Escape en Atenas

I only recently got to see this movie and – on the basis of the all-start cast and the still pictures that I had seen – I was expecting a well-made and slightly offbeat war film. I was very disappointed. This movie can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a comedy or an action / adventure yarn, and in the end it largely fails to deliver on either front. Roger Moore is hopelessly miscast as the antiques-loving German (or rather Austrian) PoW camp commandant, and a number of the other characters such as Sonny Bono's Italian chef, Michael Sheard's oafish German sergeant and Telly Savalas' Greek resistance leader are extremely caricature-ish. Even Richard Rowntree's PoW character comes across merely as Shaft in a GI uniform (coming out with expressions like `he's one cool cat'). The character Charlie (played by Elliot Gould) is a civilian USO entertainer whose plane was shot down over the Mediterranean, with him and his female colleague being captured and placed in the PoW camp. However, when these two are introduced early on, we see them looking like a pair of well-heeled American holidaymakers. Both are immaculately groomed and dressed, and they certainly don't look like two people who have just been fished out of the Mediterranean after their plane has been shot out of the sky - the woman is even lugging all her suitcases behind her!!! I assume that we're supposed to believe that they too would have survived the shootdown without even a scuff mark and then floated up from the plane wreckage to be conveniently retrieved. I have to admit that initially I found the Charlie character fairly amusing and even laughed at some of his one-liners. But ultimately he became more annoying than funny. The action scenes later on were also fairly predictable and boring. I got the impression that the makers of this movie were trying to combine elements from those classic war films `The Guns Of Navarone', `The Great Escape' and `Kelly's Heroes' (we even had David Niven who appeared in the former and Telly Savalas from the latter). But this movie is not a classic in any way, shape or form. It oozes mediocrity in all areas. On the plus side, the Greek islands location is wonderful and the camera work is on the whole pretty good. And the beautiful Claudia Cardinale graces any movie that she's in. On balance though I'd have to give this film just 3½ out of 10. Not the worst war film I've ever seen, but definitely `below average' and – given the amount of big names in it – the end result is a massive disappointment.

This film came free with today's paper, so perhaps I'm in an indulgent frame of mind. However, much as I admire the wit shown by IMDb members in panning this film, I have to disagree with them. Escape to Athena is a very enjoyable romp indeed, with all sorts of excellent stylistic touches, some really gratifying explosions, humour that is a trifle dated but not so bad if you lean back and accept it, and an interesting plot. I don't know why people require a movie to go all the way in one direction, ie be edge-of-the-seat suspense, or cataclysmic tragedy, or roll-in-the-aisles hilarious, or weepie romantic etc. etc. Why can't it be a bit of everything? I think we're far too used to the extremes that have become fashionable of late. Forget Daniel Day-Lewis bursting a vein, if just for one evening. You'll feel better for it. However, Telly really can't dance. That I must agree with.

This WWII movie takes place on somewhere in Greek islands during 1944 , a misfit prisoners group(a stoic David Niven,a two-fisted Richard Roundtree, among them) are scheming escape from the concentration camp and at the same time the robbing in an Ortodox monastery at the top of the island's mountain. At the bunch appear a distinguished David Niven(whose son David Niven Jr is producer), an Italian cook(Sonny Bono), a member of the Greek Resistance(Telly Savalas), a prostitute( beautiful Claudia Cardinale) and among Nazis are a former Viennese art merchant(likable Roger Moore) and a cruel Nazi(Anthony Valentine).The gentleman Nazi officer Moore is stuck with the outfit of goof-offs as they search for the Greek treasure.

Basically an amusing action filled /wartime/and comedy set during WWII. It's a crossover among the rogue soldiers from ¨The Kelly's heroes(Brian G Hutton)¨, the getaway from ¨The great escape(John Sturges)¨ and the humor included in ¨Hogan's heroes¨ taking parts here and there. This wartime picture which is short in realism instead we have far-fetched but moving blow up, shoot'em up, fighting , it should please most adventure-action-comedy buffs.Middling screenplay by the prestigious Edward Anhalt.Some characters aren't credible in 1944 setting , neither the Nais soldiers dressed in black when parade along with the secret German rocket installation.Roger Moore is miscast as an Nazi official and Elliott Gould as a hippie-alike sound embarrassing. Cameo by William Holden as prisoner smoking a cigar in prison camp and he appears uncredited. Luminous and shimmer photography by Gilbert Taylor. Stirring and military musical score by Lalo Schifrin. This improbable motion picture is professionally directed by George Pan Cosmatos. Although the movie has some aspects a little tough to take , this caper film still has its moments.This large-scale and lavishly produced pic attempts a bemusing atmosphere with regular results.

Roger Moore is the Austrian commandant of a German POW camp located in the Grecian Isles in Escape to Athena. He's got a couple of favorites among the prisoners, an Italian cook in Sonny Bono, an archaeologist in David Niven and a black GI magician in Richard Roundtree. In addition USO entertainers Elliott Gould and Stefanie Powers are shot down in their transport plane and become Moore's prisoners.

Moore really hasn't got his heart in the commandant business. He's an antique dealer in civilian life and he relishes the assignment only because of the location where he's also involved in Adolph Hitler's looting of Greek antiquities of which there are many in that area. Niven and company aid him because if they didn't they'd be in the hands of the SS. STill they want there freedom.

Which they get when they join with resistance leader Telly Savalas and his mistress, bordello madam Claudia Cardinale. It's rumored there's a lot of hidden loot in a monastery on a nearby hill, whatever Moore hasn't taken for his own private stock for after the war. But Savalas is interested in some prototype V2 rockets located there.

Escape to Athena mixes the plot elements of The Guns of Navarone and Topkapi, but they're not stirred too well. The scenery is quite nice and I'm sure the prospect of some paid time in the Aegean Sea might have been a big inducement for all these people signing on for the movie.

As he was involved with Stefanie Powers at the time, William Holden gets a small unbilled cameo in a brief scene with Elliott Gould. As it turns out Moore's Prison Camp is also Stalag XVII. That might have been part of the package for Stefanie to go to Greece.

It was also plain dumb to make Richard Roundtree a black GI. Americans were not involved in that theater, let alone black soldiers. Now if they had made his character be part of the African colonial troops of the British Empire, it would have made more sense. Then again we couldn't have heard Roundtree call a German soldier a 'cool cat'.

The action sequences are done well enough, but the cast here just collected their paychecks and walked through the parts.

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.