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Apt Pupil

63 statements
11 feature instances
7 referencing feature instances

Apt Pupil	type	TVTItem
Apt Pupil	label	Apt Pupil
Apt Pupil	page	AptPupil
Apt Pupil	comment	Apt Pupil is a 1998 film adapted from a story in Stephen King's novella collection Different Seasons. It was directed by Bryan Singer and starred Brad Renfro as Todd and Ian McKellen as Dussander.The story revolves around Todd, an American high school student, discovering that his elderly next-door neighbor is in fact Kurt Dussander, a Nazi SS officer wanted for war crimes. Todd, who has a perverse interest in Nazi war crimes, blackmails Dussander into telling him stories of his time as the commandant of a concentration camp, leading to a series of mind games between the two as exactly which one is in control of the situation gradually becomes unclear...
Apt Pupil	fetched	2023-11-06T16:00:35Z
Apt Pupil	parsed	2023-11-06T16:00:35Z
Apt Pupil	isPartOf	DBTropes
Apt Pupil / int_4a5fcde	type	Adaptational Alternate Ending
Apt Pupil / int_4a5fcde	comment	Adaptational Alternate Ending: The original ending dealt with Todd murdering his guidance counselor and going on a 5-hour shooting spree in a populated area before getting shot to death by the police. In the film, Todd just blackmails the guidance counselor by threatening to accuse him of molestation to keep his connections to Kurt Dussander secret and goes off to college.
Apt Pupil / int_4a5fcde	featureApplicability	1.0
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Apt Pupil	hasFeature	Apt Pupil / int_4a5fcde
Apt Pupil / int_65acf9db	type	He Knows Too Much
Apt Pupil / int_65acf9db	comment	He Knows Too Much: Dussander starts putting on his SS uniform even when Todd is not around to blackmail him. Unfortunately, a homeless person sees him through his window. Dussander then kidnaps and holds the man captive in his basement, later coercing Todd to murder him.
Apt Pupil / int_65acf9db	featureApplicability	1.0
Apt Pupil / int_65acf9db	featureConfidence	1.0
Apt Pupil	hasFeature	Apt Pupil / int_65acf9db
Apt Pupil / int_66c2ca76	type	Nazi Grandpa
Apt Pupil / int_66c2ca76	comment	Nazi Grandpa: Arthur Denker, whose real name is Kurt Dussander. Ian McKellen can play a pretty terrifying ex-Nazi in hiding. Admittedly he's trying to forget his past crimes, but the scene where he's forced to play dress-up for the bratty kid blackmailing him shows that the whole "blood and honor" devotion is still bubbling beneath the surface. Having to recount his past murders inspires Dussander to start killing again.
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Apt Pupil / int_6d332aea	type	Driven to Suicide
Apt Pupil / int_6d332aea	comment	Driven to Suicide: Dussander commits suicide by air embolism rather than let himself be extradited to Israel to answer for his war crimes.
Apt Pupil / int_6d332aea	featureApplicability	1.0
Apt Pupil / int_6d332aea	featureConfidence	1.0
Apt Pupil	hasFeature	Apt Pupil / int_6d332aea
Apt Pupil / int_6eb4e408	type	Artistic License â€“ Military
Apt Pupil / int_6eb4e408	comment	Artistic License – Military: Discussed. Dussander points out that the replica uniform Todd got him is incorrect. He held the SS rank of Sturmbahnführer (major) but the insignia designate him to be an Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant-colonel).
Apt Pupil / int_6eb4e408	featureApplicability	1.0
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Apt Pupil / int_72e54916	type	Retired Monster
Apt Pupil / int_72e54916	comment	Retired Monster: Young Todd Bowden discovers his quiet German neighbor Arthur Denker is actually Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander and decides to blackmail him. This turns out to be a very, very bad move on Todd's part.
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Apt Pupil	hasFeature	Apt Pupil / int_72e54916
Apt Pupil / int_7453bc5b	type	Spared by the Adaptation
Apt Pupil / int_7453bc5b	comment	Spared by the Adaptation: The film adaptation spares the lives of both Todd himself and his guidance counselor. In the novella, Todd kills him before going on a shooting spree that ultimately ends with Todd being taken down by the police.
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Apt Pupil / int_82a64c4b	type	Adaptational Nice Guy
Apt Pupil / int_82a64c4b	comment	Adaptational Nice Guy: Although he is still a Jerkass obsessed with Nazi crimes in both versions, Todd is a lot less nasty in the film version than he is in the novella. In the book he is a budding sociopath who fantasizes about raping a captive woman in a concentration camp and, together with Dussander, becomes a Serial Killer of hobos before he murders his guidance counselor and finally goes on a killing spree that ends in his death. In the film Todd comes across as more disturbed and immature than Ax-Crazy and sadistic, doesn't have anything as explicit as a rape fantasy during his dreams about the camps (imagining himself as an inmate instead), he and Dussander only kill one homeless person who found out that Dussander was a former Nazi (and only after Dussander locked them together in the basement and the hobo shambled towards him looking like a zombie), and Todd simply blackmails his guidance counselor and goes to college after Dussander dies.
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Apt Pupil / int_a70223	type	Karma Houdini
Apt Pupil / int_a70223	comment	Karma Houdini: Todd in the film version, which removes his final killing spree. It's left ambiguous whether he does manage to beat the rap for his involvement with Dussander, with the film ending after he states his intention to blackmail Ed into keeping quiet, by claiming he's made inappropriate advances towards him in exchange for good grades.
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Apt Pupil	hasFeature	Apt Pupil / int_a70223
Apt Pupil / int_ce6555f0	type	Lighter and Softer
Apt Pupil / int_ce6555f0	comment	Lighter and Softer: The film is far less explicit and violent than the book.
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Apt Pupil / int_name	type	ItemName
Apt Pupil / int_name	comment
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Apt Pupil / int_name	itemName	Apt Pupil

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Apt Pupil	seeAlso	Apt Pupil
Apt Pupil	hasFeature	Adaptational Alternate Ending / int_a9970fc3
Apt Pupil	hasFeature	Films of 1995â€“1999 / int_a9970fc3
Apt Pupil	hasFeature	He Knows Too Much / int_a9970fc3
Apt Pupil	hasFeature	Nazi Grandpa / int_a9970fc3
Apt Pupil	hasFeature	Retired Monster / int_a9970fc3
Works by Stephen King	processingUnknown	Apt Pupil

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