The Tenth Man (1988)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Derek Jacobi is always for me the Emperor Claudius. Every other character he has played leaves me cold. This is a very clever story about French people during and right after the Nazi occupation from 1940-44. But the people all speak good English and act nothing at all like the French. The Germans of course act like Germans, brutal, vicious, violent as we expect them to be.I guess one could sympathize with Clavel and his dilemma as the one who sent Therese's brother to his death. But Anthony Hopkins here is not the Hopkins we have come to appreciate and love. He seems very wooden to me. I saw this on MGM HD quite by accident and it seemed to have prospects but I have nothing really good to say about ti.

I found this one on Netflix streaming movies. I like all of the actors here, and found this to be a nice story.It is the 1940s and France is occupied by Nazi Germans. Anthony Hopkins, about 50 during filming, is French lawyer Jean Louis Chavel. He lives in a stately home outside the village of St Jean du Brinac, and has an office in town. He is known and respected by many townspeople. One day his fate turns as he walks back to his office after lunch. the Nazis are gathering up men, they need ten but only have nine, until they spot Chavel attempting to make himself invisible in a recessed doorway. They unceremoniously take him, in spite of his protestations, and throw all of them in prison, for no reason. But the shock really arrives when the guard tells the roughly 30 total men, they will shoot and kill one of every ten the next morning at 7AM, three total. And he further suggests that this time he will let them pick among themselves which 3.To quickly state the result, which gets us to the main of the story, Chavel by blind lottery is one of the 3 chosen to die the next morning, but he bargains with a sickly man, who has a sister and mother he wants to take care of. So the bargain is this, if Chavel will write a gift contract to give a sum of money plus his house and land to his sister and mother equally, and have it witnessed by two prisoners, he will die in the place of Chavel. The contract is given to a disinterested party to deliver. Kristin Scott Thomas, who was about 27 during filming, is the sister, Therese Mangeot . One day, three years later, he shows up at his former house, looking for a meal, but not identifying himself correctly. He correctly figured she would not be happy to meet him, responsible for her brother's death. So as a "friend" of her brother's he stays and agrees to do some work around the estate in exchange for food, lodging, and a small salary.All is running well, and the two are starting to take a fancy for each other, until another man shows up, claiming to be Chavel. Derek Jacobi is The Imposter . This upsets everything, and the real Chavel has several new challenges to figure out.All in all a very nice movie.SPOILERS: Eventually the real Chavel has to expose the imposter, but this leads to an altercation, the imposter has a small handgun, he shoots, and Chavel is mortally wounded. He bought a new life while in prison but his fate was only postponed for a short time.

A WWII dark story by Graham Greene (who also wrote the Third Man).A prisoner makes a deal with another prisoner to save himself from being executed they swap places in exchange for everything the one owns including a secluded mansion.I won't spoil the story or bore you (if you have seen it) with more of the plot.It is well done...the acting good...the screen adaptation of the book not ponderous like they sometimes are trying to cram too much in.Anthony Hopkins like Anthony Perkins before him was type caste by one horror role. This younger version of him makes it easier to forget.A good watch. RECOMMEND.

I remembered this movie (and subsequently ordered it) because of Anthony Hopkins' incredible role. When I received it from my movie retailer, I realized that the other actor in it was Derek Jacobi, who has become my favorite actor of all time. To top it off, the woman is Kristin Scott-Thomas who hadn't come into her own yet. This is an amazing cast, from a novel from an amazing author. Watch it! Watch it!