The Formula (1980)

That was an excellent one.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

LAPD detective George C. Scott investigates the murder of an old friend. More and more murders happen as the investigation leads him into a conspiracy plot involving a formula for synthetic fuel created by Nazi scientists in World War II.Overlong thriller with dull stretches. Main selling point being that it's the only movie to costar heavy hitters George C. Scott and Marlon Brando, coincidentally the only two actors to refuse their Best Actor Oscars. Brando only appears in three scenes. For some reason he insisted on making himself up to look ridiculous with fake teeth, a comb-over, and something stuck up his nose. Beside that, he does fine and so does Scott. Nothing special in the career of either man but not the stinker some make it out to be. The plot involving the formula conspiracy is interesting. It's not a terrible film. It goes on too long and the fact that everybody Scott talks to seems to be murdered almost immediately afterward is pretty funny. But it's watchable.

Near the end of WWII, the Nazis hope to trade a truck load of secret documents for amnesty with the Americans. General Helmut Kladen (Richard Lynch) is tasked to bring the truck to the Americans at the Swiss borders. Years later, LAPD Barney Caine (George C. Scott) is investigating the murder of Tom Neeley. Neeley was the Major who intercepted the Nazi truck. With his last effort, he writes 'Gene' with his blood. Titan Oil chairman Adam Steiffel (Marlon Brando) becomes part of the investigation but he has powerful influences. Caine goes to Germany to investigate an old secret operation codenamed Genesis which he suspects is connected to the case. He uncovers a Nazis formula for making gasoline from coal which oil interests are willing to kill to bury.This thing is slower than molasses. Director John G. Avildsen is very hit and miss. This is definitely a miss. The investigation is a grind. It reminds me of TV police procedurals of that era. George C. Scott is the only driving force in the movie. He is pushing this through only by his will power. Marlon Brando looks old and fat. He's fine as a villain and it's nice to see him. The movie isn't asking much from him.The premise is compelling and would make a good thriller. The movie is just too slow for too long. It desperately needs more action and much better pace. It's good to see two acting icons but I wish they had a better movie to act in. I have to comment on the Nazi strip club. I don't like it not because it's controversial, but because it looks so cheesy. Like the movie, it needed better style to make something more compelling.

There are decent moments as George C. Scott investigates the death of his cop friend, who was involved with a "formula" that has to do with… well that's revealed in the second half of the film, which gets weighed down by too many conversations with characters being killed off right after revealing the secrets that carry Scott from one person to the next.The main problem is the lack of situations between the dialog – more chatter than the necessary suspense which would make our protagonist seem in real danger. Marlon Brando plays a stateside oil tycoon, and while it's fun watching him on screen – as he continuously purses his lips and revels in a shady persona – he's doing an obvious performance.Once in Germany, where Scott becomes drenched in a Nazi secret (teased in the prologue with Richard Lynch), he meets a brooding, sexy Martha Keller, perhaps the most fleshed-out character. But fans of Film Noir will see her deception way before love-struck Scott does.Director John G. Advilsen strays from his colorfully creative styling of JOE and SAVE THE TIGER, and his latter, more popular flicks like ROCKY and THE KARATE KID that make you want to win at all costs. This lacked either color or stamina, and leads to a dull conclusion where all those conversations, some of which are genuinely intriguing, seem a waste of time.For More Reviews: http://cultfilmfreakreviews.blogspot.com

Caught this while doing some work at my desk and saw it had George C Scott, a favorite of mine. It had a really bad feel to it on a made for TV movie level, so I kept it in the background so I could get some snippets as this looked really really boring and it's all that was on at the time. Anyway if your political bents swing towards the Greenpeace crowd than you will rate this a 7 to 10, since I'm on the other end of the political spectrum it gets a 2. I love secret Nazi formula thriller stuff, and one that holds as much promise as the "formula" here did along with Scott should have come much better. That said the movies only redeeming qualities was it's similarities of Brando's character to Dick Chaney, and the speech in the end when Scott says "Your the reason why old people have to eat out of garbage cans!". That and a weird scene with strippers on stage in Germany with swastika pasties on, that was kind of interesting, you had to be there. I think both of these actors pulled some stunts during the academy awards and they were the forerunners of todays mostly leftist Hollywood actor crowd, and this movie has a clear political bent to appeal to that audience with dialog like the old people and trash cans. I'm surprised he didn't mention anything about soup lines, but I might have just missed it as this movie was hard to stay focused on and for once I preferred to do some work than follow this boring drivel. 2 of 10 stars, Scott didn't make all that many truly great movies in his career, but I certainly remember the ones he did do, this one wont be remembered as one though.