Titreenp
SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
XoWizIama
Excellent adaptation.
Teringer
An Exercise In Nonsense
Gutsycurene
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
reinders1
The song that the prisoners sang was "Die Gedanken sind frei" Which roughly translates to My thoughts are free. It told the Germans that although you have my body in prison, you will never imprison have my spirit. This movie is one of my all time favorites. As a kid growing up, I loved movies and songs that showed American ingenuity. The premise of building a glider to escape from prison fascinated me. You can see the German words to the song at the following website: http://www.online.ee/~pikka/voorlaul.html#50 If you want to know what the words mean, copy and paste the test to Google's translation program.
ondessonk71
It has been over 30 years since I've seen the movie "The Birdmen." I only remember bits and pieces---one scene that comes to mind is a song one of the captured POWs sing that really bothered the Germans. Even after all these years, I still remember that melody. I'm hoping to try and find it on VHS or DVD-now that I know what the title is. (Thank you IMDb.com). When it first aired, I remember my brother and I watching it. Since neither of us really cared about history-we only watched it for our own reasons. I was a fan of Chuck Connors and my brother liked Richard Baseheart. And of course; we both knew who Max Baer, Jr was. It would make a welcome addition to anyones video/DVD library.
shazza_woywoy
I think this movie is one of the best made for the period and about the war. The determination of the POW's to escape and the importance of one man to the world, and the US government is shown in the drama. The actors include Chuck Connors, and others fit like a glove into their roles.
BYellin
This movie's not bad for a TV movie, but it's interesting to note it's historical basis. Colditz Castle was 'Supermax'; the German repository for Allied 'Escape Experts'. Every prisoner in residence had at least one close-to-successful escape attempt from another facility under his belt.Colditz had the distinction of being the only German POW camp where the guards outnumbered the prisoners. Even so, successful escapes were made.The most daring plan involved the building of the glider in this movie.It was actually built, but never used. They were ready to go a month or two before the end of the war, but all prisoners were ordered through the intelligence network by London to sit tight because the Germans had begun shooting escapees. The Colditz gang decided to follow their orders and save the glider to be used in case the Germans starting murdering prisoners and a quick, sure way was needed to get someone 'over the wire' to alert the oncoming Allied forces.The camp was liberated without incident and the glider was shown around for a few weeks as a morale booster to repatriates of other camps. It was then boosted back up into the attic, but disappeared over the winter of 1945-46; probably destroyed by Russian officers billetted there and used as firewood against the unusually severe winter.
For more info read P.R. Reid's "ESCAPE FROM COLDITZ".
