everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The setting is a prisoner of war camp for German soldiers, located in Scotland. A tough, cynical, hard drinking Irishman named Jack Connor (Brian Keith) is called in to help out camp officials, since there is now much unrest among the Nazis. Connor and the others realize that their prisoners are planning an elaborate escape, and Connor has an idea that could either lead to glory for him, or be a bad, bad mistake.There are no true "heroes" and "villains" in this interesting, unusual, even-handed narrative, scripted by William W. Norton from the book by Sir Sidney Shelley. Rather, our protagonists and antagonists are equally wily opponents, trying to out-think each other. While ordinarily one wouldn't be rooting for the Nazis, you can't help but admire these characters' determination and ingenuity. As the story plays out, it becomes more and more a matter of a race against time, and it keeps the viewer riveted.The characters are colourful and compelling. Both Keith, and Helmut Griem, as his primary foe, are flawed, but charismatic. They're both excellent, and receive very strong support from a cast including Ian Hendry (as the major in charge of the camp), Jack Watson, Patrick O'Connell, Horst Janson, Gregg Palmer, and Michael Sheard. The relationship between Keith and Hendry is kind of a thorny one, as they differ over methodology, but it's just as fascinating to watch them butt heads as it is to see Keith and Griem engage in their little chess game.Granted, the camp personnel end up not looking very good since the Germans are able to pull off so much. But, overall, this is an over looked, and sometimes exciting, wartime film from a capable journeyman director, Lamont Johnson ("The Last American Hero", "One on One").Eight out of 10.

Brian Keith is well-cast as an Irish-born Army Captain with the British forces during WWII who is penalized for some indiscretions and busted down to Intelligence Officer at a prisoner-of-war camp in Scotland; the German inmates there take their orders from a megalomaniac Nazi Kapitänleutnant, who is supervising the digging of a tunnel underneath the barracks to freedom. Although ultimately let down by the lax editing and the careful if plodding pace, this is a well-realized vision of wartime behind barbed wire. The picture runs too long and has some beleaguered plot-threads (such as the sacrificial homosexual), though the match of wits between adept, assured Keith and smug, shrewd Helmut Griem is riveting. The locations (via Ireland and Turkey) give the film a vivid and unique look, and screenwriter William Norton's dialogue is extraordinarily direct. The finale is somewhat dragged out (and far-fetched in the bargain), yet it provides for a satisfying, sardonic close. **1/2 from ****

An interesting war film that differs from others in a number of ways. Firstly,the plot concerns German prisoners of war held in a POW camp in Scotland planning an escape. While many films have featured Allied POWs, it's quite rare to find one that focuses on Germans held in captivity (Hardy Kruger as "The one that got away" is another example). Secondly, the Germans actually speak in German as opposed to some studio manufactured pidgin English. This adds a welcome note of authenticity so often missing from big name war movies made around the same time. The cut that I've seen on British TV was certainly subtitled. I note that another reviewer had the misfortune to watch a non-subtitled version - he has my sympathy! Another interesting point is that - in a subplot - the film has a gay German POW being persecuted and subsequently murdered by his own compatriots. Whether this actually happened and how much of the film is based on fact I'm not sure. However, the Nazi persecution of homosexuals is well-documented, but not often seen on the screen. It must have been a fairly bold move for a film made in 1970 to address this. There are some loopholes, but it remains well-acted and intriguing.

When a sub-genre is established in the wonderfully diverse cosmology of film, you can bet that someone in this post-modern, media savvy world will add to it. Only they'll have knowing winks to the audience when the usual hoops are jumped through or they'll play with those expectations and pull the rug out from under you by subverting them and twisting the plot. We all know the score, they know we know, we know they know we know ad infinitum, or more often, nauseam. It comes as a surprise to me that someone was at this in 1970 with a humble POW movie.The inmates are tunnelling out. Dummies in for escapees at roll call, check. Uniforms manufactured in camp, check. Tunnel cave-in during the escape, check. It's not all by the numbers though. We have a vaulting horse. No tunnel mouth there though as you can see right under it. Good topsoil on the turnip patch, but that's not where they're hiding the spoil. That this is a British POW camp the those escaping are German prisoners is unusual and welcome. Maybe the biggest twist of all is that the whole escape has been rumbled by the authorities, but they let them escape in order to net a bigger prize.OK, it's not as knowing as anything since 1994, but it does play with the genre well, albeit a little ham-fistedly at time. Underneath the genre trappings there's a good little drama with a central duel between an Irish Captain in British Intelligence and the U-Boat Commander commanding officer in camp. Both are willing to bend and break the rules in pursuit of their aims. One of them will even kill to achieve his aims. Both are highly flawed individuals. Both are self-centred and neither of them succeed. From a simple set up at the start, the film reaches a fresh and unexpected conclusion to give a true stand-out film.There are some clumsy cuts and overlays to demonstrate simultaneous actions in various locations as the escape progresses that really don't work and the drive of the second half of the film falls flat. The feuds within the camp, both that between captors and captives and between the Luftwaffe and the Submariners, are edgy. The tension created evaporates as soon as the escapees are out of the camp. It all gets a little clunky. However, overall this is a good film and definitely one to watch if you like your post-modernism freshly minted from the 70s.