About forty years after The One That Got Away came out, another film involving the escape of a German national from Allied hands with another fair haired lead became my favorite film with Brad Pitt. Seven Years in Tibet was done with a much larger budget, but involves the same test of human endurance and escape that Hardy Kruger goes through here.
Probably for the first time in British cinema a German during World War II was made a three dimensional human being. We don't get any hint of Kruger's politics, even so I think it would have been irrelevant to the story.
This incident in fact is a true one, taking place in 1940 during the first days of the Luftwaffe attacks on the United Kingdom. Kruger is determined to get back to the fight at all costs. He proves a charismatic and inspirational leader to his comrades.
Kruger makes two attempts to escape while in British custody, but it's only over in Canada where he's being sent to a prison near Lake Superior that he makes his most daring try. Jumping from a train taking him to internment, he walks across to America.
This is where I can appreciate the film the most. The last twenty minutes of the film are almost without dialog as Kruger is alone. What he does is reach the St. Lawrence River and it being in the middle of winter finds it frozen over. Seeing that he walks over and makes it to upstate New York.
Living as I do on one of the Great Lakes I can appreciate what that entails more than others. I've lived through eleven winters in Buffalo by now and some of them have been pretty bad. Lake Erie does in fact freeze over as does the St. Lawrence. I certainly wouldn't want to try to walk across Lake Erie even if I was a 20 something as Kruger is in The One That Got Away.
No matter what you feel about the politics of World War II, you've got to admire this man's grit and determination. Hardy Kruger's impressive performance puts that over for you.
By all means see this film when TCM has it on again.
Probably for the first time in British cinema a German during World War II was made a three dimensional human being. We don't get any hint of Kruger's politics, even so I think it would have been irrelevant to the story.
This incident in fact is a true one, taking place in 1940 during the first days of the Luftwaffe attacks on the United Kingdom. Kruger is determined to get back to the fight at all costs. He proves a charismatic and inspirational leader to his comrades.
Kruger makes two attempts to escape while in British custody, but it's only over in Canada where he's being sent to a prison near Lake Superior that he makes his most daring try. Jumping from a train taking him to internment, he walks across to America.
This is where I can appreciate the film the most. The last twenty minutes of the film are almost without dialog as Kruger is alone. What he does is reach the St. Lawrence River and it being in the middle of winter finds it frozen over. Seeing that he walks over and makes it to upstate New York.
Living as I do on one of the Great Lakes I can appreciate what that entails more than others. I've lived through eleven winters in Buffalo by now and some of them have been pretty bad. Lake Erie does in fact freeze over as does the St. Lawrence. I certainly wouldn't want to try to walk across Lake Erie even if I was a 20 something as Kruger is in The One That Got Away.
No matter what you feel about the politics of World War II, you've got to admire this man's grit and determination. Hardy Kruger's impressive performance puts that over for you.
By all means see this film when TCM has it on again.