Col. Hogan and his Heroes assist local resistance forces sabotage hidden explosive stashes the Gestapo plans to use to destroy bridges and other resources as the Nazis prepare to retreat fro... Read allCol. Hogan and his Heroes assist local resistance forces sabotage hidden explosive stashes the Gestapo plans to use to destroy bridges and other resources as the Nazis prepare to retreat from advancing Allied Forces.Col. Hogan and his Heroes assist local resistance forces sabotage hidden explosive stashes the Gestapo plans to use to destroy bridges and other resources as the Nazis prepare to retreat from advancing Allied Forces.
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Did you know
- TriviaNewlyweds Bob Crane (Colonel Hogan) and Sigrid Valdis (Hilda) have two scenes where they are kissing in the office and are interrupted by Corporal Newkirk (Richard Dawson). They were married October 16th and this episode aired November 22, 1970.
- GoofsThe sound speaker that Hogan repairs for Schultz is of a 1960's, not 1940's, design.
- Quotes
Col. Wilhelm Klink: [Hochstetter is placing TNT in Klink's cells/cooler] But you're using the cooler to store it.
Maj. Wolfgang Hochstetter: You have no prisoners in there. You run such a perfect camp, Klink, you have no need for a cooler.
Col. Wilhelm Klink: You cannot use it, and that's final.
Maj. Wolfgang Hochstetter: You have one simple alternative, Commandant. You can transfer to a frontline combat unit.
Col. Wilhelm Klink: My cooler is your cooler.
Listening in via their electronic bug in Klink's office, the Heroes, Colonel Hogan's intelligence and sabotage unit operating clandestinely from the prisoner-of-war camp, decide to waylay Schultz and help themselves to free dynamite for their missions. However, Schultz's truck seems to have disappeared from the road they have staked out, although the portly sergeant appears back in Stalag 13 the next morning as if nothing was amiss. What happened to the dynamite? And what is Hochstetter going to use it for?
That's the setup for Laurence Marks's typically well-crafted script that balances humor and seriousness in an effective story from the unlikely front lines in the war against Nazi Germany during World War Two. To discover what Hochstetter is up to, Sergeant Carter poses as the "fire chief" of Hammelburg, replete with a glorious fire helmet that must have been filched from a Wagner opera, needing to inspect the cooler for "Fire Prevention Week" as Larry Hovis trots out his wacky-German-official imitation once again.
Accompanying Carter is sultry underground agent Elsa (Lyn Peters), who, posing as his secretary, distracts Hochstetter by inflaming him with her feminine charms. Seldom has Marks approached such slapstick--just witness the Marx Brothers-styled hijinks (if not Three Stooges-styled ones) that ensue from Carter's mischief that enables the Heroes to learn what Hochstetter is up to with all this dynamite.
However, Marks never forgets that the war--and the Nazis--were not all fun and games, and he uses the not-inconsiderable byplay Bob Crane and Werner Klemperer had developed over the course of the series to illustrate this most keenly. When Hogan objects to dynamite being stored in a POW camp, stating that, "it's against all the rules of civilized warfare," Klink replies, "There is no such thing as civilized warfare." That earns him this rebuke from Hogan: "You guys ought to know about that." Capping this exchange is Klink's telling rationale that still resonates today: "My orders are to cooperate with the Gestapo, and when I'm given an order, I obey it. I'm a good German," with the emphasis on "good."
It is this seemingly contradictory blend of merry mockery and cutting critique that continues to make "Hogan's Heroes" such a fascinating viewing experience, particularly in the episodes penned by Laurence Marks, although director Bob Sweeney accents wonderfully with canny shot framing, whether setting John Banner's Schultz up in the opening gambit or pinning Klemperer's Klink down for interrogation in the "good German" exchange. With an explosive mix of laughs and lessons, "It's Dynamite" is a blast to watch.
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- darryl-tahirali
- Jun 27, 2023