Von Ryan's Express (1965)

An American POW leads a group mainly British prisoners to escape from the Germans in WWII.

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

David Westheimer (novel), Wendell Mayes (screenplay),

Stars:

Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Raffaella Carrà

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Sinatra	...	Col. Joseph L. Ryan
Trevor Howard	...	Major Eric Fincham
Raffaella Carrà	...	Gabriella (as Raffaella Carra)
Brad Dexter	...	Sgt. Bostick
Sergio Fantoni	...	Capt. Oriani
John Leyton	...	Orde
Edward Mulhare	...	Costanzo
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Major Von Klemment
James Brolin	...	Private Ames
John Van Dreelen	...	Col. Gortz (as John van Dreelen)
Adolfo Celi	...	Battaglia
Vito Scotti	...	Italian Train Engineer
Richard Bakalyan	...	Corporal Giannini
Michael Goodliffe	...	Captain Stein
Michael St. Clair	...	Sgt. Dunbar

Storyline

Ryan, an American POW, leads his fellow prisoners on a dangerous escape from the Germans in Italy. Having seemingly made errors of judgement, Ryan has to win the support of the mainly British soldiers he is commanding.

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Plot Keywords:

escape | italy | train | soldier | major | 

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Taglines:

Why did 600 Allied prisoners hate the man they called Von Ryan more than they hated Hitler?

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | War

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Italian

Release Date:

23 June 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

El expreso de Von Ryan

Filming Locations:

Cortina d'Ampezzo, Belluno, Veneto, Italy

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 29,721,662 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, P-R Productions Picture

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The leather jacket that Frank Sinatra wore in Von Ryan's Express, was later worn by Bob Crane in Hogan's Heroes. It was later worn by Greg Kinnear in Auto Focus.

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Goofs

The map shows the Passo Maloja in Italy before the Swiss border, but this pass was and is in Switzerland.

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Quotes

Costanzo: [to Gabriella] Um... uh... What are you doing here, my child?
Maj. Eric Fincham: Oh, padre. You are precious!

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Crazy Credits

The film credits and all promotion publicity still say "A Cinemascope Picture", and Alfred Newman's "extended" 20th Century-Fox fanfare is still heard on the soundtrack as the picture begins, but most of the film was actually shot in Panavision, at Frank Sinatra's insistence.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Robot Monster (1990)

User Reviews

Not far off being amongst the best

From a slow start this build into an exciting if somewhat unrealistic war film. However, it was designed for entertainment and not to depict any remotely historical fact.

The cinematography and scenery look good and although no expert on trains, they look from the right period. The characters are not fleshed out but as this is an adventure film this lapse is not too important. Some of the main characters are also casualties by the end thus avoiding the usual Hollywood line from that period of everyone escaping without a scratch.

I'm not a big fan of Sinatra as an actor but he does well here depicting a flawed character who appears both likable and unlikeable. It is established early in the film that Col Ryan is not a career airman and has limited military experience and so it is not surprising that he makes some key mistakes although he does learn from them.

The supporting cast is good although with the exception of John Leyton far too old to have been on military service.

Not up with the very best WW2 films but well above the average.