The movie poster.
The Bunker is a 1981 TV film starring Anthony Hopkins as Adolf Hitler. The movie is well known for being largely English, since it was made in Hollywood and the characters (especially Hitler) speaks English.
Overview[]
It is largely based on the book The Bunker, by James P. O'Donnell. The movie makes significant deviations from O'Donnell's book, published in 1978. The deviations are mainly due to an effort to clarify the events, and allowing the actors license to interpret some of the dialogue he recorded. The film opens in 1945 with O'Donnell gaining entry to the Führerbunker by bribing a Russian sentry with a pack of cigarettes. O'Donnell himself provided brief voice-over narrations at the beginning and end of the film.
The most noteworthy legacy of the film was Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Adolf Hitler, for which he won an Emmy. Actors on the set claimed his performance was so good that those playing German soldiers snapped to attention whenever Hopkins came onto the set, even if he wasn't in character.
It is also known for Hitler's famous quote "THE WAR IS NOT LOST! THE WAR IS NOT LOST! THE WAR WILL NEVER BE LOST!".
Downfall parodies[]
The Bunker Hitler appears in some parodies made by Hitler Rants Parodies (notably the War of The Hitlers) and one parody made by KakashiBallZ.
Quotes[]
Hitler[]
"The war is not lost! The war is not lost! The war will never be lost!"
"Where is General Steiner?! Bring me General Steiner, here at once!" (as opposed to "Bring me Fegelein")
"You and all of you incompetents can go to hell!"
"If the war is lost, the people of Germany will be lost, also! How dare you say that in front of my presence STAND UP! "
"I will defeat them all! I will defy the entire world! You hear me?"
"Why did the attack fail? I'll tell you why: incompetence and negligence."
"How dare you speak me that way! I'm fighting for Germany my whole life; it's been one long struggle for Germany! How dare you?! How dare you..."
Trivia[]
- Unlike Downfall, which was based on an eye-witness account by Traudl Junge, The Bunker was based on a second-hand account by English historian James P. O'Donnell. As a result, many characters who only have very small roles in Downfall, such as Rochus Misch and Johannes Hentschel have a much more prominent role in The Bunker, while Traudl only has a minor supporting role.
- Fegelein appears more in the movie.
- The film also contains the scenes where he is interrogated, where the jewels and money that he stole are presented, as depicted in many historical sources.
- The film also contains a humorous scene where Fegelein is seen being dragged by two soldiers to the interrogation chamber. In this scene, Fegelein, who is completely drunk, is being dragged with great difficulty by the soldiers. At one point he grabs Traudl, who pushes him away, while the two soldiers continue to pull him as well. This scene has a lot of potential, and so far it was only used once, as seen in KakashiBallZ's parody Hitler captures Fegelein!!
- Himmler is played by actor Michael Sheard, who portrayed Himmler in total three times, Hitler five times as well as Admiral Ozzel in Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back.
- Unlike in Downfall, Göring has a few lines, mostly with Speer.
Gallery[]
