The Passage (1979 film)

The Passage is a 1979 British action-war film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Anthony Quinn, James Mason, Malcolm McDowell and Patricia Neal.[1] During World War II, a Basque farmer is asked by the French resistance to help a fleeing scientist and his family escape across the Pyrenees Mountains to safety in neutral Spain.In order to lighten the atmosphere he wore underpants with a swastika on it; J. Lee Thompson liked the idea so much he made it part of McDowell's character.He was right: the film opened to bad box office worldwide and, in critics' eyes, was a disaster in contrast to J. Lee Thompson's 1961 masterpiece The Guns of Navarone."[9] Filmink magazine compared the depiction of rape in this movie unfavourably with the way it was dealt with in J. Lee Thompson's Cape Fear which they said "is a terrifying examination of that crime" while in The Passage "the rape of a woman (Kay Lenz) at the hands of an SS Officer (Malcolm McDowell) is treated in an exploitative, camp way (McDowell wears underpants with a swastika on them, Lenz is shown topless in a shower)… it seems like a movie directed by an entirely different person.
J. Lee ThompsonMaurice BinderAnthony QuinnJames MasonMalcolm McDowellPatricia NealKay LenzMichael LonsdaleMarcel BozzuffiChristopher LeeMichael J. LewisUnited Artistsactionwar filmWorld War IIBasqueFrench resistancescientistPyrenees MountainsPeter ArneNeville JasonRobert BrownJim BroadbentLos Angeles TimesThe New York TimesJames BondThe Guns of NavaroneList of World War II films (1950–1989)Murder Without CrimeThe Yellow BalloonThe Weak and the WickedFor Better, for WorseAs Long as They're HappyAn Alligator Named DaisyYield to the NightThe Good CompanionsWoman in a Dressing GownIce Cold in AlexTiger BayNo Trees in the StreetNorth West FrontierI Aim at the StarsCape FearTaras BulbaKings of the SunWhat a Way to Go!John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!Return from the AshesEye of the DevilBefore Winter ComesMackenna's GoldThe ChairmanCountry DanceConquest of the Planet of the ApesA Great American TragedyBattle for the Planet of the ApesHuckleberry FinnThe Reincarnation of Peter ProudSt. IvesThe White BuffaloThe Greek TycoonCaboblancoHappy Birthday to Me10 to MidnightThe Evil That Men DoThe AmbassadorKing Solomon's MinesMurphy's LawFirewalkerMessenger of DeathThe Price of FollyThe Middle WatchEast of PiccadillyFor Them That TrespassNo Place for Jennifer