In my childhood I grew up  on a lot of classic television. Some which many know, the likes of The Cosby Show, Sanford and Son & The Jeffersons. Some not that many know of, like Faulty Towers, Keeping Up Appearances and Black Adder. One show, which I’m uncertain which category it falls into, was Hogan’s Heroes. It’s a show placed in a German POW (prisoners of war) camp with an array of American characters all trying to just get by. THAT’S THIS MOVIE! And I didn’t know that.

Going in I felt I had the general gist and for some weird reason Hogan’s Heroes didn’t come to mind. It’s not until I watched Animal and Shapiro started taking little gags at the camp commander Schultz that it hit me. I was left dumbfounded. I thought I was in for some random Billy Wilder fun, but to discover it wasn’t just that but Wilder had birthed this world for me. I know it was based on a play, but this film is what’s cited as Hogan’s Heroes’ originator, so I’m uncertain as to how much of the play was actually this movie, besides the camp and Americans.

Like some of the more lighthearted outings by Wilder that I’ve seen, Some Like it Hot and The Fortune Cookie, the film manages to entertain seamlessly. This film however really feels somewhere between the straight up silly of Some Like it Hot and the seriously deft The Apartment where while it’s entertaining we’re sort of left with a darkness of the reality. While the film never makes it out to be the extent of Schindler’s List or Rescue Dawn where true despair is expressed it’s there in the back of our minds. Sefton and Duke make the most of their accommodations and as they play with Schultz and have their own small shenanigans that we revel in the film knows what it is. We watch as escapees are killed, as a head of camp commands them into submission with as much passive aggression as one could imagine while understanding that true pain awaits those who reject his commands.

So basically what I’m saying is that this is a fun as hell prison comedy war film; but when you spend some time with these characters you’ll feel more than just the upbeat tone of their wishes to not feel nothing but hate due to their location and their scenario. The film it reminds me the most of is Cool Hand Luke, in all the best ways.