POWs

By any measure, they are one of the dreariest (and scariest) places on earth, and yet, prisoner of war camps have been the subject of many good movies. 

Let’s start with the outstanding Stalag 17 (1953). Billy Wilder directed fellow director Otto Preminger (really good as the Nazi commandant), William Holden, and an excellent ensemble cast. The film blends comedy and drama nicely, and makes the boredom of the prisoners’ everyday lives very watchable. Mr. Holden is suspected of collaborating with the Germans. Find out for yourself!

Mr. Holden also appears in Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), which won a half-dozen Oscars including Best Picture.  Alec Guiness, as the ranking Allied Officer, won for Best Actor. He becomes enamored with the task of building a bridge for the Japanese, one that Mr.Holden et al want to blow up. This is one of the most suspensful movies ever made!

Steve McQueen, in a role that made him a star, heads a stellar cast in The Great Escape (1963), including  Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn. The title says it all. Mr. McQueen’s motorcycle ride is as thrilling as the prisoners’ escape attempt. This film is tremendously exciting!

King Rat (1965) features George Segal, Tom Courtenay, John Mills and James Fox in James Clavell’s story of the effect of being a POW on the inmates. More cerebral and less cliched than most of the genre, this one still has plenty of excitement. 

POWs are not a big part of The Deer Hunter (1978), yet the infamous tiger cages are not easily forgotten. This one took Best Movie and a host of other Oscars.It is the compelling story of young Pennsylvania steelworkers before, during and after their stint in Viet Nam. Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep head a fine cast. The image of Christopher Walken playing Russian Roulette for money sticks with you. 

Frank Sinatra is an Allied Colonel leading an escape from a Nazi prison camp in Von Ryan’s Express (1965). It’s not giving too much away to tell you the plot involves hijacking a German train. The scene with Mr. Sinatra racing to catch up to the end of the train is splendid. 

More recently there is The Mauritanian (2021) with Jodie Foster as good as she has ever been as a lawyer determined to get justice for an innocent man held in the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison camp. This one is on us, folks. She finally gets him released after 14 years in detention, never having been charged. She is aided by Army attorney Stuart Couch (from Asheboro!) ably portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. 

And finally, there is Unbroken (2014) with a virtually unknown cast in a true story of a horrible Japanese prison camp and the redemption of an inmate.

All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are ok for ages10 and up.