Hannibal Brooks (1969)

Wonderful film, very much about the sane man confronting the insanity of war. Beautiful photography in the palette of the 60's ww2 films, rich greens, browns, blues. A film about travel, meeting different characters, each representing different aspects of human nature. Reed is completely out of character, yet completely convincing. However. However. What is up with the polish girl, who is a totally sympathetic character, machine gunned, at the end? And Brooks, etc all, blithely crossing the Swiss border, without a moments reflection on the beautiful corpse they left behind? Why could not the screenwriter allowed her to live, explain the practical necessity of her betrayal, and stay with brooks?

This really is a different kind of war film,and probably one of the best for family viewing,as a kid i watched this film every time it was on TV its memorable because it is so different.It is also one of the first films that was made that got us to support elephants against the unnecessary tusk trade as the terrible slaughter was at its height.In reality Ollie Reed was a bit frightened of the elephant as it wasn't a particularly friendly one he didn't like turning his back on her,i take it he was sober?Another good point about this film is that it doesn't portray the Germans as one dimensional characters,you have a mixture of good and bad, British films have always tried to do this its a shame that a lot of modern film makers from other parts of the world cant follow this example they should set out to entertain not offend.People shouldn't get off on seeing other races ridiculed,this shouldn't happen in modern cinema The Patriot is one example,and there's a lot more like that.Back to the film ,theres a lot to like about it, its entertaining well acted and has an exciting climax and eventually a happy ending.This was Ollies most likable role its a shame he didn't play more parts like this rather than the hardened villain types.But i think after this film his drinking got heavier,which ruined his looks his weight ballooned,and eventually his acting career went fastly down hill,he showed so much promise in the early part of his career.This is a good film to see him in his hey day when he was at the height of his popularity,wasted talent?Also Micheal J Pollard is really funny in this film.

.... "And they all lived happily after..." claims the closing caption. Apart from the eighty seven people who were shot, blown up, fell from great heights or were crushed by falling logs, of course.This World War II POW and elephant escape adventure is a bit on the ridiculous side, although it is beautifully filmed, with some great shots of the Bavarian countryside.For me, the light hearted, sentimental story of the elephant's escape doesn't quite jell with the violence and mayhem dealt out to a large number of Germans; but that's the way they seemed to like their war movies in the sixties.Oliver Reed is OK as the hero. As for Michael J. Pollard- seeing him in this movie you can understand why his film career never really took off after his popular success in "Bonnie and Clyde". What were originally novel and engaging mannerisms rapidly became tedious and irritating as he repeated them in a variety of roles over the following years.A pity the main female human character got shot- it was only half a dozen guys and an elephant who got to live happily ever after!

Yes, this film is nuts.(WARNING BASIC PLOT OVERVIEW FOLLOWS:)So let me get this straight, Oliver Reed is a Prisoner Of War, captured and contained by the Germans as the Second World War draws to a close. The German army , (being unusually considerate in this film) give him the job of mucking out the Elephant quarters in the nearby Zoo.But when the allies bomb the Zoo during a raid, our hero goes on the run for the Swiss border and freedom... with... an Elephant.It sounds bad, but actually, this is one of my favourite films. (In the UK at least) you will find that a year does not go by without this film being shown on terrestrial TV. This is how I saw it as a child and thought it was great. It is a strange film, difficult to see what market it was aimed at. It has Oliver Reed and Michael J Pollard in absurdly comic mode, playing the fool(s) in the midst of war. The audience tends to be spared the horrors of combat in favour of slapstick violence. (and this in a film by Michael "Death Wish" Winner !)(Spoiler follows) In one seen (depicted on the US poster for the film) a group of German soldiers are quite casually dispatched when Hannibal, (Reed) makes his travelling companion, (Elephant) roll some freshly chopped timber down a hill and over them.So if you are prepared for a little adventure with a big heart and it's tongue firmly placed in it's cheek, Give Hannibal Brooks a go. You might just like it. (But you might have a hard time finding it on video or DVD !)