May 20 - The House on Garibaldi Street

Hello. Here is today's movie. I hope you like it and watch it tonight. 

THE HOUSE ON GARIBALDI STREET

Israeli premier David Ben-Gurion approves a Mossad operation to be led by Isser Harel to kidnap Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi mass murderer in Argentina. Harel and his team travel to Argentina to track down Ricardo Klement, who it has been suggested is Eichmann. Unfortunately, Klement had moved two months before. Primo, one of their local contacts goes to Klement’s former residence and gets a lead to Dieter, one of Eichmann’s sons.  They arrange for a hotel bellboy to deliver a parcel to Dieter, addressed to another son Nicholas. The Mossad trails Dieter, but he goes to the dentist and not his house. Michael, the agent in charge sends the bellboy back to the Klement’s old address and he learns their new address. Harel learns that Israel has been invited to send a delegation to Argentina’s 150^th  celebration of its independence, so a special flight can be sent, on which Eichmann can be smuggled out of the country. The Mossad finally spots Eichmann. Harel flies to Argentina to take over the operation.  The Mossad rents three houses near Buenos Aires. The Mossad snatches Eichmann off the streets and take him to a safe house. Dieter Eichmann contacts other local Nazis for help in recovering his father. The Israeli agents watching Eichmann are conflicted as they want to kill him instead of taking him back for trial. The Israeli special plane arrives. Meanwhile Michael interrogates Eichmann about the Holocaust. Michael thinks they are on the verge of being caught by the police and that they should kill Eichmann while they can. They disguise Eichmann as an  Israeli mechanic injured in an accident.   A policeman in the pay of the Nazis tries to stop the takeoff, but they convince the airport officials to let the flight take off on May 20, 1960 [1:26:55 to 1:36:34] The plane returns to Israel, where Eichmann was tried , found guilty of crimes against humanity and executed.

An interesting film. However, for some reason as often happens in adaptations of books major plot points were altered, for no good reason that I can see. The book is a page turner and has a high suspense level. I see no reason a straight adaptation could not have been done.

Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World’s Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, 2009) at page 288  and the film at 1:27:00 give the date of departure

Director - Peter Collinson

Producer - Mort Abrahams

Screenplay - Steve Shagan and Isser Harel

Released   -  May 28, 1979

Runtime- 1 hour 38 minutes

Starring -

Topol   as  Michael

Nick Mancuso as Ari

Janet Suzman as Hedda

Martin Balsam as Isser Harel

Leo McKern as David Ben-Gurion

Charles Gray  as Gen. Lischke

Derren Nesbitt as Arthur Lubinsky

Alfred Burke as Adolf Eichmann

John Bennett  as Aaron Lazar

John Cater as Doctor

Edward Judd as Meged

Wolf Kahler as Real Estate Agent

Alberto de Mendoza as Primo

Simon Shepherd as Nickalous Eichmann

Gareth Hunt as Kedem

Antonio Canal as Cordero

Jeff Waters as  Co-Pilot

Watch The House on Garibaldi Street