Wordiezett So much average

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Little-Mikey The 1960s was the perfect time to unleash the crazy comic mayhem from Stalag 13 (and its surrounding areas) to the viewing public. Ever notice how the viewer seems to have a 20-year itch? TV shows like COMBAT, 12 O'CLOCK HIGH and McHALE'S NAVY, along with movies taking place in World War Two, were very popular, approximately 20 years after World War Two. In the 1970s, it was MASH and HAPPY DAYS (which took place Approximately 20 years earlier) that became hits. In the late '80s/early '90s, TV shows and movies relating to the Viet Nam conflict were the rage. But back to HOGAN'S HEROES now...The general story line was not that consistent. For example, Carter's German was good enough for him to pass himself as Hitler, himself. In another episode, his German was so bad that he was told to simply shut up. The same footage of that building with the same cars passing by, was used as Gestapo Headquarters and as the Luftwaffe Headquarters. Old film footage from World War Two was used more than once. But then again, we are not talking "accuracy". We are talking "comedy" and this show has plenty of it. Who, during the 1960s, would had ever dreamed that this show would still be popular over 40 years later or that people would shell out money to get this TV series on DVD (or anything for that matter) to view again and again? The cast of characters worked together well and sometimes, there was even some collaboration. People are people. The only caricature was Major Hochstetter, played brilliantly by the late great Howard Caine.Ironically, Caine's caricature was the result of Richard Dawson. While the cast were in the sitting room reading their lines before shooting, Howard Caine provided some comic relief by going off the wall, screaming his lines. But when it was time to shoot the episode, Caine was firm but cool, calm and collected. Richard Dawson then suggested that he read his lines like he did during the reading, "like a madman." Hence, this is how the Major Hochstetter character came about.In the beginning (1965), this show was very funny but as the characters developed and their own individual skills stood out, the show only got better. This series never really "jumped the shark" where the series hit its creative peak, followed by a slow decline in the quality of episodes until the writers found themselves digging the bottom of the barrel for new plots. That doesn't mean that there weren't any "sharks" in the water.It was common knowledge among fans and the cast that HOGAN'S HEROES outlasted everybody's expectations. So CBS, in an effort to justify the cancellation of the show due to poor ratings, moved the show from Friday night to other time slots, on Saturday and on Sunday, to shake the viewing audience.With the handwriting on the wall, it was obvious that the show would face the cancellation ax and the last episode to air on Prime Time would air in March 1971. So the quality of story lines took a drop. This did not mean that the story lines were bad or that there weren't any classic episodes from its final season. There were! But it was noticeable that some corners were being cut and some short cuts were being used. For example, in the earlier episodes, the plot took a turn or two and the final moments (which followed that final commercial break) often had even yet another surprise. In its final season, there weren't as many twists or turns.Had the final season taken place in the early 1980s instead of 1971, they might have ended the series with a farewell episode like they did for MASH. But memories of THE FUGITIVE were still clear. On the final episode of THE FUGITIVE, which was pretty close to breaking all records of being the highest rated episode, Dr. Richard Kimball finally caught that one-armed killer and was finally cleared of the crime he was unjustly convicted of. Then, interest in the series dropped completely off the radar. When THE FUGITIVE went into syndication, viewer interest was low. No doubt, Bing Crosby Productions and later Hogan's Horde, didn't want HOGAN'S HEROES to suffer the same fate.

nroma-1 Most people don't realize that many of the actors who appeared on HH were persecuted by the Nazis in real life. I think that should help to counter the argument that the show trivialized the sufferings of many under the Nazis. Otherwise, why would John Banner, Werner Von Klemperer, Robert Clary, and Leon Askin (General Burkhalter) consent to do the show? I think they took the parts as a sort of revenge against the Nazis who oppressed them. John Banner and Robert Clary were actually inmates in concentration camps. Werner Von Klemperer had to flee Nazi persecution (because his father, the famous conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, Otto, was Jewish). Leon Askin's family were murdered in the Treblinka Death Camp.

Thomas_Veil I won't waste time going over the premise of the show; that has already been done more than adequately by nearly every reviewer here.I will agree that the argument the show being "offensive" is weak. As others said, it was a POW stalag, not a concentration camp. And I'll add that "Hogan's Heroes" played during a period of multiple service comedies, yet it was the best of them, not the worst. Sgt. Bilko was a film-flam man. Cmdr. Quinton McHale occasionally did battle with the Japanese, but you never got the feeling that he or his crew were in danger from anyone but their immediate superior, Capt. Binghamton.The POWs of Stalag 13, however, were another story. Yes, 95% of the time the focus was on Hogan and his men pulling scams on the Nazis and having fun sabotaging their work, but the remaining 5% of the time things could get uncomfortable. A decent number of stories contain scenes in which Hogan's life (or those of his men) are in peril. And as the show went on, characters like Maj. Hochstetter did not fail to notice that many of the Nazis' worst defeats were centered around Stalag 13. Of course, this being a '60s sitcom, you know and I know that nothing really bad is going to happen to Hogan or his crew. Yet these moments always had a genuine tinge of tension to them.But overwhelmingly the focus of the show was around conning the Nazis, disrupting their war plans and in general making fun of them. Bob Crane played Col. Hogan as a born con artist, able to come up with bold, brash scams at the drop of a hat. However, as many actors can tell you, playing the villain is infinitely more fun than playing the hero, and that seems to go doubly well for comedies.How Werner Klemperer must have loved playing the pompous, cowardly Col. Klink! And John Banner as the pacifist, food-loving teddy bear, Sgt. Schultz...watching the two of them together (or separately with Crane), you begin to realize that it was they, not Bob Crane, that had the best roles in the show. Watch Schultz say something lovably idiotic, and Klink snap from a smile to a frown in an instant barking, "Dummkopf!"It is these two, and to a lesser degree the various actors who played the heroes, that made the show so good, I am convinced. Each week Klemperer and Banner virtually put on a comedy acting clinic -- they were that good. And when you added the piggish Gen. Burkhalter and that ultimate Angry White Man, Maj. Hochstetter, things only got funnier. All of these characters were played so well that they remain hysterically memorable more than 40 years later.Try not to concentrate on the inherent absurdity of pulling this stuff off on the Nazis week after week, year after year, and getting away with it, and concentrate more on the exquisite comedic performances, and you will have yourself one hell of a good time.

Steve Kimball I would really put this show as 12 out of 10, I enjoyed it so much. I remember this show when I was a kid in the 60/70's. Now I have it on DVD and I love watching it. I read the user comments here about War insensitivity's and the rest of that kind of rubbish, and I am in disbelief.Hogan's heroes to me was about life. It was about human frailties and heroics, as represented by each of the characters. Klink always defeated by his egomania, and Hogan's never say die attitude to any task he was given.The setting was the War, but this was about people. In a way it was a different version of McHales Navy, all achieved with intelligent humor and not a single foul mouthed word.Where are the talented writers who could make these kinds of shows? Why do we have to suffer todays sit-Com's when shows like Hogan's are proof that people still like these good clean timeless comedies.