Heartwarming / Stalag 17

• How the whole barracks — including Jerkass Sefton — go out of their way to treat Joey right.
  • When the commandant is gloating over the deaths of Manfredi and Johnson, Animal uses Joey's ocarina to splash mud on Scherbach's shiny boots. Joey — already suffering from shell-shock — doesn't take it well. But later on, the guys have a new ocarina created for him for Christmas, and Joey's frozen face breaks into a smile.
  • Animal is seen carving a new ocarina to replace the one he broke. He even turns away from Joey to keep it a surprise.
  • After an argument with Duke that he says has spoiled his appetite, Sefton gives his fancy (by comparison) breakfast that he traded for to Joey.
  • It is also revealed during mail call that the others have been writing letters to Joey's family in his behalf.
  • Just looking at Joey, you can see that the others are seeing to his hygiene and other needs as he is relatively clean shaven and not emaciated from not eating anything.
• When everyone steps forward to take the blame with Animal for dirtying the commandant's boots, Sefton steps with them.
• Whatever else the commandant did, he kept his word and gave Manfredi and Johnson a proper funeral with proper coffins.
  • The men take a moment from filling in the tunnel to show respects to the fallen. Even Sefton extinguishes his cigar and removes his hat for them. The guards, rather than ordering them to continue working, allow them to show their respects.
• Cookie mentions that Sefton pays him five cigarettes a day to take care of the mice, but Cookie (like Sefton) is only ever seen smoking cigars, meaning that Sefton made sure that Cookie is getting 'spending money' and not just smoking his pay away.
• When Duke admits that they were wrong about Sefton, Sefton just tells him to forget it and strikes a match off Duke's stubble — something that usually makes him extremely angry, but Duke just smiles in a mix of penance and admiration.
  • Duke's final lines are expressing happiness that Sefton pulled it off.
• Sefton saluting the barracks men with a grin before he leaves.
• Sefton and Dunbar are fellow Boston natives, but take an almost instant dislike to one another due to their very different socio-economic backgrounds (although it's implied that at least some of it is due to Sefton failing officer school while Dunbar passed), with the former spending a lot of time baiting the latter for his wealthy, privileged status. But when the critical moment comes, it's Sefton who ends up saving Dunbar's life by escorting him out of the camp and (hopefully) to freedom.
  Sefton: (after cutting their way through the barbed wire) Let's blow, Chauncey.
  Dunbar: (grinning) Let's.
  (they run off into the woods together, Sefton with his arm around Dunbar to hold him up)

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