The Man Who Captured Eichmann

***S{POILERS*** Long suppressed - for security reasons-story about the capture of Nazi war criminal SS man Lt-Col. Adolph Eichmann, Robert Duvall, one of the major ,after his boss Col. Rehinheart "Hangman" Hydrick, architects of the notorious Nazi "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" in Nazi occupied Europe. Having escaped captured for fifteen years Eichmann was finally run down and caught outside his house at 14 Garibaldi Street in the slum section of Buenos Aries Argentina in May 1960. The Israeli Mossad who had been staking out Eichmann's, using the name Ricardo "Ricky" Clement, movements for the past two months grabbed him as he left the bus from his job as a mechanic at a local Mercedes Benz plant. Eichmann was then held hostage in a safe house until the Mossad could fly him out of the country to stand trial for crimes against humanity and the Jewish people in Jerusalem Israel.

While in Isaeli captivity Eichmann's what can best be best called Mossad baby sitter Peter Malkin,Arliss Howard, tried to get him to sign a statement- as if he really needed it-for him to volunteer to his capture and agree to be tried in the Jewish state which under the circumstances, in being kidnapped and held against his will by the Mossad, would be thrown out on any court on earth. Still Malkin constantly beggared Eichmann to sign it until he finally agreed when he was told that there's no death penalty in Israel.

It took a lot of ingenuity to get Eichmann out of Argentina by using the excuse of an EL-AL airline with a troupe of Israeli politicians and entertainers to sneak him, while high on drugs, aboard. This was done while Eichmann's fellow on the lamb Nazis as well as his sons did everything to prevent the plane from taking off. The final results of all this was that Eichmann was tried and convicted for the crimes that he committed and despite Mossad Agent Peter Malkin assurances not to he eventually was sentenced to death and hanged. P.S Despite Israel having no death penalty as things turned out in Adolph Eichmann's case it made him an exception and no one bothered, except his fellow on the run Nazi war criminals, to make a case out of it.

Most people will not care about the man who captured Adolph Eichmann; what they will care about is the fascinating and clever way the Mossad were able to whisk Eichmann out of Argentina, despite the best efforts of the local Nazi sympathizers to find him and keep him in the country. The role of Eichmann is a tour-de-force by Robert Duvall, an Academy-Award winning actor who richly deserved an Emmy for this television production role. Most of the other roles in the film are played by relatively unknown actors, and the production values are limited. However, the direction and dialogue is very sharp, and the film will keep you attention from beginning to end. Eichmann tried to justify his action to his captors, but I am sure no one was buying his sad story about his father forcing him to join the SS and the Nazi party. Duvall plays the role in a careful, understated manner, which captures the actual real-life personality of Eichmann to a tee. It was interesting to see how this action unfolded several decades after it actually took place when I was in school as a Freshman at Emerson High School in Union City. We saw the trial on TV, but we had no idea at the time what it took to get him to this trial.

Any time you get the opportunity to see Robert Duvall work, you should take it. When the pot is sweetened by the chance to learn a little (or a lot) about an important historical event, then it's a no-brainer.

A far more carefully crafted story line distinguishes this film from the 1961 'Operation Eichmann'. The source of this film is the book, "Eichmann in my Hands", by Massad agent Peter Malkin, the primary Israeli Agent involved in Eichmann's capture in Buenos Aires.

The film is presented pretty much from the point-of-view of Malkin, played superbly by Arliss Howard, an actor who's career to date is papered with non-distinguishable work in non-descript films. His portrayal here is right on target. There is a nice turn as well by Jeffrey Tambor, a wonderful comedic actor, here cast completely against type in a serious role.

Much is the time when TV has been dismissed as a learning medium. Thankfully, made for TV movies like 'The Man Who Captured Eichmann" go far to dismiss that notion.

Sorry for my English...

For a while, I've been reading all the books available that talks about Eichmann. I wanted to know more about the man after the war and before his trial. I've read the book 'Eichmann in my hands (by Peter Malkin)' and 'Capturer Eichmann (Capture Eichmann)' in french. I was so surprise when I saw the movie. It was exactly (well 95%) the same as the book. When I saw Robert Duvall play Eichmann, my god, he looks like him. A very good actor. The same accent, moves, nervous ways, everything like Eichmann (if you saw the movie 'The specialist' the trial of Eichmann. The man who play Peter Malkin is very good too. Very committed. The way he looks at Eichmann, like he wants to kill him, but he don't, his eyes are expressive. When the actors are together in the bedroom, talking each order, there's no cameras. Well, see that movie, and read the book after or the best is to read the book before and watch the movie after. It's almost the same, very respectful to the book.

Weird movie. I read somewhere that Robert Duvall wanted to do this story. So he wanted to play Adolph Eichmann. Why? I have no idea.

The movie is quite dull. And the acting is dull too. Probably strong emotions were going around. But not in this calm, slow, uninteresting script. And the actors do some weird accents. Was it supposed to be funny? It is not a funny story.

Maybe a fascist would like it. After all, the poor Eichmann was tricked into signing the paper. And don't forget he was kidnapped. But everything gets toned down. The Hannah Arendt account presents Eichmann as a simple bureaucrat. And probably that is what this movie is trying to show in the cheap disguise of a B movie.

Finally I see this movie as an attempt to whitewash a murderer. The script conveniently is not interested in the life and deeds of Eichmann. There is not a hint of how German and US intelligence services knew his whereabouts and said nothing. There is nothing about the nazi community of Argentina apart from the sort of Eichmann's lawyer. And less than 10 years later Bettina Stangneth would publish a book that would show Eichmann in a very different light than a pawn in Hannah Arendt's play on sociology.

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