Danielle Solzman
The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot may sound like the craziest thing ever but this film is is more of a character study than anything else.
Sam Elliott, who delivered an astonishing performance in The Hero last year, as a World War 2 veteran, Calvin Barr. When we first meet him, he’s just sitting there at the bar. There’s a sense of something troubling Calvin but we don’t see anything other than just some random old man drinking his troubles away.
Through flashbacks, we learn that he was the man (Aidan Turner, in flashbacks) who killed Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. While the assassination scene plays out so simply, Barr went on for the rest of his life without getting the credit he deserves. Not that it matters for the former soldier anyway because it only haunts him. Not only when it happened but into the future ahead. There were consequences for his own life as a result–especially the relationship with girlfriend Maxine (Caitlin FitzGerald). Despite his past, Calvin is just a lonely old man.
Because Calvin is the man who killed Hitler, it comes as no surprise when the FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police come knocking at his door. The FBI agent (Ron Livingston) knows about his past but there’s some hesitation on Calvin’s part. Who could blame him? He has regrets for killing Hitler so why wouldn’t he eventually come to regret killing Bigfoot? But wait! It turns out Bigfoot, hiding out somewhere in Canada, is carrying a plague that could wipe out mankind. The whole sequence between Calvin and Bigfoot is absurd.
Writer-director Robert D. Krzykowski’s script asks us to think the preposterous! How is it that we are willing to believe that Calvin would go through with killing Bigfoot when he’s still haunted by killing one of the most hated leaders in all of world history?!? It’s because of this that the film–to an extent–plays out like a character study. At the same time you can’t help but think WHY?!?
In spite of the premise at hand, Sam Elliott–one of America’s greatest treasures–quietly delivers another astonishing performance. I stress quietly because the sound mix could have certainly been better. The other thing is–the film expects us to have knowledge of the German language during those flashback scenes. There’s not much in regards to dialogue in those scenes but there are zero subtitles for what little dialogue is said.
The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot may go down in history as one of the zaniest but serious films to have ever been made.
DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Robert D. Krzykowski
CAST: Sam Elliott, Aidan Turner, Caitlin FitzGerald, with Larry Miller and Ron Livingston
