Summer of My German Soldier (1978)

 

            “Summer of My German Soldier” was based on the best selling novel by Bette Greene.  The novel was turned into a made-for-tv special.  It was well received and was nominated for Outstanding Drama or Comedy Special and Outstanding Writing.  Esther Rolle won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress.

            The movie is set in a small town in Georgia in WWII.  The town is roiled by the arrival of German prisoners headed for a nearby prison camp.  The men are allowed to shop in town when they pass through.  13 -year-old Patty is intrigued by these exotic strangers.  She’s Jewish, so her empathy is pretty naïve.  She makes the acquaintance of the only German who speaks English.  Anton (Bruce Davison) is not a Nazi, of course.  Someone must have given him some false information about American prison camps because he escapes and Patty finds him.  She hides him in an empty house and brings him food.  She is a young woman who has a rough home life with an abusive father and an uncaring mother.  It's no surprise that she falls in love with Anton.  They are helped by the family cook Ruth (Rolle).  It’s a dangerous game Patty and the reluctant Ruth are playing.  After all, this is a small Southern town.  They were not exactly noted for understanding situations like that.  But were the townsfolk wrong?  You decide.

            This is not a war movie romance.  It is a war movie puppy love.  It has an odd vibe to it.  The characters behave unrealistically, although if you accept that they are just plain stupid in their decision-making, you can see their motivation.  Peggy deserves some slack because she’s a preteen girl that is starved for love.  The movie pushes her into the arms of Anton, but does not make clear why her father and mother hate her.  She seems to be a normal girl.  We don’t know what motivates Anton.  He has not even been to the camp before he escapes.  When he tries to hitch a train, he allows Patty to talk him out of it.  His accepting her help puts her in great danger, so he is something of a jerk.  Although we are not supposed to think that way about their relationship.  Thankfully, and surprisingly, the movie does not make the relationship a romance.  Anton is an idiot, not a child molester.  Ruth is a stereotype.  She’s the black mammy who loves the white children and is a mother figure to them.  We are supposed to feel she is a good person for helping Patty, but she is an adult that abets a foolish crime.  She should have known better.

            The movie is entertaining in a made-for-tv morality play sort of way.  The acting is fine.  Davison is charming and even manages a fairly good German accent.  McNichol is satisfactory.  She was five years into her career at this point.  Rolle deserved her Emmy, although she might have gotten it out of love for her as an actress.  Their characters may be stereotypes and the town is a standard conservative southern burg, but it is hard not to feel that the townspeople are right about the hiding of a German soldier.  I know I am being unsympathetic and I admit I am not a big romance movie fan.  I definitely give the film credit for having an unpredictable conclusion.  It is highly unlikely that I will read the book and since I have been aware of this movie since it debuted, it did give me the plot of the book.

GRADE  =  C