The House on Garibaldi Street

• Director: Peter Collinson
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Spy Film
• Movie Type: Unglamorized Spy Film, Political Thriller
• Themes: Kidnapping
• Main Cast: Martin Balsam
• Release Year: 1979
• Country: US
• Run Time: 98 minutes

Plot

Based on a true story, this made-for-TV spy movie chronicles the 1960 capture of a Nazi in South America. When Israeli agents find out that Nazi Adolph Eichmann survived the war and is living in Argentina, they hatch a plan to kidnap him and bring him to trial for his crimes. Martin Balsam portrays Isser Harel, who wrote the book that served as the basis for this film. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Review

This 1979 television production recounts events leading to the capture of Adolf Eichmann at a house on Garibaldi Street in the San Fernando district of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 11, 1960. Because Eichmann had supervised Nazi extermination of six million Jews during World War II, he was the chief target of Israeli Nazi hunters after the war. The film depicts the secret operation to track down and kidnap Eichmann after Israel's Central Institute for Intelligence and Security, known as Mossad, receives a tip claiming that the Nazi criminal is living in Buenos Aires under the assumed name of Ricardo Klement. Although the film received mixed reviews, its documentary approach enhances realism and suspense. The camera follows Mossad chief Isser Harel (Martin Balsam) and his agents on their trip from Israel to Argentina and ultimately to the very residence of Eichmann (Alfred Burke) after his son Nicholaus (Simon Shepherd), who sometimes openly uses the Eichmann family name, attracts the attention of the agents. The cast is strong, pairing veteran American and British actors, and the South American setting appears authentic even though director Peter Collinson filmed the production mainly in Spain. Both the film and the work on which scriptwriter Steve Shagan based it -- Harel's 1975 book of the same name (published in more than 20 languages and selling more than a million copies) -- generated renewed interest in the last decade of the 20th century, after Harel declared that famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal lied when he said he played a key role in the capture of Eichmann. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

Cast

Martin Balsam - Issar Harel; Alfred Burke; Charles Gray; Edward Judd; Nick Mancuso; Leo McKern; Janet Suzman; Topol

Credit

Giorgio Desideri - Art Director, Peter Collinson - Director, Gene Fowler, Jr. - Editor, Steve Shagan - Executive Producer, Charles B. Bloch - Executive Producer, Charles Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Fernando Gonzalez - Production Designer, Disley Jones - Production Designer, Alejandro Ulloa - Cinematographer, Mort Abrahams - Producer, Steve Shagan - Screenwriter, Isser Harel - Book Author

Similar Movies

13 Rue Madeleine; The House on Carroll Street; Judgment at Nuremberg; Confessions of a Nazi Spy; High Treason; The House on 92nd Street; The Man in the Glass Booth; Secret Enemies