Hannibal Brooks (1969)

A prisoner of war working at a zoo gets the chance to escape from the Germans, so he does and he takes with him the elephant that he's been caring for. Together they head for the Swiss ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Winner

Writers:

Michael Winner (original story), Tom Wright (original story),

Stars:

Oliver Reed, Michael J. Pollard, Wolfgang Preiss

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Oliver Reed	...	Stephen 'Hannibal' Brooks
Michael J. Pollard	...	Packy
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Col. von Haller
John Alderton	...	Bernard
Helmut Lohner	...	Willi
Peter Carsten	...	Kurt
Karin Baal	...	Vronia
Ralf Wolter	...	Dr. Mendel
Jürgen Draeger	...	Sami (as Jurgen Draeger)
Maria Brockerhoff	...	Anna
Til Kiwe	...	Von Haller's Sergeant
Ernst Fritz Fürbringer	...	Elephant Keeper Kellerman (as Ernst Fritz Furbringer)
Erik Jelde	...	Zoo Director Stern (as Eric Jelde)
Fred Haltiner	...	Josef
John Porter-Davison	...	Geordie (as John Porter Davison)

Storyline

A prisoner of war working at a zoo gets the chance to escape from the Germans, so he does and he takes with him the elephant that he's been caring for. Together they head for the Swiss border and freedom.

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Plot Keywords:

zoo | elephant | escape | prisoner of war | ambush | 

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Taglines:

It's a suspense story. It's a comedy story. It's a war story. It's a warm story. It's a wild story. It's a love story. It's a moving story. It's an elephant story. It's a super story.

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Genres:

Comedy | Adventure | War | Action

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some war violence and brief sexuality

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German

Release Date:

23 July 1969 (France)

Also Known As:

El último obstáculo

Filming Locations:

Bavaria, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Scimitar Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Oliver Reed, in preparation for his role of Hannibal Brooks, spent a whole week working with an elephant keeper in a zoo to learn how to handle Aida the cow elephant, who would be playing Lucy in the film.

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Quotes

Stephen 'Hannibal' Brooks: [on being told the war is over for him] Oh, thank God for that.
[smiles]

User Reviews

A great film that is rarely shown but deserves much more than it gets.

I accidentally came across this gem of a movie on about October 18th 2000. I was fresh back from a month long trip to Germany and was still suffering from jet-lag. I awoke early and turned on the TV - switching channels when I came across this movie - already about half over.

What struck me about this movie as I started to watch it was, the beautiful scenery where it was shot on location. The scene I happened to remember first seeing was one in which Brooks was shown breaking into a closed for the war, hotel of some kind. In this hotel were various paintings and posters having to do with WWII. At first I thought it was some kind of neo-nazi flick and was about to turn the station when I recognized the building that Brooks was in.

I was floored when I recognized it as one I had stayed in during my trip to Germany. My interest was piqued and I was hooked to the film. Brooks was relaxing on a bed when he heard a noise from outside and saw a Kubelwagon approaching the building in which he was hiding in. Brooks observed 2 or so German soldiers walk up to the building realizing that something was not as it should be.

Fast-thinking on Brooks part as he faked being drunk on wine as the German soldiers made their way to where he was. Brooks wound up escaping the custody of these soldiers by tricking them into going into the wine celler and he locked them into it. Brooks managed to grab a key to the German's vehicle and drove away as the escaped soldiers fired at him.

Brooks is seen driving out of sight around a small hill and quickly became the unwitting target of Packy and his little group of followers. (Later on when I did get the chance to watch the film in its entirety, it answered all the questions I had from watching the last half) It turns out that Brooks was trying his best to stay away from Packy and his bunch.

Anyway, Brooks finds and gets Lucy (the Elephant) and wants to leave but, Lucy gets away and Brooks wants to go get her as Packy and his bunch try to set up an ambush on an approaching German convoy.

There are various interactions between Brooks, Packy and Colonel von Holler throughout the movie. The movie in my opinion was well made with a good to great cast as well as filmed in several locations in which I had just come back from visiting. There is no slow boring moments in this film and your attention is always held.

Nuff said on this except that I hope and pray that this movie will eventually be released on DVD.