Von Ryan’s Express (1965)

Starring: Frank Sinatra
Grade: B+

You can argue about music all you want, but one thing Frank Sinatra has over Elvis is his movies.

Summary

In August of 1943, Italy is under German control. Some German officers, and many citizens throughout Italy, notice an American plane about to crash-land in the area. The officers head to the site where the plane is, and they ask Italian soldiers where the American pilot is. They say that the pilot is dead, so the Germans leave. The Italian soldiers get back into their truck with the others, but they see that the pilot is alive.

Of course, the pilot is Col. Joseph Ryan (Sinatra).

Immediately after, he’s taken to a POW camp. Following a funeral for one of his men, Major Eric Fincham (Trevor Howard) is approached by eye-patch wearing Captain Vittorio Oriani (Sergio Fantoni) to disperse of his men. Fincham, leader of the prisoners, refuses and wants to talk to his direct superior, Major Basilio Battaglia (Adolfo Celi). However, Oriani says Battaglia is not there. Next, Oriani takes Ryan into a building to meet Battaglia, and Ryan does not mince words when talking to him. He even tells Oriani to translate all of the disrespectful shit he says directly to the guy. As this goes on, they are interrupted by the entire camp chanting Battaglia’s name, with Fincham directly accusing him of being responsible for killing their commanding officer Colonel Lockart, the reason for the funeral. Oriani orders Fincham to disperse everyone, but he only does so after one of the soldier’s faints. Then, Ryan is introduced to the group. He’s taken to the infirmary, and he starts to get an idea of the trouble they have to deal with after three American soldiers are told that they still haven’t received the medical supplies they need.

Along with seeing how the infirmary is filled to the brim with sick people, he is also told that they’re dealing with everything from scurvy to malaria, with a touch of malnutrition. On top of that, they only have half-rations for food (if that) and no possibility of new clothes. Basically, anything needed to survive, they probably don’t have. Fincham isn’t bothered though, saying that none of this can break the spirit of the men nor can it stop them from trying to escape the camp. Ryan suggests they stop trying to escape for the time being because with the way the war is going, there’s a good chance they’ll get out of this situation soon enough. Because this camp is full of stubborn badasses, they laugh off Ryan’s suggestion. Later, he goes to his bed, but the three American medics approach Ryan and tell him he should assume command of the camp’s prisoners since he has the highest rank out of all of them. He can force them into his “lay low” plan. This way, they can get better supplies from Battaglia and save some of the soldiers who are dying, specifically the American ones. He leaves, telling them to give him some time.

At dinner, Ryan sits with the high-ranking soldiers in the prison, including Fincham. Fincham tells Ryan that Lockart died after hitting Battaglia with his stick and being sent to this “sweat box” thing as punishment, dying just the night before Ryan came into this camp because of it. This automatically makes Ryan the senior officer of the camp. Fincham tells Ryan they will await his orders, but Ryan tells Fincham that it’s cool if he still runs things. Following dinner, the American medics approach Ryan about what happened, but Ryan doesn’t think it’s a good idea to go through with everything just yet. Seeing Ryan isn’t on board just yet, the medics come to the realization that they’re on their own. That night, a soldier escapes his quarters to get Ryan to take him to this secret hideout place in the camp. Fincham is in this building with a couple of his guys and the American medics. He caught the American medics trying to steal rations and supplies, and he wants Ryan’s approval to punish them. After hearing the medics’ reasons, Ryan refuses to have them punished and sends them back to their quarters.

On the way out, he gives Fincham a direct order to deliver the medical stuff they’ve been hoarding to the people in the sick bay, and Fincham is majorly pissed off because of it. The next morning, Ryan tells Oriani that he’s assumed command of the prisoners and would like to tell Battaglia himself. Oriani takes Ryan to him, and he gains Battaglia’s trust right off the bat, telling him he’s going to change things for the better. To prove his loyalty though, Ryan shockingly gives up the hideout, with the medical supplies in it, to him. As all the soldiers protest, Ryan makes it clear that anyone who tries to escape will be court-martialed. This is all part of Ryan’s plan, and it starts to work, with Oriani promising certain supplies for the men. However, when they ask for the new clothes, Battaglia refuses. As a response, Ryan orders the men to strip off all of their clothes and burn them. This forces Oriana and Battaglia back outside to stop Ryan and the fire, but they eventually relent. The prisoners will get new clothes! Sadly, this stunt puts Ryan straight into the infamous sweat box.

After some time, the soldiers open the sweat box to tell Ryan that Italy surrendered to the Allies! The guards have fled the camp too. As a result, Major Fincham tries Battaglia for war crimes. Ryan approaches Fincham at his “trial” and tells him that when he is inevitably found guilty and hanged, it’s basically murder because Battaglia is now a civilian. Fincham doesn’t budge, but Ryan convinces the crowd of prisoners to put Battaglia in the sweat box instead of killing him. After Fincham gets angry at Ryan, a German plane flies by the camp and everyone panics. They need to get out of this camp now! Oriani says they’re less than a day away from the coast on foot. If they get there, he can help them contact the Navy. Fincham balks at marching 400 people in the daylight, but Oriani says he’ll help lead them because he hates the Germans more than he does. Despite Fincham’s reluctance, Ryan takes Oriani up on his offer, and they’re off. Eventually, they get to a certain spot at night, and Oriani tells them he will try and contact the Navy there.

At this moment, they’re only 5-6 miles from the coast.

Meanwhile, German soldiers find and release Battaglia from the sweat box back at the camp. The next morning, Ryan and company are captured by German troops, and they are all put on a train, with Fincham assuming Oriani sold them out. However, when the officers are put in one cart, they find a beaten-up Oriani. Then, they all look over to see that Battaglia is the reason they got caught. The Germans close the door in Fincham’s face and shoot and kill some of the wounded soldiers outside the train. All hope seems to be lost but as the train begins to go, Ryan starts to get an idea. Basically, their only chances of survival are to take over this train and subdue the German soldiers, but the planning has to be perfect. If they pull this off and are able to escape to Switzerland on it, they’ll be home scot-free.

Getting there however, will be no easy task.

My Thoughts:

Though Von Ryan’s Express takes a little while to get going, the adventure is in full force once the wheels on the train start moving. Additionally, to the surprise of no one, a big part of the film’s lasting power is because of star Frank Sinatra. Much like the attitude of the legions of fans that followed him throughout his career, any film with his name attached to it commands our attention.

Placing him in a war film specifically made this a priority for me, and making him a commanding officer (a colonel no less) just fits, doesn’t it?

Sinatra has always been a natural leader and when Ryan assumes leadership in this POW camp, he has the gusto to pull it off believably. Sure, Sinatra’s performance is very straight-forward and arguably a little stilted, but it does work in the sense that he’s this tough, no-nonsense, top-level officer. He’s a different type of tough too. He’s not out here saying, “Let’s take everyone on!”. He’s tough-minded but also a very honest officer who’s willing to consider all sides of the situation. To start things off, he straight-up tells these guys in the camp to not try and escape and just wait this thing out. Traditionally, we don’t see our “hero” movie protagonists suggest that they don’t do anything in the face of their oppressors, especially during this time period in film. Naturally, we’re expecting the “John Wayne” approach of taking everyone on. However, Ryan is a realist and is trying to think everything out logically, which is something we’re just not used to in these older films. Now, this isn’t because Ryan is a “bird colonel” like the Americans put it. Ryan is just thinking about this situation carefully. Honestly, despite the conditions they face, there seems to be a lot of leeway given for this POW camp Battaglia is in charge of. Obviously, freedom will always be the goal, but they don’t realize that things aren’t as bad as it may be for others. Ryan’s suggested strategy of waiting things out turns out to be right too. If they say sat and ate shit for just a few more weeks, literally everything would’ve been fine because Italy surrendered, something Ryan said was going to happen, but everyone refused to listen.

It’s a shame, especially because the finger is constantly pointed unfairly at Ryan, but we also have to understand how you can’t break the gung-ho spirits of the other soldiers. We don’t know how long they’ve been there. For some outsider like Ryan to walk in and start telling them what’s right and wrong, I could see why they wouldn’t be too receptive of what he has to see purely off of principle. It’s an interesting dynamic to walk into, especially for someone has calm and calculated as Ryan is. Though he will fight, he’s never the aggressor, as opposed to everyone else he deals with in the film. When he looks at a problem, he tries to go through all possible solutions first before resorting to violence. This is why when he has to kill the Italian woman who tries to escape, you can see how much it affects him. Because of the timing of it all and the risk involved, it was the only option he could think of with the pressure being on. This isn’t the type of action he sees in the Air Force, and it hits him hard. He’s a bit of a loner too. As a result, when he goes through with his elaborate plans, he has a tendency to not let anyone in on what is about to happen, coming off as a bit unpredictable to the others. When he gives up the hideout of his fellow soldiers, the first thought is “Are you insane?”. Surely, it’s what all of his fellow soldiers are thinking because it looks like he took over in a couple of days and sold them all out to gain favor with Battaglia. However, this is where start to see the savvy and intellect of Col. Ryan. It was all a part of the plan, and they end up gaining a lot from it.

What makes Ryan even more interesting is that he’s not always right either. He’s not the cookie-cutter, “perfect” war hero character he makes himself out to be or the person the audience initially thinks he is. His decisions put them in some shitty situations, and it really makes him think things over at times. We can see this when they are first locked up on the train after being caught. Fincham yells at him, “You’ll get your Iron Cross now “Von Ryan”!”. Getting a German nickname is the last thing he wants to hear, but this is the second time he’s referred to as “Von Ryan” by the time this is said. Not only does this get to him, but the fact that he’s responsible for making such a crucial mistake as a leader, causing 400 men or so to be captured, burns a whole in him. For the first time, Ryan is at a loss for words because he messed up badly. When he starts to think about the “overthrow the train” plan, it takes him a little bit to figure it out too. He’s not only thinking of this new solution to hopefully correct their course, but he’s also reflecting on his colossal fuck-up, sitting in silence for the appropriate amount of time while accepting any verbal abuse coming his way. It’s an understated response that tells us a lot about the character of Col. Ryan in the face of conflict and failure.

Trevor Howard played a pretty good friend/foe of Ryan. His strong-minded argumentative character provides solid drama and a nice opposing force for Ryan to deal with. In addition, he made some of the longer, exploratory dialogue a little bit more entertaining with his input. He has some pretty funny exchanges with Ryan too. Though they ultimately want the same goal, their approaches are very different. He’s all about taking out the Germans at all costs and is more than willing to strike if the situation calls for it. The best moment exemplifying the attitude of Howard’s Fincham had to be when the group argues with Major von Klemment (Wolfgang Preiss) once they overthrow his train. Ryan demands certain things from him, but von Klemment is uncooperative and uncaring. This prompts the aggressive Fincham to shoot his gun inches away from the guy’s face. Not only was it funny, but it again reinforces the difference between these two leaders and their approaches. Fincham is about immediate action while Ryan looks to give people the benefit of the doubt before striking. Together, they’re the odd couple leading this bunch, and it’s a lot of fun seeing how they work as a team. As the mission goes on, Ryan does gain Fincham’s respect though, with Fincham even apologizing to Ryan since Ryan was forced to kill that woman. At that point of the movie, it felt like this didn’t even need to be said because of how unimportant it was to the main story, but it did give us a nice moment between the two, strengthening their contentious bond and acknowledging the serious battle scars of war.

It’s hard to say whether Sergio Fantoni had a great performance, or I’m just a sucker for any character who dons an eye patch. Even so, his portrayal of Captain Oriani was pretty solid as well.

As I said before, the film does run a little long. It takes quite some time to get to the awesome action we remember the film for, but it makes the viewing worth it. Though the POW camp scenes were very important to the world-building and understanding these characters and their motivations, it dragged a bit. Eventually, it got to the point where you start to wonder, “Where’s this train everyone’s talking about?”. When we do get to the takeover of said train, the suspense and excitement surrounding it is through the roof. Everything comes together at the right time, as Ryan and Fincham come into their own as co-leaders of this camp, making you root for them even more than you already are to pull this death-defying mission off. From this point on, we’re all in on the heart-pumping adventure that follows. Along the way, you seriously start wonder if they’re going to pull this thing off, only adding to the exhilaration. Though at first, you’re rooting for them just because their Allied soldiers, but when they initiate the plan to take the train, the switch is official. You start rooting for the characters of Col. Ryan, Major Fincham, and this lost group of POWs looking to pull off the impossible. I can’t stress this enough, but everything following the taking of the train is gold. Having to fool the German guards at certain stops by acting like Nazis, the run-in with the Gestapo, and the attempt from the last two Germans to escape, make for some very intense, anxiety-inducing moments. It all sets up an electric climax and unexpected ending, with the haunting shot of the train, the soldiers moving on, and the bone-chilling voiceover of Fincham.

“I once told you Ryan: If only one gets out, it’s a victory.”

Once the train is taken and the action is put into fourth gear, Von Ryan’s Express becomes a very exciting and worthwhile World War II film. Though it takes a bit to get there, the second half of the movie is really worth it. The first half isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just a little slow compared to what you’re expecting going into the movie. As a whole, it’s still very good. Plus, you get Frank Sinatra with a machine gun. What else do you need?

Fun Fact: Anthony Quinn was the original choice to play Ryan, but he became unavailable.