The McKenzie Break – 1970 | 108mins | War, Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Brian Keith heads the admirable performances in director Lamont Johnson’s powerful World War II thriller set amongst the Scottish Highlands. Fraught with tension, desperation, and a novel slant on the traditional PoW film, the tense script from Sidney Shelley’s novel ensures a nail-biting finish with the outcome anything but a foregone conclusion.

Irish prison officer, Capt. Jack Connor (Brian Keith), is assigned by British Intelligence to the Scottish PoW Camp McKenzie to investigate and foil any impending escape attempt by the unruly German inmates. Connor’s suspicions are aroused by the murder of a homosexual Luftwaffe pilot by his fellow inmates. The camp commander Major Perry (Ian Hendry) had been unable to control the prisoners, but Connor’s hard-as-nails and liberal use of fire-hoses calms the camp for a short while. Connor comes into direct conflict with fanatical Nazi Willi Schlütter (Helmut Griem), the wily Captain of a German U-boat crew who is prepared to sacrifice his own men to escape. With growing animosity from the camp commander, Connor devises a plan to stop the Germans that will either make him a hero or prove to be the greatest mistake of his career – let the inmates escape in the hope of capturing the U-Boat sent to pick up Griem’s men.