Forget me Nazi: "The Boys from Brazil"

Some people go over the top. Others get a little extra lift, maybe with a pole vault.

Then you have those who go to Florida, climb into a rocket and blast into orbit.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Gregory Peck in "The Boys from Brazil." Atticus Finch, he ain't.

I'll confess I didn't know much about this movie other than it dealt with Germans in South America. As it turned out, it's based on a book by Ira Levin, who also wrote "Rosemary's Baby." The odds that I'd see two movies based on Ira Levin books in a week's time ... well, let's just say I wish I could have bet on that at the Bellagio.

Our story has Peck playing Dr. Josef Mengele, who -- I ashamed to admit I don't know the details -- did some really bad experiments on Jews in Nazi prison camps during WWII. Now Mengele is in hiding but has come to Paraguay for some nefarious plan. Spying on him at the movie's start is a young Jew played by ... wait for it ... Steve Guttenberg! Yes, the pride of "Police Academy," Cocoon" and "Short Circuit" is a mere 20 years old here, playing an idealistic Nazi hunter. And you thought he was all about the jokey-jokey.

Alas, the Great Guttenberg needs help, and he enlists a famous Nazi hunter played by Sir Laurence Olivier to help investigate. Larry takes his time getting involved, but eventually he discovers what Mengele is working on from the jungles of Paraguay, and it ain't good. Again, with all the killing ...

Don't get me wrong. Peck and Olivier are great actors whose bonafides are established. But here ... well, calling them cartoonish is an insult to Daffy Duck. When Peck's mustache is far from the most ridiculous part of his performance, you know you're in trouble. Meanwhile, Olivier -- who, it should be noted, played a Nazi in "The Marathon Man" just two years earlier -- is more than a little overdone himself, kvetching about Guttenberg's character, then Mengele, then pretty much anything else. And this guy took down Eichmann?

No question the idea in "The Boys from Brazil" is interesting; I don't want to ruin it, but let's say Mengele has a hard time letting go of his old boss. But even if you embrace the far-fetched plot, the performances are a too overboard to take seriously. Then again, maybe this should be accepted as pure camp. It's not "Springtime for Hitler," I'll admit, but who knows what those kooky Nazis will come up with next!