Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971) User Reviews (91)

Zany and hilarious German POW camp escapades

[roghache · 8/10 · 5 May 2006]

This is a hilarious, side splitting comedy that baby boomers such as myself grew up with. Although it has been criticized, personally, I don't think it trivializes the evils of the Nazis or the genuine suffering during the war. Most people can accept this wildly ridiculous program for the total nonsense it is. Frankly, I can hardly believe that anyone would actually get their views of prison camp life from this drivel, or genuinely consider the German military as real life incompetent idiots based upon this crazy show. In short, no one could possibly take this tomfoolery seriously.

The series revolves around the wacky goings on at Stalag 13, a German POW camp for Allied soldiers. The assorted prisoners, led by Colonel Hogan, are actually using the camp as a base for sabotaging the German war effort and assisting the Allies. They have a wealth of tunnels underneath the camp going virtually everywhere and are in constant contact with Allied command via radio communication. These POW's are unwittingly aided in their efforts by those in charge at Stalag 13, the incompetent Colonel Klink and his assistant, the even more bumbling Sargent Schultz.

Of course the entire premise is absurd, which is what makes the series so hugely entertaining. The whole point is that these soldiers aren't really prisoners at all. They can escape whenever they wish...and frequently do so whenever it suits their purpose. I seem to recall they've even made it to France and back.

The actors portraying the Allied POW's are all charmingly competent in their roles, including Bob Crane as the smug American Colonel Hogan, Richard Dawson as the British Newkirk, Robert Clary as the little French Le Beau, and Larry Hovis as the bumbling Carter.

However, the real stars are the German roles. Werner Klemperer is absolutely brilliant as the endearing fool Colonel Klink, scrutinizing his charges with his monocle. Klink simply wants to give the impression to his superior officers (especially General Burkhalter) that all is running smoothly and thus avoid being sent to the dreaded Russian Front. Even more lovable is the simple minded Sargent Schultz, played by John Banner. He is easily manipulated by Hogan and friends to unknowingly set up ideal conditions for various secret operations planned by the POW's. His stock phrase is 'I know nothing' whenever he witnesses the prisoners' shenanigans and finds them too unsettling or troublesome to report. The villain of the piece (though none of it's taken very seriously) is the evil, mustachioed Major Hochstetter, an ardent Nazi and Gestapo officer.

Nothing is the least plausible about this tale, which I believe is the reason it serves as no threat to the actual historical record. The series is quite simply a hoot. It's especially fun observing that Hogan and Company are actually good friends of a fashion with the bumbling Klink and Schultz, though of course they chuckle at them behind their backs. The POWs depend upon the ongoing incompetence of this pair for their own anti Nazi endeavours, and their greatest fear is that these two German officers will be replaced by others they can't so easily hoodwink. Wonderful fun series...turn off your brain and enjoy.

A comedy I remember fondly from my youth

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 14 September 2019]

This was a sitcom that began airing in 1965 and starred Bob Crane as American Col. Hogan, prisoner in a POW camp that has an adjective hardly ever used with such an environment - "wacky". The POWs also include the British (Richard Dawson as Newkirk) and the French (Robert Clary as LeBeau),. There's even some racial diversity with Ivan Dixon as Kinchloe. But no Russians! I guess in retrospect, and especially during the Cold War and at the height of the Vietnam War, those Russians were not as much our allies as originally thought.

The Germans are shown as completely incompetent and servile, and thus the POWs of Stalag 13 just come and go at their leisure on espionage missions for the Allies, with nobody the wiser.

This would probably cause an uproar today, but I think laughing at the Germans and making them look ridiculous is pretty effective. The show was abruptly cancelled in 1971, as "All In the Family" started TV steering away from light innocent fare - and believe it or not, this show was that! - and turning to harder hitting more socially relevant material.

zany comedy of World War Two

[didi-5 · 8/10 · 2 October 2008]

Hogan's Heroes was a great series which still stands up today, as funny as it ever was. Mainly due to the great interplay between Bob Crane as Colonel Hogan, head of the US prisoners of war, and Werner Klemperer as Colonel Klink, commandant of Stalag 13 (where there have never been any escapes, ever), this series really does succeed.

Zany, improbable, inventive, silly, and hugely influential on many comedies which followed, this showed the Germans constantly outsmarted while not presenting them as mindless psychotic thugs - although it was clear who was on the 'right side', as Hogan and his troops prove with their underground operation, beautifully showcased in a couple of the early episodes.

A Zany Comedy That Sometimes Did Have Point

[theowinthrop · 20 June 2005]

When "Hogan's Heroes" became a national television phenomenon in the 1960s, the critics sharpened their knives and went at it as the lowest possible taste. Even "Mad Magazine" did a nasty swipe at it's improbabilities (not noting that those improbabilities were built in for emphasizing the evils that real Allied veterans faced against the real Nazis). I remember that the MAD satire suggested going one step better - do a series about Jewish concentration camp inmates called "Hochman's Heroes". Nobody, certainly not the writers and producers of "Hogan's Heroes", ever suggested the death camps were funny or material for possible humor.

When Werner Klemperer was on a talk show (Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin, I forget which) in the 1970s talking about his Emmy winning role of Col. Wilhelm Klink, Klemperer explained his willingness to play the commandant of a German P.O.W. camp in World War II. After all, like fellow stars John Banner, Leon Askin, and Ron Clary he was a survivor of the period, and a Jew (and so like Banner and Askin he had fled the Nazis, unlike Clary who was in a concentration camp but survived). Klemperer made certain that none of the proposed episodes would ever glorify the Nazis (he termed them, "those fellows" - a rather mild use of language but he was a gentleman) before he agreed to sign up. One has to look at his long career in film and television to see how consistent he was. Klemperer could play villains, and he certainly was very effective playing die-in-the-soul Nazis. He appeared as Adolf Eichman in one film, and was the Nazi fanatic at the Nuremburg trials in "Judgement At Nuremburg" ("Traitor! TRAITOR!!" - his most famous line there at Burt Lancaster). Even in an episode of ONE STEP BEYOND he was a loyal SS man trying to flee Nazi Germany in it's dying days on a submarine to South America. Like the great Conrad Veidt, Klemperer knew his real enemy and did a fine job delineating the particular animal to the world. So curiously did Banner, who played Gregor Strasser in the movie "Hitler", with Richard Basehart.

If one sees the episodes, the more typical Nazi slime are not the comic caricatures. Only one comic caricature, Howard Caine, never has a redeeming feature - but he is a Gestapo officer. The late Leon Askin (he recently died) is always throwing his fat bulk about as General Burkhalter, and does gloat at possible Allied defeats, but he is a family man, always trying to push the possible marriage of his hideous sister (Kathleen Freeman in a typically good performance) with the trapped Klink. John Banner's simple soldier Sgt. Schultz has a long tradition going back to the post World War I novel "The Good Soldier Schweik", about the unconvinced conscript who is there just to survive and go home. The show was based (in part) on the William Holden film of the play "Stalag 17", where Otto Preminger was the conniving camp commandant and Sig Ruman was the jovial, untrustworthy sergeant. In the context of that fine Billy Wilder film both roles were well written and cast. But the variations in Klink and Schultz in the television series are (odd to think of it) rounder and more believable.

The episode that I think reveals the truth about them is one where Hogan (Bob Crane, a talented man who was brutally murdered a few years later) manages to convince the Nazi leadership near the camp that the Allies and the Axis have decided to end the war. Klink, Burkhalter, Schultz, Hogan are in Klink's office toasting with schnapps, and now in a relaxed mood, they discuss future plans. Hogan will return to the states and his former job. Burkhalter will still be in a command position in the post-war Nazi Army. But there will be (naturally) a large number of soldiers and officers on all sides who will be decommissioned. While the human Klink is glad the war will be over, he sadly shakes his head. He doesn't know what he will do in the post-war world. He will have his half-pay pension, and has saved a little money. He will have to find work of some sort. Then he looks at Banner and (somewhat mockingly) says, "And you Schultz, what will you do?" Banner, quietly sipping his schnapps, says, "Oh, that's no problem...I will always have a job waiting for me at the Dinkle Toy corporation." The other three are not surprised, but it does fill in some of Schultz's background. One can see him making or selling little toys. Klink says, "Oh, that company is huge. It's the largest toy firm in Europe. What job do you have there?" Perfectly timed, Banner savoring his schnapps and the impact of his comment says, "I AM THE DINKLE TOY CORPORATION!" Klink's eyes widen and his ever present monocle pops out. That in the post-German world lowly, put upon Schultz would actually be a major industrialist never occurred to the Colonel. And in one's mind, recalling the economic miracle that has made Germany the muscular power it is since 1950, the "Schultz"s of that country did their job pretty well.

That is why I feel the series was better written and thought out than many of it's critics felt. It didn't glorify what was horrible and unjustifiable in German occupied Europe from 1938 - 1945. It slapped that down, and showed the shape of things to come.

A very special series

[Pro Jury · 10/10 · 7 June 2000]

"For security reasons I cannot tell you the exact location. The request was no names please, but somewhere in Germany an American officer is operating a sabotage and rescue unit from of all places, a POW camp. These men saved my life. For me they are among the unsung heroes of this war."

Bob Crane pacing in perfect step with a chimp -- an unforgettable image from an all-time TV classic.

I have seen more repetitions of Hogan's Heroes than I have seen cycles of any other TV series. Watching the entire series, viewers will see that most episodes were wacky and certainly unrealistic. Silly, zany comedy was the norm. However, other episodes were much more sober and more filled with tension and suspense (check out the "North Star" episode from one of the early seasons). Some episodes added twists upon twists upon twists. Most were story driven rather than simply character driven.

The cast was top notch and worked well together in front of the camera. Charisma and chemistry -- and mighty funny too! Check this series out.

Implausible yet often hysterical

[Thomas_Veil · 10/10 · 25 June 2008]

I won't waste time going over the premise of the show; that has already been done more than adequately by nearly every reviewer here.

I will agree that the argument the show being "offensive" is weak. As others said, it was a POW stalag, not a concentration camp. And I'll add that "Hogan's Heroes" played during a period of multiple service comedies, yet it was the best of them, not the worst. Sgt. Bilko was a film-flam man. Cmdr. Quinton McHale occasionally did battle with the Japanese, but you never got the feeling that he or his crew were in danger from anyone but their immediate superior, Capt. Binghamton.

The POWs of Stalag 13, however, were another story. Yes, 95% of the time the focus was on Hogan and his men pulling scams on the Nazis and having fun sabotaging their work, but the remaining 5% of the time things could get uncomfortable. A decent number of stories contain scenes in which Hogan's life (or those of his men) are in peril. And as the show went on, characters like Maj. Hochstetter did not fail to notice that many of the Nazis' worst defeats were centered around Stalag 13.

Of course, this being a '60s sitcom, you know and I know that nothing really bad is going to happen to Hogan or his crew. Yet these moments always had a genuine tinge of tension to them.

But overwhelmingly the focus of the show was around conning the Nazis, disrupting their war plans and in general making fun of them. Bob Crane played Col. Hogan as a born con artist, able to come up with bold, brash scams at the drop of a hat. However, as many actors can tell you, playing the villain is infinitely more fun than playing the hero, and that seems to go doubly well for comedies.

How Werner Klemperer must have loved playing the pompous, cowardly Col. Klink! And John Banner as the pacifist, food-loving teddy bear, Sgt. Schultz...watching the two of them together (or separately with Crane), you begin to realize that it was they, not Bob Crane, that had the best roles in the show. Watch Schultz say something lovably idiotic, and Klink snap from a smile to a frown in an instant barking, "Dummkopf!"

It is these two, and to a lesser degree the various actors who played the heroes, that made the show so good, I am convinced. Each week Klemperer and Banner virtually put on a comedy acting clinic -- they were that good. And when you added the piggish Gen. Burkhalter and that ultimate Angry White Man, Maj. Hochstetter, things only got funnier. All of these characters were played so well that they remain hysterically memorable more than 40 years later.

Try not to concentrate on the inherent absurdity of pulling this stuff off on the Nazis week after week, year after year, and getting away with it, and concentrate more on the exquisite comedic performances, and you will have yourself one hell of a good time.

Wonderful show!

[lindsay_duke · 10/10 · 8 December 2007]

This has got to be one of the funniest shows that ever aired on TV! It was perfectly cast and well written. It is amusing to see how the show incorporated real events like D-Day into some of the episodes. The thing I find most ironic was that Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schultz were both played by Jewish actors! Werner Klemper is indisputably the best part of the show and Leon Askin is perfect a frequent guest star General Burkhalter.

Colonel Hogan is a very interesting character in his own right. It is amazing how he managed to control, what at times seemed like half the German army all because of his flattery. And of course there's Corpral Newkirk the lovable sneak thief, Le Beau the vertically challenged chef, cater the bumbling demolition expert, and Kinch the serious communications officer. All together the make a wild group that will make you laugh hysterically! An excellent family show and well worth the time to watch!

Nice, relaxing show

[materiks · 10/10 · 9 May 2007]

I started watching Hogans Heroes because of my interest in POW camps, but I kept watching because it was extremely fun and entertaining. I quickly realized that this show wasn't realistic, but who cares? Why be concerned about the realities of war, when you can sit down, and see the brilliant solution Hogan comes up with next. It brought me a smile on gray days, and I think it has a M*A*S*H feel about it. Very entertaining indeed.

You don't have to be a history-buff to enjoy this, as I previously mentioned, the show is mostly comedy and fiction. I recommend this to everyone.

Mocking the Nazis

[oystermanproductions · 7/10 · 22 October 2017]

A lot of great artists have tried to use humor against the Nazis: Chaplin, Lubitsch, Wilder. If you want to see mockery, though, real mockery and scorn, you really can't beat this TV show. Even more than Wilder's original film, Stalag 17, this show ridicules Nazis without mercy. It's a subversive and light sitcom about a bunch of POWs who operate as spies behind enemy lines.

The show manages to capture the dark side of Nazis, specifically the SS. Periodically they come in and threaten to send Col. Klink to the eastern front. Meanwhile, Sgt. Schultz knows the prisoners are up to something, but to acknowledge it would open up a huge can of worms. "I see nothing!" Klink and Schultz are caught between a rock and a hard place, between the evil SS and those damn sneaky POWs. Klink begs Hogan to cooperate and be nice. Meanwhile, instead of escaping to safety--which they could do anytime they wanted to--the POWs sacrifice their own liberty to stay in the prison camp and spy on the Germans.

Hogan's Heroes is broad to be sure. Many of us underrate it. It's not particularly funny or dramatic, but it is enjoyable in the way many TV shows are, and you can easily lose yourself in an episode. What makes it worthy of our time, I think, is that it captures perfectly the mindset we should have about Nazis. Nazis are stupid, stupid, stupid. Over and over the show relishes an attack on the intelligence of Nazis. Oh, you stupid morons, look what we are doing right under your noses. No way are you going to win this war.

You see a lot of Nazis in art. They are our default bad guy, even today, 65 years after the war. But you would be hard-pressed to find any more withering scorn for Nazis than in any random episode of Hogan's Heroes. It is perhaps one of the finest examples of pure mockery in art.

I think much of our pleasure from this show is on that simple basis. "Let's outsmart the Nazis." And yet if you think about it, Col. Klink is a fascinating creation. He's a weak man, a coward, and stupid. But he is not actually evil in the way of the SS. Klink and Schultz are not Nazis so much as nihilists, people who just want to get along in life. "I see nothing!" It's a metaphor for a type of person who wants to avoid conflict at all costs. The repression in that line fascinates. It is, perhaps, an oblique reminder of the German refusal to see what was happening to the Jews. Klink and Schultz avoid seeing what the POWs are so obviously up to, for the same reason they avoid seeing what the Nazis are up to: to see such things would cause problems for them personally. So Klink chooses, on some level, to be a buffoon, and Schultz loves his strudel. They are likable and yet in a certain way reprehensible. It is the humanity of Klink and Schultz-- their weakness, their fear, their basic decency--that makes this show so interesting. We watch as they bounce back and forth between the evil of Nazi Germany and the heroism of the POWs.

While the show undoubtedly works on the cheap level of adolescent thrills--watch as we upstage authority and mock the Nazis--the show also works on a more complicated level of subversion and repression and masks. The POWs often corrupt Schultz with strudel, and then he refuses to see what he has in fact seen. The POWs go further, on occasion saving Klink from the Nazis so as to keep him as commandant. The conceit is that no Nazi can possibly be as dumb, or as complicit, as Klink. Klink in turn defends his own perfect record, how no one has ever escaped from his prison camp. Which is true enough, but only because it is headquarters of a massive spy ring.

The show works on both simple and complex levels. Nazis are mocked without mercy. And yet too the show is all about masks and self-deceit and repression and subterfuge and denial. Much of this swirls around the character of Col. Klink, the buffoon with a monocle and a riding crop. He is unable to be good and unable to be evil. He is too weak to please the Nazis and too weak to stand up to them. He is not a Nazi so much as a facade of a Nazi. His whole camp is a facade. And yet he wants to be liked by the Nazis and liked by Hogan. He wants everyone to like him and he wants all problems to disappear. It is Klink's desire to avoid all conflicts and problems and disharmony--his desire to keep his beautiful facade up at all costs--that makes Hogan's Heroes unusual and fascinating. While it is a simple, even a simple-minded sitcom, it is also one of the more layered comedies you will ever see. In fact that's exactly what it is, since half the show takes place in an underground tunnel.

I remember when I was a kid and I first heard of "the French underground." I figured they were actually under the ground, like the guys in Hogan's Heroes. Good guys in secret tunnels under bad guys is a wonderful and comic visual, a manifestation of id against ego, of rebels against tyranny and oppression. It's silly, yes, but kinda brilliant too.

As a fellow German......

[Thomasbuettner22 · 8/10 · 11 June 2007]

....I can't express enough the laughters these pieces of celluloid has provided over time. Even Charlie Chaplin would surely have enjoyed the Hilter impersonations by Larry Hovis - hilarious ;-) And a "not so ideal German blond guy" like Sgt Kinchlow in a SS uniform? C'mon, you have to admit that just the idea deserves a round of applause. To hire an Austrian for the role as Lager Commandant Klink is ingenious as well, I highly respect Werner Klemperer for that (may God rest his soul in peace). If you are looking for the most contradictions in a series ever made, you've found it. But that says "nussink" about the real intention - short while entertainment with a touch of unreal insanity. Of course, it is a bit biased towards Bob Crane as the main character, but we can forgive that easy, as we would to Sgt Hans Schultz for never having a loaded Rifle on hand.

So Please don't read too much into the series, it was funny when it broad casted the first time and it still is today.

BTW: The German Airforce (Luftwaffe) had a code of conduct with all of their prisoners since they knew that their own captured Pilots got a break in allied Prison camps. So there is no real comparison to any other German Concentration camps or P.O.W. camps....in case you care about that ;-)

Bing Crosby Productions Hit -Nothing To Do With Stalag 17

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 12 March 2007]

Good old Bing Crosby productions has a most unlikely hit with this comedy. Imagine a pow camp in World War 2 with inept Germans & smart & funny allied prisoners cutting up the air waves every week. That is what this was.

The creators of this show were not in any way connected with the hit Broadway show Stalag 17. The idea and inspirtion might have been from it, but Stalag 17 is more drama than Comedy. What the creators of Hogan's Heros did is all Comedy and no drama. They took a talented cast of actors and created a farce that highlighted the cast. As I write this, only Robert Clary (Lebeau) at 94 years old is still alive from the main cast. Kenneth Washington who replaced Ivan Dixon is the other survivor from the main cast. After the show ended in 1971, John Banner and Leon Askin both returned to Vienna, Austria where they later died. Bob Crane was murdered in a still open Cold Case at a motel. This is an ensemble comedy, with Crane the star, but Banner, Kemperor, and the rest of the main cast get plenty camera time and script.

The Germans were never this much a bunch of buffons, but this is fully done as comedy. It is an insult to William Holden and the Broadway show and movie Stalag 17 to say it is directly related. Other than Sgt Schulta character name, and a German POW camp setting, the two productions do not even have a coomon thread. Sadly this was done about 20 years before the Jewish Holocast of Uncle Joe Stalin was revealed, so the portrayal of Russians is totally farce, but this is the way the show is. There's not a serious bone in anyones body. It's an SNL satire that predates SNL by 10 years.

Col Robert Hogan (Bob Crane) leading a tight knit team of allied POW on sabotage to hinder the German war effort. All under the nose of Col Wilhelm Klink (Werner Klemperer). The commandant is ably assisted by Sgt. Schultz (John Banner) who knows nothing, sees nothing, & hears nothing.

Hogans team includes Larry Hovis, Richard Dawson, Ivan Dixon, & Corp. LeBeau. It is a mismatch made in comedy television heaven. Schultz name was borrowed from the film drama Stalag 17, but this is no drama. It is tung-in-cheek satire fun. With Hogan always plotting, the ensemble brings everything off.

"I see nothing"(Sgt Schultz) became a favorite phrase being used on METV ads.. "Dismissed," is a Klink Classic. The Russian Front is the running gag threat. There are plenty of beautiful women popping in, and once in a while a few men in drag. The SS is lampooned 20 years after their most evil deeds were done.

Laughing at Nazis is a good thing

[telcontar328 · 9/10 · 17 October 2007]

"Why would anybody make a comedy about a WWII prison camp?"

Because the best way to fight evil, especially a snobby evil like Nazism, is to make fun of it.

Suppose some high-ranking Nazi--let's say Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo--could be magically brought forward in time and shown one film about World War II... If he saw a serious documentary or drama about the war, one that played up how fierce and cruel and efficiently nasty the Gestapo were, he'd be very proud of his organization. But if he saw an episode of "Hogan's Heroes"--especially one that features Major Hochstetter being fierce/cruel/Gestapo-nasty, with the studio audience laughing their heads off--he'd probably burst a blood vessel!

"Hogan's Heroes" is a situation comedy about a group of POWs whose insanely complicated undercover ops always involve fooling their stuffed-shirt kommandant. It doesn't make fun of real POWs or what they went through; if anything, it glamorizes them quite a bit. What it does do is make fun of people who think they're superior. Sure, it overplays how ridiculously silly the Germans were and how much damage the POWs could do (without getting shot), but exaggeration is the essence of comedy. Would "I Love Lucy" or "Gilligan's Island" be funny if only realistic things happened?

Granted, the basic plots can get pretty predictable--the heroes have to smuggle something or someone out of camp/out of Germany, or their operation is in danger of being discovered, or they have to sabotage something or save Klink/Schultz from the Russian front. Many episodes do have clever plot twists, but on the whole I give the plot quality a 7 out of 10.

The scripting, on the other hand, gets 10 out of 10. It's consistently stellar over the 168 episodes, with unforgettable lines like "I see nothink!", "Why is it, Kleenk, that you are always happier to see me than I am to see you?", "Love your barbed wire", and Major Hochstetter's two favorite remarks: "What is this man doing here?!?" and "BAAAH!"

The acting was fairly good, 9/10 overall; the regulars and recurring characters tended to be better than a lot of the one-shots. A few of the actors deserve special mention:

John Banner (Sergeant Schultz) gets 10 out of 10. He was one of the world's great comic actors, and "Hogan's Heroes" couldn't have existed without him.

Larry Hovis (Carter) also gets 10 of 10. Not only is Carter one of the world's cutest dumb guys, in my opinion, but his Hitler impersonation is the best in TV history!

Howard Caine (Major Hochstetter) provided something sorely needed on this slightly overoptimistic show--a dangerous Nazi. If it weren't for the intercom in the coffeepot, Hochstetter would have uncovered the heroes' operation several times over.

And let's not forget Ivan Dixon (Kinchloe)! One year before Lt. Uhura, he became TV's first black communications officer.

Hogan's Heroes is a very funny, family-friendly situation comedy about outwitting "superior" bureaucrats, keeping your sense of humor in tough situations, and never giving up--especially when a job is impossible.

Greatest Gen loved it: boomers conflicted

[chris-j-chuba · 7/10 · 26 March 2020]

When this came out, WW2 vets were a prime audience and hollywood couldn't crank out the 'we were better than those buffoon Germans' movies fast enough. Perhaps Col. Hogan was even supposed to be an archetype, cool ww2 vet.

I loved seeing ww2 stuff but felt conflicted about the characters. Schultz was lovable, while Klemperer tried to hide it, his Col. Klink was a nice guy. He was always horrified when someone died. His mouth would be agape while Hogan hit us with that smarmy ear to ear callous smile.

Hogan reminded me that tormenter in school. The bully with his gir and entourage who wasn't happy unless he made you miserable. I guess this makes boomers like me a whimp. Again, not cheering for the Germans, just talking about how the character portrayals. I wanted to see someone wipe that silly grin off of Hogan's face, just once. I bet I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

(snare drum, flute) Doo-dee-doo-dee, doooo-dee-DOO-dee-DOOOO....

Those Nazis

[MSC13 · 26 September 2005]

My grandfather was a survivor of Auschwitz and several other concentration camps. Hogan's Heroes was one of his favorite shows, because it made the Nazis look like buffoons. So to those who complain that Hogan's Heroes is insensitive, I say that there is always room for a little humor.

This remains one of my favorite shows. The acting is great, and it's clear that the actors are having fun with what are admittedly silly story lines.

This is a classic show. I wish we saw more of HH on reruns, but I will be going out to get the DVDs.

Irreverence and Mockery for the Nazis: An Entertaining Show Strictly for Laughs

[classicalsteve · 8/10 · 29 August 2009]

This show has little to do with World War II, German POW camps, or war history except it uses these elements as a kind of superficial backdrop. It is pure fantasy created strictly for laughs and amusement. But maybe a tragedy like World War II needs to have its lighter side and in that sense Hogan's Heroes fits the bill. My guess is that this show was inspired partially by two films, both of which idealized certain aspects of German POW camps in their own way: "Stalag 17" and "The Great Escape". However, the sense was that in both films the Americans and British were somehow really in charge of the whole operation. The English-speaking peoples were ultimately the superior over their German-touting captors. Hogan's Heroes takes this idea, turns the German colonel in charge of the camp and his guards into wining idiots, gives the Americans and British superior intelligence, and adds a laugh-track. The result is Hogan's Heroes, and oddly enough it works on its own terms.

This show is essentially a comic strip with live actors. All the characters are rather cartoonish. The lovable but scatter-brained Colonel Klink, played with bumbling foolishness by the great Werner Klemperer, is no match for the sly and shrewd Colonel Hogan, played by the immortal Bob Crane who will best be remembered for this show. In many episodes, the Americans, British, and French POW's played by Larry Hovis, Richard Dawson and Robert Clary outwit, outdo and humiliate their Nazi adversaries. The POW's don SS uniforms, constantly bribe and flatter the top guard, Sargeant Hans Schultz, and intercept numerous messages. And the most fun is when Klink will be visited by the high command and he turns to Hogan for help. It seems Klink's line, "Hogan you've got to help me!" recurred throughout the show. Of course the biggest mystery of the show is why Klink doesn't just shoot them? In fact Werner Klemperer played a German/Nazi judge defendant in the award-winning "Judgement at Nuremberg" which has to be a 180-degree shift from Hogan's Heroes. In Nuremberg, Klemperer's character sent many innocent people to their deaths.

The show which lasted for a remarkable 7 seasons is nearly a theater of the absurd. The little situations are good, clean and inoffensive fun, unless of course you are of German descent. That I can't help. But I guess that's the price Hitler's Germany paid for trying to conquer Europe: they get mercilessly and shamelessly spoofed for the rest of eternity. But after the laughter's over, we should not forget that the Nazi ideology caused the deaths of millions of people and the suffering of millions more. The only consolation is that if Klink had been in charge, maybe this could have been avoided. Oddly, Klink's character appears to be a victim as well. In one memorable line, Klink says to Hogan, "Col Hogan, if you ever escape, be a good fellow and take me with you!" Not even Klink liked the Nazi high command.

WATCH THIS SHOW

[khansaeed-21539 · 10/10 · 20 April 2020]

Its a Comedy-War show, not like MASH which has elements of Drama in it. This is a comedy and a damn good one at that. It gets funnier each episode

The perfect sitcom for its time!

[Little-Mikey · 9/10 · 4 October 2009]

The 1960s was the perfect time to unleash the crazy comic mayhem from Stalag 13 (and its surrounding areas) to the viewing public. Ever notice how the viewer seems to have a 20-year itch? TV shows like COMBAT, 12 O'CLOCK HIGH and McHALE'S NAVY, along with movies taking place in World War Two, were very popular, approximately 20 years after World War Two. In the 1970s, it was MASH and HAPPY DAYS (which took place Approximately 20 years earlier) that became hits. In the late '80s/early '90s, TV shows and movies relating to the Viet Nam conflict were the rage. But back to HOGAN'S HEROES now...

The general story line was not that consistent. For example, Carter's German was good enough for him to pass himself as Hitler, himself. In another episode, his German was so bad that he was told to simply shut up. The same footage of that building with the same cars passing by, was used as Gestapo Headquarters and as the Luftwaffe Headquarters. Old film footage from World War Two was used more than once. But then again, we are not talking "accuracy". We are talking "comedy" and this show has plenty of it. Who, during the 1960s, would had ever dreamed that this show would still be popular over 40 years later or that people would shell out money to get this TV series on DVD (or anything for that matter) to view again and again? The cast of characters worked together well and sometimes, there was even some collaboration. People are people. The only caricature was Major Hochstetter, played brilliantly by the late great Howard Caine.

Ironically, Caine's caricature was the result of Richard Dawson. While the cast were in the sitting room reading their lines before shooting, Howard Caine provided some comic relief by going off the wall, screaming his lines. But when it was time to shoot the episode, Caine was firm but cool, calm and collected. Richard Dawson then suggested that he read his lines like he did during the reading, "like a madman." Hence, this is how the Major Hochstetter character came about.

In the beginning (1965), this show was very funny but as the characters developed and their own individual skills stood out, the show only got better. This series never really "jumped the shark" where the series hit its creative peak, followed by a slow decline in the quality of episodes until the writers found themselves digging the bottom of the barrel for new plots. That doesn't mean that there weren't any "sharks" in the water.

It was common knowledge among fans and the cast that HOGAN'S HEROES outlasted everybody's expectations. So CBS, in an effort to justify the cancellation of the show due to poor ratings, moved the show from Friday night to other time slots, on Saturday and on Sunday, to shake the viewing audience.

With the handwriting on the wall, it was obvious that the show would face the cancellation ax and the last episode to air on Prime Time would air in March 1971. So the quality of story lines took a drop. This did not mean that the story lines were bad or that there weren't any classic episodes from its final season. There were! But it was noticeable that some corners were being cut and some short cuts were being used. For example, in the earlier episodes, the plot took a turn or two and the final moments (which followed that final commercial break) often had even yet another surprise. In its final season, there weren't as many twists or turns.

Had the final season taken place in the early 1980s instead of 1971, they might have ended the series with a farewell episode like they did for MASH. But memories of THE FUGITIVE were still clear. On the final episode of THE FUGITIVE, which was pretty close to breaking all records of being the highest rated episode, Dr. Richard Kimball finally caught that one-armed killer and was finally cleared of the crime he was unjustly convicted of. Then, interest in the series dropped completely off the radar. When THE FUGITIVE went into syndication, viewer interest was low. No doubt, Bing Crosby Productions and later Hogan's Horde, didn't want HOGAN'S HEROES to suffer the same fate.

The true story of the show's creation

[DSearch1 · 9/10 · 19 July 2006]

According to Brenda Royce's excellent biography of Hogan's Heroes, the notion that the series was based on "Stalag 17" was "a popular misconception." The original Hogan's Heroes pilot was set in a minimum-security prison, not a German POW camp. The character of Sgt. Schultz didn't even exist the Bernard Fine and Al Ruddy script. (Yes, the same Al Ruddy who went on to produce The Godfather and Million Dollar Baby.)

Schultz was added to the pilot by the series' most inspired writer, Richard M. Powell, to serve as a bridge between Klink and Hogan. Powell borrowed the name from the character of Capt. Schultz, in the 1942 Jack Benny film, "To Be Or Not To Be." He claimed not to have seen Stalag 17 at the time. According to Royce, Bob Crane said Col. Hogan was based on James Garner's character in The Great Escape.

If the version of Hogan's Heroes greenlighted by CBS was "lifted" from anything, it was an NBC pilot called Campo 44, about American soldiers in an Italian POW camp during World War II. The "dim-witted" second in command was more interested in avoiding the front lines and preserving his own skin than winning the war.

Ruddy claims he and Fein read that NBC was considering Campo 44, and immediately decided to change the setting of their own show to a German POW camp. (Copycatting has always been a TV staple -- witness I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched, to name just one example.) CBS was sold, and the rest, as they say, was six seasons of sitcom history.

P.S. Ironically, two actors from Campo 44 made repeat appearances in Hogan's Heroes. The "dim-witted second-in-command" was played by Vito Scotti, who portrayed war-hating, pizza-loving Major Bonacelli on Heroes. The other actor was Powell creation Col. Crittendon, played by Bernard Fox.

P.P.S. The jury in a lawsuit filed by the "Stalag 17" scribes ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Their verdict was overturned by the presiding judge.

P.P.P.S. With the exception of Baer & Joelson's note-perfect "War Takes A Holiday" (Hogan convinces Hochstetter, Klink, and Schultz the war is over) Powell's 29 scripts are usually the series' best. In addition to Schultz and Crittendon, Powell created blonde underground hottie Tiger, Russian dazzler Marya, and dauntless Gestapo Major Hochstetter. Powell episodes remain brilliant today. They're consistently creative and memorable, and worth seeking out.

I was SO young

[tomronning50 · 7/10 · 8 December 2020]

Yeah, OK: a 5'2" Gestapo soldier . . . maybe I just thought it was funny at the time (?)

Bilko Behind The Wire

[screenman · 8/10 · 30 December 2008]

This series was screened a long time ago on British television and was an absolute scream.

A captured middle-ranking commissioned US officer, Colonel Hogan does for his German captors what Seargent Bilko did for his own superiors. Except that whereas Bilko usually came unstuck, Hogan always wins through. The scenario really couldn't have worked otherwise. Every programme entails some scheme of varying weirdness in an attempt to hoodwink those devilish Nazis. The script is slickly funny and fast-spoken in a way that American humour does so well.

Werner Klemperer plays the long-suffering and always-thwarted commandant with panache. With xx as Seargent Schultz who only wants a quiet life, and - when confronted with some compromising revelation - insists that 'I see noth-ing'. Asolutely Noth-ing'.

The series had a long and deserved run. But unlike its equally hilarious predecessor 'Seareant Bilko', has never been repeated on terrestrial television. Not to my knowledge, at least.

See it if you get the chance.

When you stop and think about it

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 11 October 2019]

In the years that Hogan's Heroes was in first run I wonder did anyone stop to think about just how all this came together. POWs who had their own underground running from prison camp Stalag 17. And a commander who was both a fatuous fool and a moron. How did all that come together?

Well if you don't think about these things you can enjoy Hogan's Heroes which was a really funny show. The title role of Colonel Hogan was played by Bob Crane, ranking POW in the camp. Part time Army Air Corps flyer fulltime conman. Each week he had to put something over on the commandant Colonel Wilhelm Klink.

Werner Klemperer was Klink as fatuous as they come. Part of the con was to keep a dope like this in charge so they could run rings around him. As for Klink he and the other Germans had one great fear, the Russian front. Just go along and pretend not to notice certain things.

Even more afraid was Sgt.Schultz, John Banner. He knows his commandant is an idiot and he knows the prisoners are pulling something. But best to feign ignorance. Hence the tagline, "I know nothing",

Hogan's crew are Larry Hovis, Ivan Dixon, Richard Dawson, and Robert Clary. Each had a useful talent necessary for underground sabotage. Dawson was British and Clary Free French. A good bunch of second banana comedians.

Both Klemperer and Banner dealt with real Nazis in real life. I always thought it odd they did this show.

Hogan's Heroes was a funny show. But you really have to suspend disbelief to enjoy it. More than for most shows.

Fond Memories

[kirbylee70-599-526179 · 8/10 · 9 May 2016]

(This review was written for the release of HOGAN'S HEROES THE COMPLETE SERIES on DVD) It seems odd to post the title fond memories when discussing a show that takes place in a concentration camp. It also shows how times have changed. When HOGAN'S HEROES first aired on CBS in 1965 I was just 8 years old. I don't remember any outrage over a series that took place in that location not to mention that it was a comedy as well. And this was at a time when those who were viewing it were more likely than not to have either served during WWII or had family who did so. I don't think there was any outrage concerning this show until years later when it came out on DVD and people claimed it was disrespectful. It seems out skin has thinned over the years rather than toughen.

But for those of us who watched the show each week it was a hilarious series that brought forth not just memorable characters but some great catch phrases that are still used to this day, even if those using them have no clue where they came from. "I know nuh-think!" was heard each week from Sgt. Schultz. I can hear him saying it in my head while typing these words. That's the lasting impression of this series.

HOGAN'S HEROES, for those who don't know, took place in a concentration camp during WWII and followed the exploits of a group of prisoners who used the camp as a location for their covert missions in Germany. Under the nose of camp Commandant Klink (the great Werner Klemperer), Col. Hogan (Bob Crane) and his men had an entire business beneath the camp in a series of tunnels that had to be seen to be believed. Everything from tailors to mapmaking took place there. Each week Hogan and his men would sneak out of camp via their tunnels, wreak havoc on the Germans and return in time for roll call.

Klink, monocle firmly planted, would chastise Hogan and his men for thinking they could get away with some minor infraction in the camp while all the while they were doing things like blowing up bridges at night. Sgt. Schultz (John Banner), the main guard in the prison, would try to tell the men not to do anything to get him in trouble but at the same time was more friend than foe to them all.

There were standouts among the men who were in the prison as well. Richard Dawson played Cpl. Newkirk before the show ended and he took over as the host of FAMILY FEUD for years. Cpl. LeBeau (Robert Clary) was the Frenchman on the team and later had parts on various soap operas. Sgt. James "Kinch" Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon) went on to become a notable director of numerous TV series. And Sgt. Andrew Carter (Larry Hovis) stayed with comedy starring on TV's LAUGH-IN. Each of these actors nailed their parts perfectly and when combined in this series made it what it was. As a youngster this was my first exposure to a show that featured a team as opposed to a single star.

The series has been available in DVD for several years now with each season getting its own box. Now CBS/Paramount has released the entire series in one mega-set for a low price. I've seen some say they could do better with each season but in checking I've found those priced around $18 so for all six seasons you're talking $108. Right now amazon list this mega-set at just $53. Not only that you'll have the entire series in one box rather than 6, something that somehow always results in my being unable to find one or another when I go looking.

I'm glad to see CBS/Paramount doing this with a number of their series. I wrote about MISSION IMPOSSIBLE earlier and loved the fact that I could now have all of the series in one place at an affordable price for my collection. As for fitting on my shelf it makes it so much easier this way than several boxes. Is there a lack of extras? I don't doubt it but not enough to make it a problem. As for myself I've gotten tired of movies/series that offer more time on extras than the original product itself. With so much to watch who has time? Not only will you save money in buying this set you'll also find yourself laughing at many of the antics that made you howl years ago. Some might not be near as funny as when you were 10 but others will make more sense now and give you a different reason to laugh. And at the end try not to find a reason to be insulted by this. There is no doubt that concentration camps were nothing to laugh at. But with shows like this it was the absurdity of the situation that played part and parcel with the laughs that took place. It was showing a former enemy as incompetent rather than a threat. It was about making people laugh. And this show was good at doing just that.

What Offends People About This Series

[bigverybadtom · 5/10 · 4 June 2011]

Yes, it was a parody of then-popular entertainment about World War Two, and several of the performers had suffered persecution by the Nazis. And it probably was funnier in its time.

But taken on its own, why does it offend people? For starters, the people are just too stereotypical. Sergeant Schulz is just too stupid. But what certainly offends people most is Colonel Klink. He's supposed to be a vain camp commandant. Unfortunately, he's quite unconvincing as a villain. He's too nice and genial, and this personality isn't a mask disguising a monster. He's about as realistic as a Nazi officer as Elmer Fudd. He's completely nonthreatening and doesn't seem capable of harming a fly. But he's not a secret anti-Nazi either. The show could have been better if Colonel Klink had shown at least a little bit of menace.

TV Guide Was Wrong

[Sargebri · 4 March 2003]

I can't see how TV Guide could say that this was one of the all-time worst shows on television. This show was pretty much Mission: Impossible with a laugh track. The crazy schemes that Hogan and his men would think up to thrawt the Nazi war machine were what made this show great. Also, Werner Klemperer will always be loved for his portrayal of the most bumbling officer in television history. But the thing that really made it special was that it was one of the first series to treat an African-American character as an equal to the white characters. Ivan Dixon, who would later go on to become a great director, would often prove to be the smartest member of the cast and perhaps was the most level headed as well. TV Guide needs too look at this show again.

One of the best shows ever

[clarinet_king · 8/10 · 10 December 2014]

WARNING SPOILERS Hogan 's Heroes is one of the best shows and in my opinion and should have kept going for several more seasons. One of my favorite episodes is when Shultz becomes the commandant the camp and he abuses his power immediately and Hogan and his men plead to have Klink back in command. Overall, one of the best shows in syndication and best of all time.If you like comedy and ww2 you should like Hogans heroes. The reason I gave it an 8 and not the coveted 10 was because of Sgt. Baker who replaced Sgt. Kinchloe in season 6. I didn't care for this move at all. I liked colonel Klink and Hogan the best. Hogan almost always got the better of Klink. But Klink needed Hogans help to remain in control. The cast was extremely well cast and a great show.