The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz is a bawdy 1968 Cold War comedy film directed by George Marshall, about an East German Olympian (Elke Sommer) who spontaneously defects to the West. She falls in love with a black market czar (Bob Crane), who spends most of the movie attempting to pay off his considerable debts by betraying Paula to the bumbling officials trying to take her back to East Germany (most of whom are played by Crane's German co-stars from the popular war comedy Hogan's Heroes).
Tropes:
- Attractive Bent-Gender: In the final act, Mason disguises himself as a female track runner and gets groped by a man who offers him a ride.
- Awful Wedded Life: Mason's old friend, CIA agent Herb Sweeney, and his wife Barbara have a very unaffectionate marriage It only gets worse (despite a Hope Spot that their spark might be rekindling) after the events of the film lead to Barbara being briefly kidnapped, mistaken for a prostitute, and spending the night in jail due to Herb and Mason's friendship. This leaves Herb in a state of depression and is never resolved before the final scene.Herb: Before, she just hated me. Now she loathes me.
- Defector from Commie Land: Paula Schultz is a prominent East German athlete who doesn't find life in the East ideal but defects rather spontaneously by pole-vaulting over the Berlin Wall after assistant minister Klaus's unwelcome advances leave her completely disillusioned and afraid for her future if she stays in East Germany. She temporarily returns after being disillusioned with the West, but then defects again, with Klaus and agent Weber defecting as well to avoid being shot for allowing her escape.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Assistant Minister Klaus is introduced as a snide, slightly misogynistic man who is bored by Paula's efforts to talk for herself. Later, he tells her that he agrees with her about feeling stifled by East Germany's society, but this is just part of a sleazy effort to trick her into being his mistress.
- Miles Gloriosus: East German agent Weber brags that he's single-handedly recaptured four defectors. The colonel sneers that the oldest of those defectors was fifteen and the youngest was nine.
- Ms. Fanservice: Paula is a trim young athlete who gets a lot of scenes in her underwear, Topless From The Back, or in a Modesty Towel.
- Naked People Are Funny: Characters getting stripped down to their underwear and Paula's blouse accidentally being torn off while Klaus is pinning a medal on it get played for slapstick laughs.
- The Napoleon: The colonel in charge of local State Sec operations is a short man with a Hair-Trigger Temper. He dishes out regular death threats and stands on a stool to look down on his subordinates.
