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The Tin Drum

Play trailer Poster for The Tin Drum R,  1979,  2h 22m,  Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 84% 25 Reviews Tomatometer 84% 5,000+ Ratings Popcornmeter
84% Tomatometer 25 Reviews 84% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.

Critics Reviews

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Charles Champlin Los Angeles Times Apr 22, 2019
The Tin Drum is, in fact, almost everything anybody could ask a film to be. It is strikingly original and continuously surprising. Go to Full Review
Ela Bittencourt Slant Magazine Sep 18, 2012
4/4
In Volker Schlndorff's restored version of his 1979 classic, Oskar Matzerath emerges as a tragic anti-hero, whose lustful imagination and prodigious magical gifts can't shield him from the juggernaut of war. Go to Full Review
R. Emmet Sweeney Time Out Sep 18, 2012
3/5
Schlndorff has a tendency to sketch the rest of the cast as simple grotesques or symbols of decadence that are unconvincingly humanized in the final third. Go to Full Review
Stephen Farber New West/California Nov 4, 2021
The film is done with such grace and control that we quickly accept the singular perspective of this bizarre tale. Go to Full Review
Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia Jan 13, 2021
Marches to the beat of its own drum. Go to Full Review
Bill Newcott Movies For The Rest Of Us Aug 3, 2020
5/5
Schlondorff treads the thin line between fantasy and nightmare... always rewarding his audience with precious bits of humor, horror, and pathos. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Abraham L Feb 4, 2019 Sharing with APOCALYPSE NOW the Palme d'Or at the Cannes and winning an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Volker Schlondorff's adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Gunter Grass' gargantuan novel is the vilest comedy caricaturing the rise and fall of Nazism in the escapades of a bastardly urchin brandishing the titular percussion as his security blanket. See more
Hermione L Feb 4, 2018 The Tin Drum has its interesting scenes and is certainly well made. However, this is still such a mediocre movie with an uninteresting story stretched to unnecessarily long runtime, a very unlikable and annoying protagonist in Oskar and one simply horrible, uncomfortable and ridiculous sex scene. I entirely agree with Roger Ebert's assessment of this mediocrity. See more
Luke R Nov 28, 2017 The Tin Drum is an odd, wonderful film, that while not as intimate with its characters as it could have been, it realizes its allegory with expert precision and ultimate thought. See more
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The Tin Drum

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Cast & Crew

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Volker Schlöndorff

Director

David Bennent

Oskar Matzerath

Angela Winkler

Agnes Matzerath

Mario Adorf

Alfred Matzerath

Daniel Olbrychski

Jan Bronski

Katharina Thalbach

Maria Matzerath

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The Tin Drum

The Tin Drum (1979) The Tin Drum (1979) A scene from the movie "The Tin Drum." A scene from the movie "The Tin Drum." The Tin Drum (1979) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.
Director
Volker Schlöndorff
Producer
Franz Seitz, Anatole Dauman
Screenwriter
Volker Schlöndorff, Jean-Claude Carrière, Franz Seitz
Production Co
GGB-14, Hallelujah Films, Argos Films
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
German
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 23, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$5.5K
Runtime
2h 22m
Sound Mix
Mono
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