Hogan's Heroes

This is a hilarious, side splitting comedy that baby boomers such as myself grew up with. Although it has been criticized, personally, I don't think it trivializes the evils of the Nazis or the genuine suffering during the war. Most people can accept this wildly ridiculous program for the total nonsense it is. Frankly, I can hardly believe that anyone would actually get their views of prison camp life from this drivel, or genuinely consider the German military as real life incompetent idiots based upon this crazy show. In short, no one could possibly take this tomfoolery seriously.

The series revolves around the wacky goings on at Stalag 13, a German POW camp for Allied soldiers. The assorted prisoners, led by Colonel Hogan, are actually using the camp as a base for sabotaging the German war effort and assisting the Allies. They have a wealth of tunnels underneath the camp going virtually everywhere and are in constant contact with Allied command via radio communication. These POW's are unwittingly aided in their efforts by those in charge at Stalag 13, the incompetent Colonel Klink and his assistant, the even more bumbling Sargent Schultz.

Of course the entire premise is absurd, which is what makes the series so hugely entertaining. The whole point is that these soldiers aren't really prisoners at all. They can escape whenever they wish...and frequently do so whenever it suits their purpose. I seem to recall they've even made it to France and back.

The actors portraying the Allied POW's are all charmingly competent in their roles, including Bob Crane as the smug American Colonel Hogan, Richard Dawson as the British Newkirk, Robert Clary as the little French Le Beau, and Larry Hovis as the bumbling Carter.

However, the real stars are the German roles. Werner Klemperer is absolutely brilliant as the endearing fool Colonel Klink, scrutinizing his charges with his monocle. Klink simply wants to give the impression to his superior officers (especially General Burkhalter) that all is running smoothly and thus avoid being sent to the dreaded Russian Front. Even more lovable is the simple minded Sargent Schultz, played by John Banner. He is easily manipulated by Hogan and friends to unknowingly set up ideal conditions for various secret operations planned by the POW's. His stock phrase is 'I know nothing' whenever he witnesses the prisoners' shenanigans and finds them too unsettling or troublesome to report. The villain of the piece (though none of it's taken very seriously) is the evil, mustachioed Major Hochstetter, an ardent Nazi and Gestapo officer.

Nothing is the least plausible about this tale, which I believe is the reason it serves as no threat to the actual historical record. The series is quite simply a hoot. It's especially fun observing that Hogan and Company are actually good friends of a fashion with the bumbling Klink and Schultz, though of course they chuckle at them behind their backs. The POWs depend upon the ongoing incompetence of this pair for their own anti Nazi endeavours, and their greatest fear is that these two German officers will be replaced by others they can't so easily hoodwink. Wonderful fun series...turn off your brain and enjoy.

This TV show is set in World War II, and that in itself was a very bold move to base a sitcom in a such a dark period of human history. This show excels for having, for the most part a good and generally non-realised talented cast. The stories are entertaining and have a decent amount of tension yet it most definitely doesn't take itself too seriously.

As a previous comment pointed out this show was one of the first to portray an African-American as an equal to white people which was very bold and positive move for a 1960's show. Star Trek had at the same time given black people and women a status of equality to men when they cast Nichelle Nichols as an African American woman as a main character. So I am very pleased at the fact that the producers took a chance and made this character righfully as an equal.

The theme music is catchy, ok may be slightly annoying but Jerry Fielding did a competent job. I a m not sure who scores the rest of the episodes, it seems they reuse and make music for certain episodes and recycle whenever they can probably due to budget but its edited nicely. You may be able to know that film editor Michael Kahn started his editing career on this show and has edited many of Steven Spielbergs films to the present. This brings up the issue of production quality. Not bad for 1960's standards for a less than 30 minute job, editing is pretty good, music, cinematography is alright. Not fantastic but this the 1960s.

The aforementioned cast are filled with talent. Most notably is the principle cast, Schultz (John Banner), Klink (Werner Klemperer) and Hogan (Bob Crane). This show has had nothing but top notch actors and guest actors. Bob Crane may have dabbled in some undesirable off-camera infamous affairs but he is nevertheless a great actor.

Watch this show if you haven't, some episodes are forgettable, some are great, some are just fantastic.

One of the all time best comedies? I would say most probably so :).

Hogan's Heroes is probably the wildest most far-fetched series next to Gilligan's Island to become successful where so many even more far-fetched shows barely make it their first year. The show had a fine cast, great writing and even edge of the seat adventures as you wondered how Hogan and his men, Americans Andrew Carter, Sgt. James Kinchloe, Sgt. Richard Baker, British Peter Newkirk, French Louis LeBeau and Russian Leonid Kinsky in the pilot, pulled the wool over and outfoxed the Nazis. Werner Klemperer did a wonderful characterization as the pompous Commodant Wilhelm Klink and John Banner became a hysterical Sgt. Hans Schultz with his mugging and facial expressions. The only other roles of recurring Nazis belong to short-tempered General Ivan Burkhalter and the madman Major Wolfgang Hochstetter as played by Leon Askin and Howard Caine, two wonderful character actors. The critics of this show need to go back to school and learn the differences between P.O.W. Camps and Concentration Camps; even people in Germany watching this show today can see the humor and lack of logic in the Nazi's claims of being the superior master race and it is that same arrogance that works so well against them as Hogan uses their own delusions to his advantages. The show is also worthy to watch to see the early roles of William Christopher from M*A*S*H* and repeating returns of director Norm Pitlik as an actor. During the run of the series, the man must have had thirty different roles. Larry Hovis also made repeated impersonations as Hitler, and Bob Crane even got the chance to shine in one episode with his skills as a drummer. Sadly, the exterior sets of the series no longer exist, vanished along with the fictional towns of Hammelsburg and Mayberry, North Carolina.

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.

My grandfather was a survivor of Auschwitz and several other concentration camps. Hogan's Heroes was one of his favorite shows, because it made the Nazis look like buffoons. So to those who complain that Hogan's Heroes is insensitive, I say that there is always room for a little humor.

This remains one of my favorite shows. The acting is great, and it's clear that the actors are having fun with what are admittedly silly story lines.

This is a classic show. I wish we saw more of HH on reruns, but I will be going out to get the DVDs.