Pakten (English title: Waiting for Sunset (USA) or The Sunset Boys) is a 1995 Norwegian film directed by Leidulv Risan.
It made headlines in Norway as it was the first Norwegian film to star several respected Hollywood stars, namely veteran actors Robert Mitchum (whose mother was Norwegian), and Cliff Robertson. It also boasted some of the biggest acting names from Sweden (Erland Josephson), Germany (Hanna Schygulla and Ernst Jacobi), Austria (Nadja Tiller) and Norway.
It was directed and co-written by Leidulv Risan and shot on location in Oslo (Norway) and the German cities of Cologne and Heidelberg.
Its budget of 5,000,000 USD was above average for a Norwegian movie at the time.
Aging Norwegian doctor Carl (Espen Skjønberg) collapses in the streets of Oslo, and awakens in the hospital. To his great surprise he finds himself surrounded by his old buddies Ernest (Mitchum), Ted (Robertson) and August (Josephson). Taking matters into their own hands they "kidnap" the dying Carl and embark on an emotional journey back to Heidelberg, where they met studying medicine before World War II. Their plan is to fulfill Carl's final wish but soon find their cheerful trip overshadowed as they reveal a plot dating back to the pre-war Nazi era.
The movie received mainly fair reviews although many seemed to agree that the Nazi-subplot was too melodramatic, and got in the way of its feel-good nature.
Cast
Robert Mitchum as Ernest Bogan
Cliff Robertson as Ted Roth
Erland Josephson as August Lind
Espen Skjønberg as Carl Berner
Hanna Schygulla as Eva Loehwe
Nadja Tiller as Gertrude Boman
Trine Pallesen as Nina
Bodil Kjer as Marianne Haas
Ingrid van Bergen as Wenche Haas
Ernst Jacobi as Leonard Haas
Ulrich Wildgruber as Reverend Berger
Kai Wiesinger as Fritz Becker
Joachim Kemmer as Johannes Christof
Ellen Horn as Nurse
Oliver Nägele as Paul Zeppelin
Sven Nordin as Dr. Sunde
Armin Rohde
Trivia
While he had a supporting role in a 1997 TV movie, this was Hollywood-legend Robert Mitchum's last starring role on the big screen. It was the only time he had worked on a Norwegian movie (Mitchum's mother was Norwegian).