Escape to Athena (1979)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Purely Joyful Movie!

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

It's really tough to make a comedy out of a POW movie, and it's even tougher to make the most predominant Nazi character likable. Somehow, Escape to Athena manages to do both. Elliott Gould and Stephanie Powers are American entertainers, taken to the famous Stalag 17 prison camp, where veteran residents David Niven, Sonny Bono, and Richard Roundtree show them the ropes. It turns out, the gang is only pretending to behave and cozy up to their captors; they're involved in a secret plot to liberate the camp, with outside help from Telly Savalas and Claudia Cardinale. By far, my favorite part of the movie is when Elliott and Stephanie arrive. They walk past some prisoners outside in the fenced yard, and Elliott gives a double-take to William Holden. "You're still here?" he asks, referencing Bill's Oscar-winning performance in 1953's Stalag 17. Even though the movie can feel a little strange at times-Roger Moore plays a Nazi and he frequently jokes around with the POWs, and he treats Stephanie like a girlfriend instead of a prisoner-it's actually pretty good. There are some tense moments when the gang takes steps in their master plan of escape, and there are some pretty cute moments of camaraderie. If this type of quirky comedy appeals to you, you'll probably like it. It's not one I'll watch over and over again, but I did enjoy it.

Despite the interesting cast (Elliot Gould! David Niven! Roger Moore as a German! Sonny Bono!) and the truly amazing scenery on the island of Rhodes, I have to disagree with other posters on this site who have given this film even a modestly positive rating. This has to be one of the worst war films ever.If you've ever seen Kelly's Heroes (1970), you may remember Donald Sutherland's character Oddball, who spoke in a late-60s, early-70s hippy-dippy patois, calling things "groovy" and "out-a-sight" and so on. This kind of anachronistic speech spoils large sections of Escape to Athena. I wonder how old the script was at the time it was made... When Gould's character says to Moore's that he will have the "grooviest camp around," I had to check the release date (NINE years after Kelly's Heroes).***SPOILERS AHEAD*** Near the end of the film, when the true objective of the Greek resistance becomes clear (a V-2 type rocket installation), the Germans roll out one of their weapons, trailed by a company of men in (anachronistic) mirrored-visor helmets. I presume that buying the helmets was cheaper than hiring more extras, since they allowed any actor, even one that had appeared earlier, who had been shot or blown up, to reappear in a jumpsuit and helmet and...march...slowly... in lockstep....behind...a rocket...without performing any function whatsoever! It's laughable! I though I had suddenly fallen through a filmic wormhole into a bad James Bond imitation.A complete waste of time.

It's always weird for me to see an actor who played James Bond in another movie from that period of their 007 career. This would have to be the weirdest so far.Roger Moore plays an antique collecting SS Officer stationed in Greece during WWII who runs a prison camp. In this camp, which more or less resembles a resort, are David Niven (also a former James Bond,) Richard Roundtree (Shaft!,) and Sonny Bono (the ex-Mr. Cher.) In a 'Hogan's Heroes' type set-up they annoy Roger Moore and his evil SS colleague (played by Anthony Valentine) by always trying to escape. When they are caught, instead of being put to death they are given a slap on the wrist. You see, it turns out that Roger Moore isn't a bad Nazi, he's just an opportunist, which we learn when two American art dealers, played by Elliot Gould and Stefanie Powers, arrive. He and the three prisoners and these two Americans plan on stealing some treasure hidden in a local monastery. When the Germans lose the war, they'll make millions.Meanwhile, Telly Savalas (a former Bond villain) plays a Greek resistance fighter who is holed up in a local brothel run by the vampy Claudia Cardinale. He plans on liberating the Nazi prison camp and destroying a German submarine.After an overlong and dull second act, it turns out that the Nazi's have turned the local monastery into a secret launch pad for a deadly nuclear bomb. Telly leads Mr. Cher, Shaft, and Elliot Gould up the cliffs to the monastery while Moore, Niven and Stefanie Powers get to work on destroying the German submarine.If only any of it were exciting. This movie is only good for seeing such a big, interesting cast in such a big disaster of a WWII adventure. The most egregious offender is Elliot Gould, whose character seems like he's right out of the 70's, not the 40's. In fact, this whole film seems to take place in some alternate reality where WWII continued on into the late 1970's.

I am always keen to try war films with a good amount of actors in the cast, and even though this had a low rating, I was still willing to try it, from George P. Cosmatos (Rambo: First Blood Part II, Tombstone). Basically it is World War II, and the Germans have managed to sweep through Greece where camp Stalag VII-Z is located where various civilian prisoners have been thrown. The camp is under control of unpleasant brutality enjoying SS Major Volkmann (Anthony Valentine), and the more charming and former dodgy Viennese art merchant Major Otto Hecht (Sir Roger Moore). Amongst the prisoners who have been spared their lives are archaeology Professor Blake (David Niven), American show performer and presenter Charlie Del Mar (Elliott Gould) and his wife Dottie (Stefanie Powers), black POW Nat Judson (Richard Roundtree), and Italian cook Bruno Rotelli (Sonny Bono). Local Greek resistance leader Zeno (Telly Savalas) and these prisoners have plans not to escape the camp, but to take it over to avoid more villagers being executed. However, they all have the same goal when they hear of priceless treasures on the nearby Mount Athena inside the monastery, and Hecht is persuaded to help with a cut. Of course with an invasion on the way Zeno and the gang have to hurry before the secret German rocket installation beneath the monastery mountain can be activated. Also starring Claudia Cardinale as Eleana and William Holden as Prisoner smoking a cigar in prison camp. Moore might be a good charming lead, but his German accent is terrible, and co-stars Niven, Savalas, Gould and Roundtree all get their moments too. The war element is possibly the least focused part of the story which I found really boring in parts, so much so I even dozed off, not even the explosions and action could do much to grab my attention, so a disappointing war adventure. Adequate!