The Tin Drum(Die Blechtrommel)

Variety by

Adheres to the book more than enough not to disappoint avid readers of the bestseller.

Washington Post by Gary Arnold

The Tin Drum is likely to be remembered as another conspicuous example of why the urge to film certain books ought to be resisted. [25 Apr 1980, p.C1]

Newsweek by Jack Kroll

The film is laudable, but Grass's book was lacerating. [21 Apr 1980, p.90]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Jay Scott

The Schlondorff version of The Tin Drum is never more than an intelligent reduction and simplification of an enormous and complex work of art. [26 Apr 1980]

The A.V. Club by Mike D'Angelo

Schlöndorff's Tin Drum, like most adaptations of great literature, serves mostly as a fascinating but superficial gloss on material that just doesn’t lend itself well to visual storytelling.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

My problem is that I kept seeing Oskar not as a symbol of courage but as an unsavory brat; the film's foreground obscured its larger meaning.

Empire by William Thomas

Beautiful to look at, but shot with a cruel and unerring eye, it gives no quarter to the German people for their complicity in events, and in turn disgusts, amazes and frightens.