The McKenzie Break (1970)

Excellent but underrated film

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Blistering performances.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The setting is a prisoner of war camp for German soldiers, located in Scotland. A tough, cynical, hard drinking Irishman named Jack Connor (Brian Keith) is called in to help out camp officials, since there is now much unrest among the Nazis. Connor and the others realize that their prisoners are planning an elaborate escape, and Connor has an idea that could either lead to glory for him, or be a bad, bad mistake.There are no true "heroes" and "villains" in this interesting, unusual, even-handed narrative, scripted by William W. Norton from the book by Sir Sidney Shelley. Rather, our protagonists and antagonists are equally wily opponents, trying to out-think each other. While ordinarily one wouldn't be rooting for the Nazis, you can't help but admire these characters' determination and ingenuity. As the story plays out, it becomes more and more a matter of a race against time, and it keeps the viewer riveted.The characters are colourful and compelling. Both Keith, and Helmut Griem, as his primary foe, are flawed, but charismatic. They're both excellent, and receive very strong support from a cast including Ian Hendry (as the major in charge of the camp), Jack Watson, Patrick O'Connell, Horst Janson, Gregg Palmer, and Michael Sheard. The relationship between Keith and Hendry is kind of a thorny one, as they differ over methodology, but it's just as fascinating to watch them butt heads as it is to see Keith and Griem engage in their little chess game.Granted, the camp personnel end up not looking very good since the Germans are able to pull off so much. But, overall, this is an over looked, and sometimes exciting, wartime film from a capable journeyman director, Lamont Johnson ("The Last American Hero", "One on One").Eight out of 10.

I like the review of this film by e-warn-1 and the historical details related on this IMDb site. William Norton's excellent script and expert direction by Lamont Johnson obviously structure this ambiguous and engaging film narrative. Every component of this film works for me.Before this film, I did not know the work of actor Helmut Griem. He is a fine counterpoint here to one of my favourite actors Brian Keith. The story is credible. The look of the film is, for the most part, believable, though some mistakes do intrude but not enough to depreciate my appreciation of the work.I do not need to replicate the plot summary. I scored the film highly because I enjoyed watching it. It is a crisp story but with pleasant ambiguity. I wanted to indulge in a little of the water of the Gods as I watched it. Next time, I hope I have some of that beverage.

The McKenzie Break refers to a prison in Scotland during World War II where some German prisoners are very anxious to get back to the fight as they see it. This is the early war years and the only prisoners there are Luftwaffe and Sailors, more specifically prisoners taken off captured U-Boats.McKenzie Prison is in for some big trouble, commander Ian Hendry can smell it. It's due to the presence of U-Boat captain Helmut Griem who has taken over the leadership of the prisoners unofficially. Griem plays Captain Willy Schluetter as I conceive Reinhard Heydrich to be, a handsome charismatic leader, totally dedicated to the Nazi cause and one stone cold killer.British Intelligence in trying to get to the bottom of things sends Captain Brian Keith who from his accent I'm guessing is an Ulster Protestant. Keith's a smart guy, but just maybe a bit too smart for his own good.The McKenzie Break is dominated by Helmut Griem as well it should be. This man has to dominate or otherwise the film would make no sense at all. As charismatic as Griem is as Schluetter, he's both fascinating and repellent. His objective is to get as many U-Boat people back into the fight. He will sacrifice everything to achieve that objective and I do mean everything.Sad to say this film is a forgotten gem and deserves to be better remembered than it is. Catch it by all means if it's broadcast, you will enjoy the surprise ending when neither Keith or Griem get everything they want.

First time I saw it and didn't think much of it now I first saw this in the mid 1970s as a child . I was from the last generation of British children who had a common interest in the second world war . I used to like buying war comics like Battle and Commando and used to love watching all those B & W war movies , but I was disappointed with THE McKENZIE BREAK first time I saw it probably because the plot mainly involved British guards going into a prison compound , getting beaten back by the German prisoners - Repeat every 15 minutes After seeing it again recently I do realise that my memories are somewhat simplistic but that doesn't mean the film has suddenly improved in my eyes . If I have to be brutally honest then I have to say it has diminished further . Since I first saw this movie I have seen many similar movies like BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI , THE GREAT ESCAPE etc films that are either more dramatic or more entertaining than this one , that's probably the problem with TMB it's rather serious in its tone without being compellingly dramatic and the one subplot that I found interesting during its recent broadcast of one of the prisoners being a suspected homosexual by his Nazi peers is rather unexplored There's a couple of other things that stuck out in my mind about this movie and not in a good way . One thing was when a character mentions that a couple of prisoners escaped and made it into the Irish free State . As every schoolboy from my generation knows not one single German prisoner held in allied captivity escaped back to Germany . I know it's not implicitly stated that these two escapees made it back to Germany but it's unlikely they'd be interned in Ireland . Secondly I couldn't help noticing a large German contingent were wearing Wermacht uniforms . Where would they have been captured and why go to all the trouble of keeping them in a Scottish POW camp ? Wouldn't they have been kept in the same region they were captured ? A very average film that will only appeal to people interested in men standing on roofs singing Nazi marching songs