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| Director: Ivan Passer
Actors: Robert Duvall, Julia Ormond, Maximilian Schell, Jeroen Krabbe, Joan Plowright
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $17.95
You Save: $2.03 (10%)
New (1) Used (17) Collectible (3) from $17.95
Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 1264
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 166 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6302681634
UPC: 027616390530
EAN: 9786302681635
ASIN: 6302681634
Theatrical Release Date: November 21, 1992
Release Date: September 1, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 23
One of Duvall's Best Performances July 14, 2000
R. W. Rasband (Heber City, UT)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This was a made-for-HBO cable movie, and it shows. The dialogue is corny, and there are some of the worst wigs and fake beards you will ever see (Maximillian Schell plays Lenin, and his head looks like a domed stadium.) But behind a mask of latex, Robert Duvall gives a genuinely great performance as Stalin. His eyes look like those of an animal sizing up its prey. His heavy-handed humor reveals the sadist within. It's like he is only part of a human being pretending to be whole, raging against a world he fears and despises. Combine this with the authentic locations (much of the film was shot inside the Kremlin, in the actual apartments of the people involved) and it seems like real, terrible history is bleeding into the very print of the movie. Julia Ormond (whatever happened to her?) is also very good as Stalin's young, tortured wife. Duvall has said he is proud of starring in one of the very few unambiguously anti-Communist films put out in recent years by the American movie industry. This is a great film for history buffs and anyone who ever said the Soviets "weren't that bad."
 Very disappointing February 23, 2002
William Dean (Los Angeles, CA)
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
I must agree with a few other reviwers that firstly, the make up jobs were truly laughable. It was quite obvious that none of the actors, screenwriter, or director knows any country-type Communists or Russians who were not on their most Western behavior. How can you think of portraying Russian history when no one drinks any vodka in this film! Lenin and Trotsky are portrayed as simple-minded, hearts-in-the-right place chaps when in reality they were both as guilty as Stalin of brutality, paranoia, and countless "official murders and exilings." History also tell us that Stalin was a peasant who became a revolutionary journalist but never was as "socially polished" as Duvall portrays him. He was a street thug more along the lines of Al Capone and was not above personal violence of his own. This may be Hollywood, but it's certainly not history and certainly not Russian.
 THE MAN WHO CHANGED THE FLOW OF HISTORY November 18, 2002
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
along with Hitler! Portrayed excellently by Robert Duvall,Stalin mercilessly executed tens of millions of people.As also mentioned in the movie several times, he was a ferocious anti-semitic-He called Trotsky "The King of the Jews".He even cursed himself for having a jewish son-in-law.He cleansed all his -potential- political opponents.Trotsky -who virtually looked as if like the real himself in the movie- was killed brutally by a spaniard Stalinist agent after several attempts in Coyoacan,Mexico City.You can also watch that, in the movie "Assasination of Trotsky" beatifully played by Alain Delon.
After some great holocausts exceeding those of Hitler,Stalin was preparing for a last spectacular one for the Jews -after the jewish doctors affair.But the Zionists were quicker and said to have prepared his dubious -for some- death and prevented all that happening.
Also note that the hypocrite Beria -his security chief- was executed later that year Stalin died.That was not mentioned in the movie but if you watch it you can guess why.
History or Hollywood? STALIN delivers an excellent balance February 8, 2004
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I agree with Leaming. Any time Hollywood depicts history, there are going to be issues of inaccuracy, artistic license, etc. In the case of the film STALIN, this is mostly due to the need to compress about thirty years into less than three hours. The portrayals of the primary characters are sometimes simplistic and inaccurate, but Bukharin and Kirov's characters (for example) are portrayed so as to accentuate the perception of Stalin as a monster (which is accurate). In other words, the truth is adapted somewhat to generate a dramatic foil. Films are never a substitute for reading the real history, but I find that they often whet an appetite when one did not previously exist. The mini-series PETER THE GREAT with Maximilian Schell in the title role is another great example of a film that generated popular interest in Tsarist Russia. SHOGUN, ROUGH RIDERS, LAST SAMURAI, GLADIATOR, GODS AND GENERALS, SHARPE'S RIFLES -- all are examples of films that prompted people to actually read history. So, take the films for what they are -- all in all, everyone who loves history should encourage this terrific trend in film-making!
Excellent. Robert Duvall's least known but best role! September 11, 1999
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a movie that takes the viewer "behind the scenes" of any documentary that has been done on the Soviet Union during the dictatorship of Stalin. Robert Duvall plays an unparalleled role in which he truly captures the personality and ruthlessness of Stalin. This is an epic which spans the great land of Russia during its darkest period.
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