19 Jan The McKenzie Break
The McKenzie Break, WWII Movie starring Brian Keith
(1970) This British film centers around a German POW camp in Scotland. The Germans are out of control and the camp’s Commanding Officer can’t seem to do anything about it. This was quite a switch since most of the POW movies we watch are about the Allied soldiers in German camps. I kept thinking that if these hijinks happened in one of those camps the Germans would have taken care of the situation easily.
An Irish intelligence officer (Brian Keith) is brought in to handle the situation. It was interesting to watch the Germans’ plot to escape unfold. At one point, the British received orders to handcuff 25 of the German prisoners because supposedly 25 Allied prisoners had been handcuffed in one of their camps.
I watched The McKenzie Break as part of the Military Channel’s “An Officer and a Movie.” Lou Diamond Phillips and his guest host talk about how untrained the camp commanders were “back then” for much of anything beyond custodial care. Phillips explained that the story is based on an actual escape of German prisoners of war that occurred in a camp in Ontario, Canada. In the novel The Bowmanville Break author Sidney Shelley related events in the Canadian camp and was the spark that led to The McKenzie Break movie.
The ending was abrupt but exciting to watch as a German submarine attempted to pick up the escapees.
The McKenzie Break at amazon.com
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