As a matter of fact, TV execs commonly thought that going out with a finale would reduce the chance of a hit show’s successful syndication. As I recall, The Fugitive actually did not do well in syndication.
Also, the whole idea of weekly TV shows, either sitcoms or dramas, that actually evolved from season to season just wasn’t popular. Except for some changes in the cast, pretty much every episode of shows like I Love Lucy, Bonanza, Dennis the Menace, Gunsmoke, etc. could have run any time during the life of the series.
IIRC, though, there was one regular episode where Hogan had convinced everyone at the camp that the war was over. (I think it was the one where you found out Shultz was rich b/c of the toy factory). Klink and Schultz were shaking hands with the POWs, Hogan invited Hochsteter out for a beer, etc. It was kind of a fun episode, especially Hochsteter letting his guard down and whooping it up. I think he lets Hogan borrow his car or something.
Actually, there is a movie, kind of. It’s called “The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schulz.” Pretty much the whole cast of the TV series is in it, but the characters have different names. It’s set in Germany during the cold war and involves an East German female track and field athlete escaping to West Germany, with “hilarious hi-jinks” all around.
I’ve only seen it once, on late night TV many, many years ago, and my recollection is that it’s pretty bad. But it is a kind of Hogan’s Heroes movie.
Actually, there is a movie, kind of. It’s called The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schulz. Pretty much the whole cast of the TV series is in it, but the characters have different names. It’s set in Germany during the cold war and involves an East German female track and field athlete escaping to West Germany, with “hilarious hi-jinks” all around.
I’ve only seen it once, on late night TV many, many years ago, and my recollection is that it’s pretty bad. But it is a kind of Hogan’s Heroes movie.
As the question is long answered, I will add this bit of trivia.
All 3 principal Germans were played by Jews that escaped Europe before the war.
At Werner Klemperer insistence, Klink was never allowed to get the better of Hogan in any episode.
I think the French Cook was actually a Holocaust survivor.
Like MASH, Hogan’s Heroes lasted longer than the US was in the War.
The Punkyova: The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schulz was very bad. It had nothing to do with Hogan except the actors and the only Highlight of the film was Elke Sommer in short shorts and other scenes with her only a Towel.
Chicken Run strikes me as a parody of a movie we’ve never seen, one that could only have been made in an alternate timeline, one where Britain was overrun by Germany before finally being liberated by the US in 1946.
This hypothetical drama depicts the internment of the civilian populace (in gender-segregated camps), their being used as slave labor with execution as the penalty for failing to make quota, the decision by the German high command to turn the labor camps into extermination camps, and the daring escape inspired by the downed American flyer whom the women hid from the Germans.
Slight tangent: There was also a non-Hogan movie thriller in the 1960s where the Germans try to fool a downed American aviator into thinking that several years have passed, the war is over and he’s to be debriefed by his U.S. superiors, so that he’ll divulge classified info to them. I forget the name, but another Doper will surely remember…?
I seem to recall reading a few years back that Mel Gibson was negotiating the rights to a Hogan’s Heroes movie.
I personally would love to see a HH movie - it was always a dream of mine that Stanley Kubrick would direct it. I also always wanted to meet Werner Klemperer. I read bios of him and he seems like a really cool guy.
I thought this as well, when I first saw Stalag 17 after years of watching Hogan’s Heroes reruns. But according to IMDB:
“Stalag 17 was not the inspiration for the TV series “Hogan’s Heroes” (1965), despite the presence of a character called “Sgt. Schultz” and a somewhat put-upon Kommandant. The creators of “Hogan’s Heroes” were sued over this very issue and were victorious.”
I remember that article. It had a neat little logical pitch to it: Spielberg had done “Jurassic Park”, and then Dreamworks followed it up with the Flintstones, a project based on a 60s-era TV show with similar (i.e. Prehistoric) themes. Then Spielberg did “Schindler’s List”, and Spy was suggesting that Dreamworks follow it up with a project based on a 60s TV show with similar themes.
Richard Dawson was approached about revisiting his character, and bookending the movie as a sort-of “I remember when…” narrator. His agent said he would love to be involved, but that a much more significant role would be required. Several other Hollywood types were sent treatments and asked for responses, most of whom made vague, non-committal type answers.
J.J. Walker was in. No hesitation. Sign 'em up.
At the end, the perpetrators of the prank said that they had expected to be laughed out of Hollywood, but that most people saw real merit in the idea. Go figure Hollywood, huh?
I believe the producers of the film referred to the basic plot during its development as “The Great Escape with chickens,” but this is presumably because the plot was similar to that of The Great Escape, not a direct ripoff.
Dreamworks didn’t exist in 1994. The Flintstones was released by Universal Pictures (which became “Univershell” in Bedrockese), and Spielberg (Spielrock) was one of the film’s producers.
Some of the actors, including Werner Klemperer (Klink), John Banner (Schultz), Robert Clary (the Frenchman LeBeau), and Leon Askin (General Burkhalter) were Jews who had fled the Nazis during World War II. Clary and Banner actually spent time in a Nazi concentration camp. Clary wore long sleeves throughout the series to hide the identification number tattooed on his arm. Leon Askin, real name Leo Aschkenasy, was in a French internment camp. Howard Caine (Hochstetter) was also Jewish.
Banner also had to wear long sleeves with his German uniform throughout the series to hide the identification number tattooed on his arm. Perhaps not surprisingly, Banner summed up the paradox of his role by saying, “Who can play Nazis better than us Jews?”. Familiar with the Nazis firsthand, the victims get to make fun of their offenders in the only way they felt they knew how.
Also, as far as it running in Germany:
Years after its debut, the show became popular in Germany, where it was originally titled Stacheldraht und Fersengeld (“Barbed Wire and Turning Tail”) which was later changed to Ein Käfig voller Helden (“A Cage Full of Heroes”).
In response to sensitivities over Nazism and German laws which prohibit Nazi symbolism, when German characters raised their arms and said “Heil Hitler!” in the original version, the dubbed German version would often bowdlerize that line into something ridiculous, such as “The wheat grows this high”.
