Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

bebromana I read Der Richter under Sein Henker in college German class and fell in love with it. Then we saw the German movie version, which was a dubbed version of End of the Game, and I was disappointed. Drastic changes from the source material. Anna's role has been plumped up to the point I scarcely recognized her. She appears only fleetingly in the book, is just the girlfriend of Schmied, and is more innocent. Different person pushed from the bridge. Novella is a great psychological drama; the movie is a bit a a mish-mash. After about 25 years I saw the English version of the film on TV. Book review: Wow! Movie review : Meh. It retains a shadow of the original. Maybe one day they'll do a proper adaptation.

Oslo Jargo (Bartok Kinski) It's based on Friedrich Durrenmatt's own crime novella, "The Judge and His Hangman" (1950). So if you've read Durrenmatt, you'll know he's sort of an absurdist like Samuel Beckett or Eugene Ionesco.I liked the film at the start, it's oddly weird, especially the funeral of Donald Sutherland with musical mourners and precipitation. It's hilarious. Another funny scene is when Donald Sutherland is being driven in a car by a Swiss cop and he keeps falling over in the seat.I think the problem ultimately is that the whole film seemed like some idiotic farce that was entirely pointless, and it threw it an "unexpected ending" type of denouement that was weak.Donald Sutherland is some cop who's found whacked in a car, and a Swiss Kommisar, played capably by Martin Ritt (American director, Hud (1963), The Molly Maguires (1970), Hombre (1967)) snoops around trying to find out who did it. He uses the aid of Jon Voight, who's another cop. Robert Shaw as "Gastmann" is an ominous character who may or may have not done the killing. There's plenty of fine acting and odd moments, good direction, but again, it gets bogged down too much in idiosyncratic reactions or convoluted conversations.Martin Ritt and Robert Shaw made some type of bet involving the death/murder of some woman both of them loved.Look for Friedrich Durrenmatt himself as some old "self-playing chess" crank who helps out Jon Voight.It's worth a look for all its faults.

samuelbrya I have described the opening scene of TEOTG to dozens of people over the years, and it always provokes a terrific reaction.A consummate cat & mouse story of two strong wills, a tooth-achingly gorgeous woman, and a dead body. Shaw is in his usual brilliant form. Ritt's performance is extraordinary. Voight is believable and compelling. Bisset is spectacular to watch. Sutherland must have had fun playing the corpse. Directed by Maximilian Schell, and originally titled Der Richter und sein Henker and released in W Germany in 1978 (?), TEOTG became (and remains) my definitive detective mystery.Be sure you get the full-length version in the language that you want. You won't regret renting or buying this classic film.

Sgt. Schultz Well as others have commented there is some great acting here. My favorite is Robert Shaw as the villain, but Martin Ritt as the inspector is also quite good.The problem is that the plot mostly makes absolutely no sense (I can't believe they didn't somehow change what was in the book), and the denouement is more or less unfathomable. It's almost like they had a great setup and didn't know how to explain things or end them.As others mentioned, the film is enveloped in fog and is quite grainy. Switzerland was never that foggy when I was there! And the music didn't really match the action on the film.All in all, from what I can tell, skip this and try the book.