History Main / CheckpointCharlie

* ''Funeral in Berlin'', also by Creator/LenDeighton, has a defector being smuggled by faking his death and being taken across the Berlin Wall in a coffin. The idea has been reused several times, such as in the TV series ''Series/JasonKing'' and ''Series/MacGyver''.

* A 1983 TV movie ''Love Is Forever'' is the BasedOnATrueStory of an Australian journalist who helped his Laotian wife escape her country by having them swim the Mekong River underwater using scuba gear. This is pretty dangerous even before the border guards start shooting at them; there's a strong current that makes it impossible to swim directly across and carries all kinds of debris, and thanks to the dirty water you can barely see where your going and might not see an object before it hit you.

* A 1983 TV movie ''Love Is Forever'' is the BasedOnATrueStory of an Australian journalist who helped his Laotian wife escape her country by having them swim the Mekong River underwater using scuba gear. This is pretty dangerous even before the {{border guard}}s start shooting at them; there's a strong current that makes it impossible to swim directly across and carries all kinds of debris, and thanks to the dirty water you can barely see where your going and might not see an object before it hit you.

* In the climax of ''Film/TheSoldier'', the title character has to drive through Checkpoint Charlie, but is recognised and pursued by a guard who's encountered him before. Fortunately his CrazyPrepared Mossad allies have set up a RampJump so he can get over the Berlin Wall the hard way.

* A 1983 TV movie ''Love Is Forever'' is the BasedOnATrueStory of an Australian journalist who helped his Laotian wife escape her country by having them swim the Mekong River underwater. This is pretty dangerous in itself, even before the border guards start shooting at them.

* The climax of ''Film/TheSoldier'', the title character has to drive through Checkpoint Charlie, but is seen and pursued by a guard who's seen him before. Fortunately his CrazyPrepared Mossad allies have set up a RampJump so he can get over the Berlin Wall the hard way.

* The climax of ''Film/{{Argo}}'' is one of these, made much more dramatic than it was in the real story.
* ''Film/{{Congo}}''. The expedition tries to surmount this problem by flying over the Zaire border, only to be fired on by army units armed with heat-seeking missiles.

* One episode of ''Series/MacGyver'' has a ColdOpen in which Mac is attempting to get out of an Iron Curtain country concealed inside a coffin.

The endgame of RunForTheBorder. An [[EspionageTropes Espionage Trope]], especially during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar what with the BerlinWall and other well-guarded communist frontiers.

* Creator/ErnestHemingway's ''A Farewell to Arms''. Frederic Henry and his LoveInterest have to row across an Italian lake in a storm to Switzerland in order to escape arrest. They see a Guardi patrol boat, but fortunately it doesn't see them.

->'''Dr Elliot:''' "If the border to Zaire is closed, how do we get across it?
->'''Munro:''' "Luck!"

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* In an episode of Mission: Impossible one of the agents (Barbara Bain) is captured in East Berlin. After she is tortured and tells them nothing, the team's leader (Peter Graves) manages to talk them into releasing her. He gives her an overcoat against the cold and they start across to West Berlin when the Germans behind them open fire with machine guns, apparently killing them. They are quite satisfied that it no longer matters who they were or what they were after. When it is clear the agents get up and he explains that he anticipated that and used bulletproof coats. She laughs and says "I thought it felt heavy."

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-->There was a checkpoint Charlie
-->He didn't crack a smile
-->But it's no laughing party
-->When you've been on the murder mile
-->Only takes one itchy trigger
-->One more widow, [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles one less white nigger]]

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** ''{{Champions}}'' supplement ''Red Doom''. In one of the adventures the superhero {{PC}}s have to smuggle a defecting superhero out of the Soviet Union. If the {{PC}}s head west they'll probably end up trying to cross the East/West German border.

* ''TopSecret'' module "Operation Fastpass". The spy {{PC}}s must help a defector escape from behind the Iron Curtain. In order to do so they must get across the border into friendly territory.

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* ''[[{{VideoGame/PapersPlease}} Papers, Please]]'' is a game all about playing a faceless official manning one of these in a fictional Communist nation.
** With the extra tip of the checkpoint being between [[UsefulNotes/BerlinWall East and West Grestin]].

* Film/JamesBond in ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' arranges for a defector to cross the Czechoslovakian border twice -- first by being shunted through a pipeline and on the second occasion by WeaponisedCar. And a cello.

* ''Funeral in Berlin'', also by Creator/LenDeighton, has a defector being smuggled by faking his death and being taken across the Berlin Wall in a coffin. The idea has been reused several times, such as in the TV series ''Series/JasonKing'' and ''MacGyver''.

* Happens several times in the {{Quiller}} series, and often mentioned as a NoodleIncident.

** With the extra tip of the checkpoint being between ''[[UsefulNotes/BerlinWall East and West Grestin]].

* Subverted in ''Film/{{Monsters|2010}}''. When the protagonists arrive at the huge wall at the US border they find it abandoned, as the aliens have overrun it.

* Subverted in ''[[Film/{{Monsters 2010}} Monsters]]'' (2010). When the protagonists arrive at the huge wall at the US border they find it abandoned, as the aliens have overrun it.

* ''TheSandbaggers'' has repeated crossings of the Iron Curtain. In one memorable instance in season 3, one of the main characters gets out of Russia on dodgy papers by going for his passport and accidentally-on-purpose showing the officials a sheaf of dirty photographs instead; they're too busy laughing at him to check his actual passport very thoroughly.

Compare MetalDetectorCheckpoint and WalkIntoMordor.

* ''[[Literature/BernardSamsonSeries Game, Set & Match]]'' by LenDeighton. Bernard Samson is haunted by the memory of a friend who performed a HeroicSacrifice while crossing the Berlin Wall, enabling him to escape. This scene is shown in the TV series, as is another incident in which a defector is smuggled across by lying in a [[BuriedAlive coffin-sized box with oxygen feed in the bed of a dump truck, which is then filled up]].
* ''Funeral in Berlin'', also by LenDeighton, has a defector being smuggled by faking his death and being taken across the Berlin Wall in a coffin. The idea has been reused several times, such as in the TV series ''Series/JasonKing'' and ''MacGyver''.

The endgame of RunForTheBorder. An [[EspionageTropes Espionage Trope]], especially during the ColdWar what with the BerlinWall and other well-guarded communist frontiers.