# American films with sympathetic German characters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990 "2004-03-01T23:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/1 "2004-03-01T23:27:23Z")
It is my impression that Germans are one of the last groups for which it is OK to consistently portray in a negative way, generally as villains. But I’ll admit it is just an impression. What are some counter examples? Female romantic interests for American male central characters don’t count. We all know from Star Trek that all bets are off when it comes to love interests. ---
**Author:** ![Nils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Nils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nils)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/2 "2004-03-01T23:56:34Z")
The Bourne Identity. Franka Potente’s charakter and Matt Damon’s do fall in love IIRC but she is more then only a “romantic interest” of his. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/3 "2004-03-02T00:04:01Z")
[All Quiet on the Western Front](http://imdb.com/title/tt0020629/). ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/4 "2004-03-02T00:10:27Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > [All Quiet on the Western Front](http://imdb.com/title/tt0020629/). Damn. Eve beat me to it once again. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/5 "2004-03-02T00:23:06Z")
“Das Boot”? But I suppose German movies don’t count. Marlon Brando plays a sympathetic Nazi officer in “The Young Lions” (1958). ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/6 "2004-03-02T00:49:15Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > [All Quiet on the Western Front](http://imdb.com/title/tt0020629/). Great movie, but I meant something more recent. It was Nazism and WWII that made Germans the generic easy-to-hate characters in American pop culture. I’m of German descent but I’ve always been uneasy with it. Never had any interest in German culture apart from some of the composers. I blame it on viewing German culture through an American culture lens. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/7 "2004-03-02T01:45:19Z")
> [@TGWATY](#): > > Great movie I hear they made a book out of it too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/8 "2004-03-02T02:04:13Z")
> [@TGWATY](#): > > Great movie, but I meant something more recent. More recent? It’s a _talkie_, ain’t it?! ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/9 "2004-03-02T02:10:29Z")
_Dr. Strangelove?_ OK, maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/10 "2004-03-02T02:48:59Z")
Well, Hardy Kruger was a good guy in “Hatari,” and his technical know-how was what saved everyone’s lives in “The Flight of the Phoenix.” ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/11 "2004-03-02T06:02:00Z")
A more recent remake of All Quiet was made. It’s in color, and it has Ernest Borgnine playing the part of (I believe) Katzinski. I watched it in History class, and my teached mentioned that he thought this was a better movie than the origional. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/12 "2004-03-02T06:12:32Z")
Michael Caine as Colonel Steiner in _The Eagle Has Landed_ ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/13 "2004-03-02T06:36:17Z")
[The Great Escape](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/) is something of a mixed bag: the Germans who run the camp are treated quite sympathetically, while the SS and Gestapo (understandably) are not. (The attitude of the prisoners towards the camp staff was not an invention. Many of the staff were widely respected, especially the Kommandant and Hermann Glemnitz, the chief ferret [tunnel finder and general ruiner of escapes]. Glemnitz was invited to at least two reunions; on his arrival for the 1970 reunion, he is reputed to have said: “I am here to make sure that you people aren’t trying to tunnel out of Toronto.”) ---
**Author:** ![xcheopis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bc8723/32.png) [@xcheopis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcheopis)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/14 "2004-03-02T06:50:59Z")
_Blazing Saddles._ ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/15 "2004-03-02T14:51:04Z")
> [@emekthian](#): > > A more recent remake of All Quiet was made. It’s in color, and it has Ernest Borgnine playing the part of (I believe) Katzinski. I watched it in History class, and my teached mentioned that he thought this was a better movie than the origional. Your teacher, with all due respect, could not be more wrong. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/16 "2004-03-02T15:31:20Z")
I’ve only seen part of this movie, and that was many years ago, but I believe [A Midnight Clear](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102443/) has at least one sympathetic German character, an older German soldier who is tired of the war. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/17 "2004-03-02T16:34:52Z")
Terminator 2 and 3 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/18 "2004-03-02T16:51:56Z")
“East of Eden” “Schinder’s List” ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/19 "2004-03-02T17:09:14Z")
> [@TGWATY](#): > > I’m of German descent but I’ve always been uneasy with it. Never had any interest in German culture apart from some of the composers. I blame it on viewing German culture through an American culture lens. Sorry for the somewhat odd hijack, but if you’re looking for something German to be proud of, try looking into their boardgames. They are pretty universally recognized as the world leaders in quality boardgames. (a niche market, but still.) Start with Settlers of Catan (Die Sielder von Catan), and work from there. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990/20 "2004-03-02T17:27:42Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > More recent? It’s a _talkie_, ain’t it?! Didn’t shooting begin with the intention of making it a silent? I understood that, being all silent-talkie cuspy and junk, they began shooting for sound somewhere in the middle of the production. All-time top, say, 25 movies for me. The individual German soldier with a heart of gold is a movie cliche, so I un-nominate Midnight Clear. And Schindler’s list was offensively “pro-German,” so I also un-nominate that. Raiders of the Lost Ark depicted the Nazis as cartoon buffoons, so I’d say practically any Spielberg film with Germans in it is self-loathingly sympathetic to them. Zentropa was sympathetic to the individual German’s humanity, but it still portrays them as pretty pathetic, immediately postwar. Oh, and it’s Danish, so nevermind. Starship Troopers is parodistically proNazi, does that count? It’s subtext is very much anti. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-films-with-sympathetic-german-characters/231990.md?page=2)