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Summer Of My German Soldier (1978)
Released By: Paramount Home Video   Rating: Not Rated   In Theaters: N/A
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Studio: Paramount Home Video
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Director: Michael Tuchner
Language: English
Official Website: N/A
Theatrical Release: N/A
Home Video Release: N/A
Cast: Bruce Davison, Esther Rolle, Kristy McNichol
Published ID: 486273
UPC: N/A
Plot: Despite its far-fetched plotline, the made-for-TV Summer of My German Soldier was popular with audiences and critics alike. The film is set in Georgia during World War II. Bruce Davison plays Anton Reiker, a German POW assigned to work at a local farm. Reiker escapes, taking refuge in a barn owned by the Bergens, a Jewish family. At first terrified by her guest, teen-aged Patty Bergen (Kristy McNichol) falls in love with Anton, zealously hiding him from the rest of her family and the authorities. First telecast October 30, 1978 The Summer of My German Soldier was based on a novel by Bette Grene. Esther Rolle, playing the Bergen's maid, won an Emmy for her performance; an additional nomination went to the script by Jane-Howard Hammerstein. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
I Watched The Movie And Read The Book!
Added 5/7/2005

Based on a book by the same name by Bette Greene this is a good movie about a 13 year old Jewish girl growing up in a rural southern town during World War II, a town that has a prisioner of war camp for German POWs and the girl who is nmaed Patty comes from a dysfunctional home in which her fat slob father is an abusive drunk who hates her and is constantly beating her and her mother is an uncaring wimp who also doesn't care about her daughter yet they love and spoil Patty's little sister Sharon and the only love Patty receives is from the family's black housekeeper and than Patty meets an escaped German POW who it turns out was forced into the German Army and hated Hitler and she strikes up a friendship with him. This is a sad but good movie but can be very controversial. The cast for this movie includes Kristy McNichol as Patty, Bruce Davidson as Anton the escaped POW, Ester Rolle as Ruth the housekeeper, Michael Constantine as Patty's father, Barbara Barrie as Patty's mother and Robin Lively as Patty's little sister Sharon. BTW' a Previous reviewer says she watched this movie in black and white, but this movie first aired on TV in 1978 and is acolor movie so she must have watched it on an old black and white TV set...... This is also a book and I think I actually saw the movie first and than read the book.
10 out of 11 people found this helpful.
Georgia verisimilitude
Added 7/3/2004

This a a sweet and tender little movie that conveys a tangible sense of what WWII-era rural Georgia may have been like geographically, culturally, and emotionally with regard to the war. I viewed it recently for a third time over about a ten year period, and it still came across well.

The character of the young German soldier is a bit fanciful (hard to believe a POW would have been that "ideal,") but the troubled young lady yearning for a friend in the face of an impossible father comes across well. Dad is an ogre. Mom is a wimp. The black maid is a small heroine.

All in all, worth a look.


5 out of 5 people found this helpful.
really sad and dramatic(spoilers warning!)
Added 5/23/2004

This is a really nice movie even though i saw it in black and white i thought it was interesting.And the part where patty's father beats on her is really sad.Its not as good as the book though,they took out some characters and some parts like at the end she didnt go to the camp for bad girls or whatever like she did in the book.But i think you'll enjoy it anyhow!
2 out of 3 people found this helpful.
Classic film about racism
Added 10/6/2003

The main character pulls at your heart strings from the very beginning. Patty longs to have a friend. Someone who really likes her, maybe even love her. By rescuing the escaping soldier, she learns more about the world, other people, her family, friends, and herself. I saw this movie when it first aired, and have never forgotten it. I wish they would air it again. Although this film was set during WWII, I think young people today could still learn that not all is what it seems, and that we have to love our selves first before another can.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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