The McKenzie Break is a 1970 World War II movie about an Allied intelligence officer (Brian Keith) who discovers that the inhabitants of a German POW camp are planning a mass escape. He plans to capture the submarine that will pick up the escapees, only to run into complications when he underestimates the ruthlessness and resourcefulness of the plot's mastermind. The film is based on a 1968 novel, The Bowmanville Break, which shed its original title for reprintings due to the success of the movie. Both are Based on a True Story but take some historical liberties, especially with the climax (the film moreso than the book).
Tropes:
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: In the book, the escape tunnel collapses prematurely, and only one Nazi escapes (plus the two who escaped earlier to do advance work). When they make it to the coast where two U-boats are waiting, they are captured immediately, and nearby Allied ships and planes sink one of the U-boats while the other narrowly escapes. In the film, there is only one U-boat, which escapes along with twenty-four escapes from the prison camp, but Connor forces it to abandon Schluter and three others by strafing the area from a plane.
- Adaptation Distillation: Less attention is paid to the intricacies behind the escape of Schmidt and Hochbaeur (who set things up outside to facilitate the upcoming mass escape) than in the book.
- Adaptational Karma: In the book (where he has far less blood on his hands), Willi remains in the camp, and there is no way to prove his involvement in the plot. In the film he does escape, but is recaptured after having done enough that he will likely be executed by one side or the other, due to killing many of his own fellow POWs.
- Adaptational Location Change: The book is set in the real-life Bowmanville POW camp in Canada. The film follows a fictional POW camp in Scotland.
- Adaptation Name Change: Almost every character has one or both of his names changed (Willi Modherson becomes Willi Schluter, etc.). The exceptions are Major/Colonel Perry, Unger the Tunnel King, and Bantering Baddie Buddies Schmidt and Hochbaer.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Pariah Prisoner Berger is a suspected homosexual, while his book counterpart is an accused defeatist and enemy sympathizer.
- Adaptational Villainy: Schluter's book counterpart is willing to cruelly order the deaths of fellow prisoners, but he's far less enthusiastic about it and has a far lower bodycount than his film counterpart, who kills many people personally. The last act of the book also reveals that he is contemptuous of Hitler, while the film indicates that he is a diehard Nazi.
- Battle of Wits: The story centers on the Nazi prisoners each trying to stay one step ahead of Connor and Colonel Perry throughout the escape plot (smuggling coded messages, figuring out ways to get around the discovery of the tunnel etc.). They start to fail around the halfway point in the book, but do better in the movie.
- Beard of Evil: Schluter, the Big Bad, has a small, sinister-looking beard. This is emphasized by how Schluter is the only bearded character in the entire film, besides a few Spear Carriers.
- Bittersweet Ending: The murderous, Politically Incorrect Villain Schluter is captured before he can make his final escape and faces possible execution for his crimes, but most of his fellow Nazis get away and the operation fails to capture the German spies in Canada or sink the submarine that was picking him up, both of which may torpedo Connor's career.Connor: Willi, looks like we're both in the shit house.
- Category Traitor: Schluter accuses the Irish Captain Connor of betraying his people by serving in the British army.
- Death by Adaptation:
- In the film, Schluter kills several of fellow prisoners by collapsing a barracks. In the book, no such incident occurs.
- In the film, a potential German informer is murdered, but in the book, he survives and provides information to his captors.
- In the film, Schluter's predecessor as senior POW officer (an Africa Korps general) died mysteriously after cooperating with the guards in some minor ways. In the book, he's merely transferred to another camp.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Schmidt and Hochbaer disguise themselves as guards and sneak out of the camp during the chaos of a riot.
- Great Escape: 28 U-boat officers plan to escape from captivity and flee back to Nazi Germany.
- Inter-Service Rivalry: The Luftwaffe fliers and U-boat men in the camp don't get along well (although the fliers help keep the escape plan a secret). Schluter refuses to let any of the airmen escape out the tunnel and thinks little of killing several of them to provide a distraction.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": During a violent riot, the prisoners all become quite rattled when Connor has several firetrucks brought in to use the hoses against them.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain Schluter's attempt to have Neuchel beaten to death during a riot is directly responsible for Connor finding out about the escape plan.
- Only Sane Man: Neuchel is the only prisoner who makes a signficant effort to abide by the Geneva Convention amidst the riots and escape plans that Schluter engineers. Due to this attitude and his suspected homosexuality, he's a Pariah Prisoner.
- Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Conniving Nazi Willi Schluter is a Faux Affably Evil professional military man, while his opponent Connor is a gruff, occasionally boorish alcoholic.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- In the film, several of the Nazis display homophobic sentiment on multiple occasions.
- In the book, two Nazi escapees display anti-Semitic distaste about being served by a Jewish diner employee.
- Reassigned to Antarctica:
- Connor is sent to McKenzie as an alternative to being court-martialed for drinking, brawling, and sleeping with a female soldier. That being said, General Kerr does feel that his intelligence will be generally useful in stopping the riots that plague the camp.
- The ineffective Major Perry seems to view his own posting at McKenzie as a punishment. He refers to the camp as "an understaffed, ill-manned post of military mediocrity."
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Major Perry doesn't get along well with Captain Connor and he makes some bad decision, but he's able to logically explain why he makes those decisions and does help Connor at times. Furthermore, in the film but not the book, Perry is absolutely right when it comes to his biggest argument with Connor (whether or not to stop the prisoners before they escape, regardless of the intelligence loss), and O'Connor eventually admits it.
- Sergeant Rock: Sergeant-Major Cox is a tough, plain-spoken noncom who leads the guards in trying to break up riots. He also doesn't show any fear while giving Connor a tour of the camp as several dozen prisoners follow them in a menacing manner.
- Shoot the Builder: A naval engineer who helps several other Nazi POWs construct their tunnel (but doesn't plan to escape himself) is beaten to death by the leader of the plot once the tunnel is completed. It's unclear whether Schluter intended to kill Unger from the start or only kills him because Unger witnesses Schluter causing the deaths of several other German prisoners to provide a distraction for the escape. The latter is implied, though.
- Sickbed Slaying: The prisoners kill Berger, who Connor is questioning about the escape plan, while he's in the hospital.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: The only bespectacled character in the movie is Unger, a trained engineer who acts as the Tunnel King.
- Tunnel King: Unger is an engineer who is assigned to supervise the POWs' tunnel-digging efforts, although his inexperience shows. In the book, the tunnel collapses prematurely, and in the film, Schluter complains about how slow the digging is going.
- Worthy Opponent: Schluter is alarmed and impressed by Connor when he first observes him marching through the compound. Connor, in turn, sizes him up as a resourceful and ruthless enemy. On several occasions, the two have conversations where they size up each other's accomplishments during their Battle of Wits. That being said, Schluter's cruelty and Connor's contempt for Schluter's crimes keep them from being friendly enemies.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Schluter is chillingly efficient at adapting his plans whenever they are threatened. When he realizes that Connor might discover his escape tunnel, he has it rerouted to under the guards 'barracks, and then stages a disaster to make the guards go elsewhere during the escape.
