Music Box (1989)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Costa-Gavras

Writer (WGA):

Joe Eszterhas (written by)

Release Date:

January 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

As a lawyer all she wanted was the truth. As a daughter all she wanted was his innocence. How well do you really know your father?

Plot:

A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.

Plot Keywords:

War Crime | War Criminal | Budapest | Communism | Holocaust

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Jessica Lange	...	Ann Talbot
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Mike Laszlo
Frederic Forrest	...	Jack Burke
Donald Moffat	...	Harry Talbot
Lukas Haas	...	Mikey Talbot
Cheryl Lynn Bruce	...	Georgine Wheeler
Mari Töröcsik	...	Magda Zoldan
J.S. Block	...	Judge Silver
Sol Frieder	...	Istvan Boday
Michael Rooker	...	Karchy Laszlo
Elzbieta Czyzewska	...	Melinda Kalman
Magda Szekely Marburg	...	Judit Hollo
Felix Shuman	...	James Nathanson
Michael Shillo	...	Geza Vamos
George Pusep	...	Vladimir Kostav

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hungarian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-10 | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:12 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Carolco Pictures

Trivia:

After the movie was released, screenwriter Joe Eszterhas's own father Istvan Eszterhas was accused of war crimes in Hungary by printing anti-Semitic editorials and even organizing a book burning.

Quotes:

Jack Burke: You trust your heart, you gonna get it broken.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 62nd Annual Academy Awards (1990) (TV)

a MUST see

This is a fantastic film. I live here in Budapest where part of the story is told. From what I have learned by talking to many people who witnessed the events of the 1956 Revolution, this film accurately depicts the situation, as grim as it is. This was the type of things that really happened. In this film you are spared the gory details, but what is told and the photos that are shown are vivid enough. The buildings on the street where I live today are riddled with pock marks from machine guns. I was here between 90 and 95 just after the country shed communism and witnessed the suspicion on the people's faces on the public transportation. Today (2005), since my return to Budapest, I have found the society to be much different, although the effects of communism can still be seen. People are not so suspicious, although many of those who lived through that horrifying time (late '40s well into the 'mid '50s), still believe that the secret police are a part of the system. This is the degree to which it effected the people. I have been to the places where evil things took place. I was here before the statues of Lenin and Stalin were removed, before the red star was removed from the Parliament, when the Soviet soldiers were still here. Creepy! If you want to know what the history of Hungary was like during this time, you MUST see this film. It is chillingly accurate to history.