Why on earth would anyone want to watch a murder mystery that<br /><br />takes place within the hierarchy of Nazi military might? This film<br /><br />answers that question.<br /><br />After a Polish prostitute/Nazi agent is brutally stabbed to death, an<br /><br />intelligence major, Omar Sharif, investigates. The three main<br /><br />suspects are three Nazi generals: golden boy Peter O'Toole,<br /><br />creepy Donald Pleasence, and family man Charles Gray. In the<br /><br />middle of his investigation, Sharif is transferred to Paris, and does<br /><br />not solve the case. Fast forward two years, and the three generals<br /><br />find their duties also deliver them to Paris, where promoted<br /><br />colonel Sharif eagerly awaits his reopening of the case. Gray's<br /><br />daughter, Joanna Pettet, falls for a young corporal Tom Courtenay,<br /><br />who is suddenly assigned to be O'Toole's driver and companion in<br /><br />the city.<br /><br />I really hate spoilers, so I do not want to give away too much more,<br /><br />but the murderer is soon known, and the other two suspects are<br /><br />embroiled in a plot to assassinate Hitler. When you think the film<br /><br />is wrapped, the murders solved, and major character killed, the<br /><br />plot moves to present day (then 1966-67) as the murderer strikes<br /><br />again.<br /><br />The entire present day subplot, while sometimes dramatic, and a<br /><br />way to see what happened to the major players, is completely<br /><br />unnecessary. It takes up the last half hour of the film and is<br /><br />anti-climactic considering what has occurred before.<br /><br />Pettet and Courtenay's romance is also a little silly. She plays the<br /><br />stereotypical officer's brat who rebels by having an affair with an<br /><br />enlisted man. I am the son of a now retired Air Force colonel, and<br /><br />believe me, rebelling officer's children is usually a figment of<br /><br />Hollywood's imagination.<br /><br />The most interesting aspect of the film is the setting of a murder<br /><br />investigation in the middle of Nazi occupied territory. Sharif's<br /><br />character is no saint, either, but he shows more compassion than<br /><br />his suspects. The fact that the embodiment of evil on earth would<br /><br />be interested in removing one of their own makes for very<br /><br />compelling drama. The murderer is not killing because he is a<br /><br />Nazi, but because he is insane. There is no other motive offered,<br /><br />and I do not think it is very important to the story anyway. This is a<br /><br />serial killer film before the term "serial killer" was coined.<br /><br />Most of the drama takes place in Parisian offices and bars, there<br /><br />is little action save O'Toole's extermination of a Warsaw ghetto,<br /><br />and a cameo by Christopher Plummer as Field Marshal Rommel<br /><br />getting gunned down. Watching these incredible actors in full Nazi<br /><br />regalia and saluting Hitler is unsettling, but the story and<br /><br />performances are so moving. The film makers find a balance<br /><br />where you cheer for the good guys, without cheering for a bunch of<br /><br />Nazis.<br /><br />James Bond devotees might want to check this out, since both<br /><br />Gray and Pleasence portrayed Blofeld in 007 films, and O'Toole<br /><br />proves why he is one of the screen's greatest actors (who never<br /><br />won an Oscar). "The Night of the Generals" is a high minded<br /><br />murder mystery that should entertain whodunnit and WWII fans<br /><br />alike. I recommend it.<br /><br />Although the video box I had rated this as (R), it might be closer to<br /><br />a (PG13) for gun violence, mild profanity, some sexual references,<br /><br />and some adult situations.