Apt Pupil

Apt Pupil

At the top of his game, Stephen King has a real gift for mining monsters--zero-at-the-bone horror--out of everyday faces and places. Adapted from a novella in the 1982 collection that also spawned Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil looks at first as if it might draw authentically enlightening terror from the soul-cancer that makes blood relations of a Southern California golden boy (Brad Renfro) and an aging Nazi war criminal (Sir Ian McKellen). Turned on by a high-school course about the Holocaust, Todd Bowden (such a bland handle for this top-of-his-class sociopath!) tracks down Kurt Dussander, a former Gestapo killer hiding in the shadows of sunny SoCal. Blackmailing the old man into sharing his firsthand stories of genocide, the teenager trips out on the virtual reality of the monster's memories. There's perverse play here on the way a kid hungry for knowledge can bring a long-retired teacher or grandparent back to life. Truly superb as James Whale in Gods and Monsters, McKellen brings subtlety to this Stephen King creepshow: his dessicated Dussander is like a mummy or vampire revivified by Todd's appetite for atrocity. Considerable talent intersects in Apt Pupil: It's director Bryan Singer's first film since The Usual Suspects, that enormously popular, rather heartless thriller-machine. The outstanding cast also includes David Schwimmer as a Jewish guidance counselor pathetically impotent in the face of Todd's talent for evil, and Bruce Davison as Todd's All-American Dad, lacking the capacity to even imagine evil. And the story itself has the potential for gazing into the heart of darkness right here in Hometown, U.S.A. But Apt Pupil just turns ugly and unclean when it trivializes its subject, equating Holocaust horrors with slamming a cat into an oven or offing a nosy vagrant (Elias Koteas). Reducing the great spiritual abyss that lies at the center of the 20th century to cheap slasher-movie thrills and chills is reprehensible. Both Todd and the writers of Apt Pupil should have heeded the old saw: When supping with the devil, best use a long spoon. --Kathleen Murphy

Genre: Drama, Thriller
Production: TriStar Pictures
  6 wins & 6 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.7
Metacritic:
51
Rotten Tomatoes:
53%
R
Year:
1998
111
Website
2,477 Views

Todd Bowden:
Have you lost your mind? What the hell were you thinking, 'Grandpa'?

Kurt Dussander:
What are you so excited about?

Todd Bowden:
Oh, you've got some f***ing balls! I could have screwed you up, anything could have happened!

Kurt Dussander:
You played it beautifully, boy. I knew you would.

Todd Bowden:
Are you f***ing drunk? I could have busted you right there!

Kurt Dussander:
Yes, you could have, but you did not. Now, why was that? Your Edward French is not going to give you any more trouble, so now you are upset because the only way you can make things right is to work.

Todd Bowden:
I'm upset because you had that a**hole thinking I can do something that can't be done!

Kurt Dussander:
Oh, but it can. And it will. You will simply have to work. No more stories. No more screwing around.

Todd Bowden:
I don't take orders from you.

Kurt Dussander:
[sniggers] You do now.

Todd Bowden:
Oh, you think so? Yeah, well, don't forget I could walk right in there and pick up that phone...

Kurt Dussander:
And do what? Do you really think that I would stand aside and let you turn me in without dragging you with me, do you? Your American self confidence is so bloated you've forgotten the reality of the situation. 90,000 died in Patin. To the whole world, I am a monster. And you have known about me all this time. If I'm caught, when those reporters stick their microphones in my face it will be your name that I will repeat over and over again. Todd Bowden, Todd Bowden... Todd Bowden, yes, that was his name. For how long, for months, almost a year, he wanted to know everything. That was how he put it, yes, everything.

Todd Bowden:
You're crazy. They'll never believe you.

Kurt Dussander:
It doesn't matter. Oh, you're going to be infamous, boy, take my word for it. And do you know what such a scandal can do? It never goes away. Not for you, not for your parents. And besides, lying to judges and reporters isn't as easy as you think. You'd have to be brilliant. Can you do that? I know I can.


Share your thoughts on Apt Pupil's quotes with the community:

0 Comments

    Quote of the Day Today's Quote | Archive

    Would you like us to send you a FREE inspiring quote delivered to your inbox daily?

    Please enter your email address:

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this movie page to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Apt Pupil Quotes." Quotes.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.quotes.net/movies/apt_pupil_quotes_496>.

    Know another quote from Apt Pupil?

    Don't let people miss on a great quote from the "Apt Pupil" movie - add it here!

    Browse Quotes.net

    Quiz

    Are you a quotes master?

    »
    Who said: "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking."?
    A Mark Zuckerberg
    B Nelson Mandela
    C Steve Jobs
    D James Cameron