Line #30 Film/EscapeToAthena


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c23d8ab6abee05cd4d47a5ee52a6ff25.jpg]]
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3	A 1979 British war comedy/adventure film directed by George Pan Cosmatos, starring Creator/RogerMoore, Creator/TellySavalas, Creator/DavidNiven, Creator/StefaniePowers, Creator/ElliottGould, Creator/ClaudiaCardinale, Creator/RichardRoundtree and Music/SonnyBono.
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5	The film takes place during the Greek side of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII circa 1944, in one island under the Nazi influence. Local members of the Greek Resistance conspire with the prisoners of a POW camp to take it over and cause an uprising against the invaders. Then it is off to a monastery on top of a mountain to claim its riches. Or so they think...
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8	!!This film has the examples of:
9	* ActionGirl: Even the prostitutes take up arms during the uprising.
10	* TheBackwardsR: Some American posters used the Greek alphabet's letter "sigma" in the place of letter "e" in the title, turning it into ''ΣscapΣ to AthΣna''.
11	* BadassPreacher: The Greek priest often seen in the sideline. Once the bullets start flying, he kept reading his bible aloud while tossing grenades hidden in the various objects he is carrying.
12	* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: After LaResistance seize the submarine refueling depot, a machine gun is seen swiveling menacingly towards the heroes, but when it fires it kills a German guard on the roof who was about to shoot Prof. Blake, as one of the good guys has already taken over the bunker.
13	* TheCameo: Creator/WilliamHolden as an older P.O.W. encountered by Charlie, who does a double take and asks "Are you still here?" (an ActorAllusion to Holden's role in ''Film/Stalag17'').
14	-->'''Holden:''' It's not a bad life. Got a match?
15	* ChaseScene: A motorcycle chase in the tight corridors of the town breaks out when Charlie has to stop Major Volkmann from alerting the submarine base about the uprising. Charlie encounters some trouble because his motorcycle has a sidecar while the Major's does not.
16	* CrazyJealousGuy: Zeno assassinates Braun largely because he's the favourite client of Zeno's prostitute girlfriend.
17	* DancePartyEnding: The last scene before the DistantFinale has all the Greeks dancing in the plaza celebrating liberation. The Allied characters and Hecht, on the other hand, are busy plotting a new get rich quick scheme.
18	* DeathByMaterialism: Charlie is lucky to escape this as he insists on staying behind to get the plate with the place about to blow up.
19	* DissonantSerenity: A priest stops reading the Bible long enough to throw a grenade, then goes right back to it. Likewise a man having his face shaven.
20	* DistantFinale: The final couple of minutes show the town in the (then-) current day, with the gold plates as the proud central piece of a local museum.
21	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Zeno sabotages the brakes on Nazi officer Braun's car. It not only slams into a wall and explodes, it also blows up a German ammunition dump in the process.
22	* FacelessGoons: The V2 missile launching crew have all black uniforms with silver reflecting facemasks. It doesn't resemble any WWII uniform, but makes them look suitably spooky.
23	* FakingTheDead: When Charlie catches up to Major Volkmann in the building, he tries to sneak up to the office door, but trips over a few pots and pans outside. The Major opens fire on him through the door, prompting Charlie to let out an agonized yell as if he were hit, then spending the next few seconds quietly removing wood splinters from his hand. Once Volkmann thinks he has killed his pursuer, he moves quickly to the phone, at which point Charlie bursts through the door and guns him down.
24	* FiringSquad: LaResistance do a BigDamnHeroes when the Germans are about to shoot civilian hostages.
25	* GracefulLoser: After his first attempt woo the USO girl Dottie is rejected, Major Hecht withdraws in some confusion, but leaves his bottle of wine.
26	* GreatEscape: First half of the film consists of half of the main character devising a way to escape the prison camp, so that they can take over the place from Nazis and raid the monastery on mount Athena (hence the title).
27	* GunsAkimbo: Zeno gives Charlie a Walther P-38 and a Mauser C96 for the uprising, cautioning Charlie to fire in short bursts to avoid overheating. Charlie uses them rather well for an untrained, interned civilian entertainer, [[spoiler:and after cornering Major Volkmann in his office, he kills the Major with a [[MultipleGunshotDeath fusillade of bullets from both guns]].]]
28	* AHandfulForAnEye: The frogman that Otto fights on the beach throws sand into his eyes.
29	* HeelFaceTurn: The good guys easily convince Major Hecht to join them. To establish it before the turn, he is shown to be a PunchClockVillain who is displeased to work with the SS, and more interested in smuggling valuable Greek artifacts uncovered at the dig site.
30	* HoneyTrap: The headquarters of LaResistance is in the local whorehouse, with the girls being used for collecting secrets, and [[CaughtWithYourPantsDown taking Germans prisoner]] when it's time to liberate the town.
31	* HumanShield: During the uprising in the village, the SS officer Major Volkmann [[KickTheDog seizes a young Greek boy as cover]], only to have him [[PetTheDog saved by Major Hecht]].
32	* ImpossibleTask: The [=POWs=] make the job of clearing out the local ruins of artifacts one on purpose - archeological work is fairly light duty with no war impact, while whatever they might get called on to do next if they ever officially finish might not be. So every few days they steal something from the collection of artifacts that they've already found and bury it so they can then dig it back up again to convince the Germans there are still more things to be discovered.
33	* LaResistance: Zeno leads a group of Greek Partisans which operations includes the local Bordello while Professor Blake leads a group of allied POW and local workers inside a German excavation camp.
34	* LaserGuidedKarma: PlayedForLaughs with the gassing of the Nazi radio tower during the climax.
35	* LeaveBehindAPistol: After the POW camp's takeover, Prof. Blake gives Major Hecht a choice between aiding the Greek Resistance or being killed by them. When he asks if there's any other option, Blake wordlessly chambers a round into his P-38 and removes the magazine, leaving the weapon with the Major. He elects not to kill himself.
36	* MoeGreeneSpecial: Prof. Blake kills one of the German frogmen by shooting him into his eye through his swimming goggles as he threatens to cut Dottie's throat.
37	* NamedByTheAdaptation: The Luftwaffe captain who [[spoiler:sets the base to self-destruct as he dies]] is named Schroeder in the novel. Similarly, Luftwaffe commanding officer Vogel and Hecht's MookLieutenant Mann get first names in the book, Klaus and Ernst respectively.
38	* NobleBigot: Hecht immediately spotted Charlie as Jewish-American ([[ActorSharedBackground just like his actor]][[invoked]] Creator/ElliottGould) and is aware of his [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust government's notorious anti-semitism]], but is nonetheless civil and cordial towards him and has no problems teaming up with him later. Admittedly Hecht is more interested in making money, so he just might not care enough about it.
39	* {{Novelization}}: A pretty decent one by Clive Egleton (under the pseudonym Patrick Blake).
40	* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Like a true OfficerAndAGentleman and despite being played by [[Creator/RogerMoore a]] [[Characters/JamesBondTheCharacter James Bond]], Major Hecht is the only one of the German soldiers and officers not to engage in the whistles and catcalls of his fellow comrades while watching Dottie's striptease and in fact found it [[EvenEvilHasStandards perversely distasteful and dismayed at realizing it's not what he had in mind when he agreed to have her to perform for his men]].
41	** Given that Dottie is his mistress at the time, it's more likely because he's not happy about everyone else getting a perve at her.
42	* PinPullingTeeth: A tongue-in-cheek version occurs when a Greek priest takes a bite from a fruit, then throws it at the German soldiers. It explodes, apparently being a disguised grenade.
43	* PottyFailure: Rotelli slips laxative into the Germans' food as one of the many ploys to take the camp.
44	* PunchClockHero: Charlie, Rotelli, Nat, and Dottie are only interested in the treasures rather than liberating Greece or removing major German threats.
45	* PunchClockVillain: SS Major Volkmann, to a disturbing extent. He and his adjutant casually talk about killing a Greek prostitute ''in front of her'', saying that it should show the locals that Volkmann means business without upsetting them too much. Hecht, however, is a more straight-forward example before his HeelFaceTurn.
46	* SameLanguageDub: Philip Locke was dubbed by Creator/MichaelSheard.
47	* SelfDestructMechanism: A dying Luftwaffe officer sets the missile site at Mt. Athena to destroy itself after all seems lost.
48	* StupidJetpackHitler: A secret Nazi missile base guarded by FacelessGoons. Not that the Nazis didn't have V2's or even underground factories for assembling them, but [[RuleOfCool never the setup seen here.]]
49	* ThoseWackyNazis: The main antagonists of the film, although Volkmann and his SS bully boys are the only ones depicted as irredeemably evil.
50	* TokenEnemyMinority: Rotelli, the Italian.
51	* WeNeedADistraction:
52	** Zeno gets inside the POW camp by driving to the gate, pretending to be distressed about a soldier that he accidentally drove over. Then at the first opportunity, he shoots the guards.
53	** Not to mention the striptease scene.
54	** Earlier in the movie Zeno is operating a radio transmitter in the brothel when a German soldier knocks on the door. Zeno readies a gun in case he opens it, but fortunately one of his girls quickly pulls the soldier away to her room instead.
55	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:Major Hecht's men who surrendered including Sgt. Mann are never seen again afterwards.]]
56	* WorthlessTreasureTwist: Zeno, the head of the Greek Resistance, convinces the escaped POW's to loot a mountaintop monastery of gold plates worth $2 million. [[spoiler:Instead they find the Germans have converted the monastery into a V2 missile silo, and the only plates they find are a crate of cheap metal ones with Hitler's face on them. At the end it's revealed that Zeno had the gold plates [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong stashed at his headquarters (the local whorehouse) the entire time]] -- he just wanted their help in blowing up the German base.]]
57	* YouCanLeaveYourHatOn: The POW's put on a variety act for their German guards, the climax of which is a strip show by Dottie, an interned female USO performer. While the Germans [[ShowSomeLeg are busy leering over her performance]], the Greek Resistance sneak up and take them all prisoner.
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Context Film / EscapeToAthena