Night Crossing (1981)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Delbert Mann

Writer:

John McGreevey (written by)

Release Date:

5 February 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Drama

Tagline:

The East German border: 836 miles of barbed wire walls, automated machine guns, armed guards, and deadly land mines. On September 15, 1979 two families tried to cross it.

Plot:

Two men want to escape from East Germany (under Communist rule) but they will only go if they can take their families with them. Based on a true story. |

Plot Keywords:

Deutsche Demokratische Republik | Ddr | Cold War | Escape | East Germany

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

John Hurt	...	Peter Strelzyk
Jane Alexander	...	Doris Strelzyk
Doug McKeon	...	Frank Strelzyk
Keith McKeon	...	Fitscher Strelzyk
Beau Bridges	...	Guenter Wetzel
Glynnis O'Connor	...	Petra Wetzel
Geoffrey Liesik	...	'Little' Peter Wetzel
Michael Liesik	...	Andreas Wetzel
Ian Bannen	...	Josef Keller
Anne Stallybrass	...	Magda Keller
Matthew Taylor	...	Lukas Keller
Klaus Löwitsch	...	Schmolk
Günter Meisner	...	Major Koerner
Sky Dumont	...	Ziegler
Jan Niklas	...	Lt. Fehler

Runtime:

USA:107 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Sweden:11 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

The last feature of Kay Walsh.

Quotes:

Peter Strelzyk: I know the S.S.D. was on its way. We still haven't got the material. Yesterday five yards, today nothing.
Doris Strelzyk: Could you make the balloon smaller?
Peter Strelzyk: Yes we could. But, it wouldn't carry eight people.

As Close To Reality As You Will Get

The movie Night Crossing captures the feelings experienced by the vast majority of East Germans during the period 1961-89. I lived in West Berlin during most of 1967 and travelled through The Wall into East Berlin on a weekly basis. Why? Excitement, crossing a border into a Soviet governed country, experiencing the smells and the feel of East Germany, which is why Night Crossing is excellent, it captures that very feeling, and it is exciting. I was arrested by the Vopos in Checkpoint Charlie and accosted by a man in his leather coat and dark glasses I am led to believe was Stasi. When I watch the movie I can smell cheap diesel and cooking oil, I can see the outdated vehicles, the drab clothing the public wore and the lacklustre produce in shop windows. It brings back memories of realising just how lucky I was to live in a free country. In 1988, I toured the DDR from East to West, North to South. East Germany had changed little since 1967. The Trabants, constantly breaking down, were still the main mode of private motorised transport, the shops still featured nothing much to tempt me, uniforms were still commonplace, but the people, the ordinary people were open and nice once you had gained their trust. Watch Night Crossing, it's as close to the truth as any movie you will see on divided Germany, even closer than two other favourites The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Funeral In Berlin.