it was so unique that I still happy with it for what I got. One of the funnies parts is how the interrogators capitalized on what they found out was an EXTREME German fear of Russians.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Audience Member

A powerful and fascinating documentary, it tends to be a little slow moving, but the archive footage is outstanding. Moving and very well made.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Christian Bauer

Director

Christian Bauer

Writer

Dagmar Biller

Producer

Donna Zuckerbrot

Producer

Christian Bauer

Executive Producer

Patricia Phillips

Executive Producer

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Synopsis

They may have been run out of Germany, but a group of Jews eventually got their revenge, courtesy of the U.S. military. Indeed, these men became the perfect weapon for Uncle Sam against Hitler, and now many of them reunite to share tales of boot camp, returning to their former homeland turned enemy territory, D-Day and more. While their knowledge of the German landscape and people made them invaluable assets, it's clear that for them that the war was never anything less than personal.

Director: Christian Bauer
Producer: Dagmar Biller, Donna Zuckerbrot
Screenwriter: Christian Bauer
Genre: Documentary
Release Date (DVD): Nov 20, 2007
Runtime: 1h 36m