History Main / PrisonerExchange

* Film/BridgeOfSpies is based on the Abel/Powers exchange described under TruthInTelevision below.

* Film/JamesBond is exchanged for Zhao in ''Film/DieAnotherDay''.
* Sergio Leone's ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars''.

* In the Creator/JohnWayne film ''Film/RioBravo'', the heroes captured the brother of a bandit leader before the start of the movie, and the plot is driven by the bandit's schemes to rescue his brother before the US Marshall arrives. One such plot involves kidnapping a sheriff's deputy and trading him for the brother. Unusually for this trope, we never get any indication of whether or not the villains intend to play fair, as it's the heroes that play dirty and go in with every intention of leaving with both prisoners.

* In ''Film/SnowDay'', Wayne is being held hostage by Snowplow Man. Meanwhile, the protagonists have Trudy, Snowplow Man's right-hand raven.
* ''Film/TheEvilThatMenDo''. Holland has been hired to kill TortureTechnician Molloch. He plans to lure Molloch out into the open by kidnapping his [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes sister Claire]], ostensibly for ransom. Molloch then gets his hands on the daughter of Holland's partner, and suggests a PrisonerExchange instead. The problem is Claire is already dead, accidentally shot during the kidnapping.

!!Examples

* in a more hostage for macguffin girl way, Farworld sees the dark circle kidnap Dew in order to trade her for Kyja, who is a 'guest' of the water elementals.

* Done ''en masse'' during the days of WoodenShipsAndIronMen where there were regular truce ships going back and forth carrying prisoners. The two sides kept regular tabs on each other's debit and credit. Sometimes this would break down mid-war, for instance when one side decided that the enemy was running out of manpower and needed to be squeezed harder. Like other such customs, aspects of this hung on as late as WorldWarII, though it was mostly disabled prisoners who were exchanged.

* WereAlive has a case where "both sides try to screw each other" when Saul tries to coax the Mallers into exchanging [[spoiler: Lizzy]] by offering to kidnap and hand over Pegs. But when the exchange goes down the Tower folk are using Riley as a decoy and planning to ambush the Mallers, who are also using a decoy [[spoiler: who they promptly shoot to cause confusion]] and planning an ambush, [[spoiler:so they can attack the Tower while its best fighters are at the exchange.]]

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' Catelyn suggests trading Jaime Lannister for her daughters, whom she supposes are being held hostage by the Lannisters. It doesn't go through.

* Once on ''Series/GetSmart'' KAOS kidnapped the Chief, so Control captured one of KAOS's agents to try to make a deal. KAOS captured another - back and forth until the only non-prisoners were Max and Sigfried, who arranged an exchange. KAOS got the last laugh when, during the exchange which was two big busses full of prisoners, KAOS captured the Control bus driver.

* Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful Of Dollars''.
* In the JohnWoo movie ''A Better Tomorrow'', an exchange between BigBad Ah Shing (who the first protagonist, Sung Tse Ho, has captured) and Ho's little brother Sung Tse Kit (the other protagonist, who Shing's {{mooks}} have at gunpoint) sets off the final battle of the movie.

* In ''[[{{Redwall}} Mattimeo]]'', the Redwallers capture General Ironbeak's three magpies, who are his only way of getting supplies, and trade them for the three Redwall hostages. Unfortunately, Ironbeak is smart enough to use the PrisonerExchange as a cover while he sends his troops to steal as much food as they can from Redwall.

* In ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' Catelyn suggests trading Jaime Lannister for her daughters, whom she supposes are being held hostage by the Lannisters. It doesn't go through.

* Subverted in an early episode of TheSandbaggers. The hero's girlfriend has been captured in East Germany and everyone agrees to a trade. [[spoiler: He has a sniper [[ShootTheHostage shoot her down]] when she's halfway across so that the trade cannot take place.]]

* In VideoGame/CovertAction, this option is available to players that get captured. You can opt to wait a several hours to escape instead.

* Subverted in WesternAnimation/AmericanDad, where, back during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, Stan is being traded for a Soviet agent. As they pass each other, he takes the opportunity to extol the virtues of America, and all the things the Soviet is leaving behind. In response, the Soviet puts his arm around Stan and starts talking about GloriousMotherRussia, while leading him back to the Soviet side where he is promptly grabbed by the Soviets again, as the Americans can only FacePalm as they watch.
* At the end of the ''[[TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode "The Crepes of Wrath", Albanian child spy Adil Hoxha is exchanged for an American child spy.

GenreSavvy good guys or [[AntiHero Anti Heroes]] may realize this and never intend to make a trade with the villain in the first place, or both sides may have the intention of screwing each other over, in which case the hostages themselves rarely have any say in the matter and may end up on the worse end of the deal.

* Season 2 of the 2010 ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' saw a hostage exchange between Team Nikita and Division. Thanks to [[MagnificentBastard Percy]] being half the exchange, [[GenreSavvy Nikita]], and the show's GambitPileup (there's ''four'' factions playing) tendencies, the whole thing goes to hell. Only Team Nikita comes out ahead.

* Happens without incident in the mini-series ''Series/{{V}}: The Final Battle'', when the BigBad Diana exchanges Donovan's son for one of her own men. Of course, Diana has no reason to stop the exchange because she's "[[{{Brainwashed}} converted]]" Donovan's son into becoming her spy.

* A prisoner swap opens the Battle of Mt. Ding Jun in ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 4''. Wei's Xiahou Shang is traded for Shu's Chen Shi. The two slowly walk towards each other across an open field while observed by generals from both sides, but the moment one passes the other, both break out into a run for their own lines. That appears to be the cue that the prisoner exchange is over, as arrows start flying from both sides immediately afterwards. This curtly concludes the cease fire and leads directly to the battle itself.

Usually the captured member of the other team is no ordinary {{Mook}}. He may be someone who is important to the villain in some way, someone he [[MoralityPet cares about]] or [[MacGuffinGirl needs]] in order to fulfill his EvilPlan, otherwise the other side would not bother with trying to get him back. Heroes usually don't need this kind of motivation to rescue a captive comrade, as they generally need less of a reason to save people. A MessianicArchetype may risk both his life and the chance of giving up whatever advantage he may have had, coupled with letting a villain go free, in order to save a total stranger, although it's just as likely that the captive will be someone close to the hero in order to facilitate drama.

* There's a form of this in the XWingSeries book ''Wedge's Gamble''. There is an Imperial prison which Rogue Squadron can access, and a corrupt warden who will make deals. The prison has Rebels and scum of the galaxy, the latter group being the one that gives the warden more trouble. Said warden will let the Rogues retrieve some Rebels, but only if they also take some of that scum, too; namely members of Black Sun, a criminal empire which has dissolved. Little does he know that the Rogues are there for the scum so said scum can be recruited in a labyrinthine plot - the Rebels are just a nice bonus.

The exchange often involve both sides facing each other across a wide open area. Each captive walks toward the other, they pass by each other in the center and proceed on to their own group. [[TakeItToTheBridge Often takes place on a bridge]], since it marks the only crossing point of a natural barrier, such as a river or chasm, [[BorderCrossing where two territories would typically be divided]]. It also gives both sides a clear view of each other as well as of the hostages in case anyone tries anything funny (providing there is no OminousFog), and can be symbolic for the hostages making their journey home.

* RedDeadRedemption uses this. Norman Deek is being traded for the ShipTease, and surprisingly enough, they don't want the prisoner back.

[[folder:Truth In Television]]
* Sometimes happened during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. with captured spies, most famously across the Glienicke Bridge.
** In 1962, KGB agent Rudolf Abel was swapped for American pilot Gary Powers Jr. (who had been captured after his U-2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR.
* The 2010 swap of ten [[DeepCoverAgent Russian agents]] captured in the US for four people held in Russia.
* Done ''en masse'' during the days of WoodenShipsAndIronMen where there were regular truce ships going back and forth carrying prisoners. The two sides kept regular tabs on each other's debit and credit. Sometimes this would break down mid-war, for instance when one side decided that the enemy was running out of manpower and needed to be squeezed harder. Like other such customs, aspects of this hung on as late as WorldWarII, though it was mostly disabled prisoners who were exchanged.
[[/folder]]

* ''[[Literature/TheQuestForKarla]]'' sees the Circus agreeing to exchange [[spoiler: mole Bill Haydon]] for their remaining agents in the Soviet bloc that haven't been shot. However, it falls through when [[spoiler: Haydon is killed, presumably by Jim Prideaux]].