Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) poster & wallpaper
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Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, David Bennent, Daniel Olbrychski, Katharina Thalbach ... see more see more... , Heinz Bennent , Fritz Hakl , Mariella Oliveri , Tina Engel , Ernst Jacobi , Ilse Page , Otto Sander , Andrea Ferreol , Charles Aznavour , Roland Beubner , Wojciech Pszoniak , Werner Rehm , Henning Schlüter , Bruno Thost , Marek Walczewski , Emil Feist , Gerda Blisse , Berta Drews , Helmut Brasch

In Volker Schlöndorff's award-winning adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass' allegorical novel, David Bennent plays Oskar, the young son of a German rural family, circa 1925. On his third birt... read more read more...hday, Oskar receives a shiny new tin drum. At this point, rather than mature into one of the miserable specimens of grown-up humanity that he sees around him, he vows never to get any older or any bigger. Whenever the world around him becomes too much to bear, the boy begins to hammer on his drum; should anyone try to take the toy away from him, he emits an ear-piercing scream that literally shatters glass. As Germany goes to hell during the 1930s and '40s, the never-aging Oskar continues savagely beating his drum, serving as the angry conscience of a world gone mad. The intense and visceral Tin Drum was one of the most financially successful German films of the 1970s and won the 1979 Oscar for Best Foreign Film and the 1979 Golden Palm (which it shared with Apocalypse Now). In the late '90s, the film became the center of a censorship controversy when some U.S. videotapes were confiscated because of the film's supposed violation of a child pornography statute. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flixster Users

84% liked it

6,681 ratings

Critics

79% liked it

14 critics

R, 2 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Volker Schlöndorff

Release Date: May 3, 1979

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DVD Release Date: October 12, 1999

Stats: 476 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (476)

  • pier007
    November 21, 2011
    pier007
    Mischievous, visually stunning, hilarious and compelling. quite an achievement adapting GÃ 1/4nter Grass' novel.
  • fb1216165431
    September 9, 2011
    fb1216165431
    Disturbing and notorious, The Tin Drum introduces a three-year-old who opted to stay in infancy because of disenchantment with maturity. A controversial Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm recipient that covers the social, the political, and the historical in World War II, Germany a... read morend Poland. Strictly for mature audiences only.
  • SirPant
    September 30, 2009
    SirPant
    Absurd but beautiful. Wonderfully directed by Schlondorff and an amazing turn from a young David Bennent. It?s a tough one to explain so I recommend you watch it!
  • flixsterman
    March 23, 2009
    flixsterman
    Notorious for once being banned in both Oklahoma City and Ontario, The Tin Drum chronicles one little boy's bizarre response to the bizarre world in which he resides.

    Oskar is a German child who's father might be his mother's husband or might be his uncle Jan, who is actu... read moreally his mother's cousin. At the age of three Oskar is so disenchanted with adults and their immoral behavior that he decides to stop growing. I can only assume that the scene in which Oskar, who is chronologically 16 but looks 3, played by an actor who was actually 11, has sex with a girl who is 16, played by an actress who was actually 21, is what sparked the controversy(?). Later, that same girl gives birth to a baby boy who might be Oskar's son or might be his brother. All this comes after Oskar is forced to drink toad soup that other kids have peed in. The whole plot is about as twisted as a Texas family tree. Can you believe that someone wanted to ban this stuff!?
  • DrBenway
    March 14, 2009
    DrBenway
    Visually stunning, with a fantastic story and world-class performances, this film is not for the weak of heart. But it is a truly amazing film. You may see certain things you're not used to seeing, but once you remember the theme of the story, one shouldn't be bothered by it at ... read moreall.

    As you can most likely assume, The Tin Drum is a film that could very much be misinterpreted, as it was by certain folks in Oklahoma, who felt it was necessary to ban the film from the state's libraries and video rental stores. Hmm...didn't Nazi Germany ban certain books and film? I think it's kind of absurd to deem this in any way, shape, or form as child pornography. True, it's not a film for everyone's tastes, but to label it that way was so incredibly over the top. People have every right to label a film as anything, only they must watch the actual film first.
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  • rubystevens
    January 5, 2009
    rubystevens
    a great surreal adaptation of a wonderfully bizarre novel. i can't imagine anyone else in the part of oskar. covers about the first 2/3 of the book, which i also recommend :)
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    October 22, 2007
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    This film really disturbs me, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a masterful and unforgetable piece of work.
  • mjgildea
    November 5, 2006
    mjgildea
    Incredibly great, bizarre and sometimes disturbing.
  • adfill7
    May 3, 2009
    adfill7
    Though The Tin Drum is probably one of the strangest films I have ever seen, I still liked it for its ingenuity and humor.
  • Ivan6655321
    March 29, 2010
    Ivan6655321
    Contrary to what many people say about this film, it was not that disturbing amidst the Nazisms involved, but there were sequences that disgusted me and left me in complete bewilderment that a question popped in my head while I watch this film: "What the hell am I watching?" Yes,... read more it was about a boy silently rebelling about the madness around him, using his tin drum, but apart from that, the film did not connect with me in any way. "The Tin Drum" is virtually plotless, with successions of episodic scenes involving the enigmatic protagonist. The film contained great cinematography and music, but it was, overall, an emotionless viewing experience for me.

View All Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz
January 30, 2011
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The literal adaptation doesn't transfer that well to film. Full Review

Donald J. Levit
November 8, 2010
Donald J. Levit, ReelTalk Movie Reviews

This movie rests on the small shoulders of David Bennent as 'three-year-old' Oskar Matzerath, and the undersized twelve-year-old comes up wonderful. Full Review

Cole Smithey
April 15, 2009
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

The Tin Drum encompasses a wing of Polish/German wartime history with an explosive cinematic nerve that contributed to a revitalization of German cinema in 1979 shared by Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders an... Full Review

Steve Crum
March 22, 2008
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

Fascinating allegory with war, death themes and little boy who won't grow up.

Ken Hanke
October 4, 2006
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Technically and stylistically, The Tin Drum is an astounding work. Thematically, it strives for an importance it only sometimes achieves Full Review

Christopher Null
May 9, 2004
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

Oskar's story touches on so many facets of life it's hard to know where to start analyzing. Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
January 29, 2004
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

The Tin Drum is a lusty, volatile, surreal and chlling view of the rise and fall of the Third Reich. Full Review

Jeremy Heilman
August 6, 2002
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com

Schlöndorff's treatment of this material is horribly flawed because he's too interested in making the audience feel comfortable before he starts damning everything. Full Review

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Vincent Canby
May 20, 2003
Vincent Canby, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

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  • Which 1980 German film is about a little boy who stops growing because of the horrors of the Nazi regime?   Answer »
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