Ugh. Not a good film at all

Rating: 5/10 (21 July 2001)

I hate when I hate classic movies. It doesn't happen too often, because I truly believe that most films that are known as classics ARE great films. But once in a while, I come upon one that seems like, to me, it was just randomly declared a masterpiece. Stalag 17 is one of the worst. Maybe if you had never heard of or seen Renoir's Grand Illusion, then it might seem worthwhile, but, in comparison, this film is a pile of manure. I did not laugh once, nor did I ever even crack a smile. The characters are of sitcom depth. In fact, the sitcom about a similar situation, Hogan's Heroes, has more depth (and more comedy) than this film. I wanted to murder the actor who played Animal throughout the whole movie. His mugging for the camera was painful to watch, as was his voice. The dialogue feels like it was written by a mechanic, it is so repetitive. And there is hardly an ounce of humanity to any character in this whole film...
with one exception: William Holden. He delivers an excellent performance as a man wrongly accused of being a snitch. In fact, I despised every other character in the film, thinking that the Germans, even the German spy, had more integrity than they did. Alas, Holden has no chance to save this film. Those people who had falsely accuse him simply jump onto his bandwagon near the end of the film and they are supposed to be forgiven by the viewer? Holden's character only begins to develop realistically around the 70 minute mark. Up till then I was seriously debating whether or not to even finish this movie. I am not exactly glad that I did. 5/10.