tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post8448146790686940793..comments2024-03-29T11:16:07.637-04:00Comments on It's About TV: "Major Hochstetter, Gestapo"Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-30055178758516363952015-06-18T23:04:06.536-04:002015-06-18T23:04:06.536-04:00I’d often thought that on the “Hogan’s Heroes” fin...I’d often thought that on the “Hogan’s Heroes” finale, yes, the war is over and Stalag 13 is liberated. But for one final job the Heroes smuggle Schultz out as a prisoner and at the last minute, as Hogan is about to show Klink all the tunnels, their set-up, etc… he doesn’t. Instead he smuggles Klink out as well. Why? While enemies of course, Hogan just doesn’t have the animosity towards Klink to humiliate him like that. He’s the better man and instead instructs the prisoners to destroy the tunnels. They did their job during the war, they don’t need to rub anyone’s face in it.<br /><br />By the way, I’d always felt that the “UNOFFICIAL” finale (kind of) was the (very bad) film, “The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063805/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_20) . The cold war comedy(?) many of the cast (Crane, Banner, Klemperer and Askin) made between seasons of HH.<br /><br />If you haven’t seen it (and as fans of “Hogan’s Heroes” I’d be shocked if you haven’t) it’s kind of fun to see these actors play somewhat similar to their TV characters. And hearing Klemperer yell “Schultz” is fun, considering he’s yelling at Elke Sommer who plays Paula Schultz.Richard John Marcejhttp://www.theblabbingbaboon.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-63147256071547697742015-06-18T04:17:59.993-04:002015-06-18T04:17:59.993-04:00Hmmmmm ...
See, in the Hogan's Heroes that I ...Hmmmmm ...<br /><br />See, in the <i>Hogan's Heroes</i> that I remember, Major Hochstetter was the one recurring Nazi character who was <i>not</i> a comic foil - indeed, he was the one Nazi that Hogan and his men were usually worried about.<br /><br />Think about it: Col. Klink was a career officer, whose service probably dated back to the previous war; most likely, he would have regarded the Stalag 13 assignment as a demotion of a sort, but when you're a career man, you go where they send you - command was sufficient.<br />Gen Burkhalter was another kind of careerist - the fat cat who's found a sinecure and wants to hold on to it. Every army that ever was has had such men.<br />Sgt. Schultz: overage, overweight, unfit for active battle service. For him, guard at a POW camp is a safe haven of a kind; dealing with the prisoners (in several senses of that word) would be a key to surviving.<br />None of these characters (excepting perhaps Burkhalter) could be said to be ideological or political in any real sense.<br />Not so with Hochstetter: the Gestapo, along with the SS, functioned as enforcers in Hitler's Reich. This is where the hardline Nazi ideologues wanted to be - and Hochstetter, as played by actor Howard Caine, was the hardest of any of the recurring HH German characters.<br />I remember reading an interview Howard Caine gave, shortly before his death. He spoke about his fellow actors Werner Klemperer, John Banner, and Leon Askin, who, like Caine, were all Jewish. He said that the four men had an agreement that they would never play their characters as anything but fools or villains. Klemperer and Banner leaned to the former, Askin and Caine to the latter.<br />As the seasons wore on, Caine in particular insisted that Hochstetter be one character who would be a genuine menace to the POWs - which may be one reason why the character appeared infrequently.<br />It seems to me that the traits that you ascribe to Hochstetter would be a better fit for Klink.<br />A hardliner like Hochstetter would tend to hold on to his ideology longer and tighter than a career man like Klink, who was more or less apolitical to start with (remember the running gag of how Klink always had to be reminded to say "Heil Hitler"?).<br /><br />As to the theoretical <i>Hogan's</i> finale:<br />When the Allies arrive to liberate Stalag 13, Hogan begins his biggest con job on Klink, ever:<br />He convinces Klink that they've been allies all along - that Klink had aided Hogan's gang in bringing down the evil Reich, that he would come to be regarded as a hero himself by the newly liberated German people - an appeal not to Klink's fear but to his military vanity.<br />Schultz would of course back Hogan up all the way, for his own sake - now he would "know everything!"<br />So, instead of becoming POWs themselves, Klink and Schultz become minor figures with the postwar occupation forces.<br />Hochstetter - he's a POW, maybe gets a war crimes trial.<br />Burkhalter - he tries to make a deal of his own with the occupation forces - and ends up working <i>under</i> Klink and Schultz.<br />Think that would work?<br />Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-28885891223110703762015-06-18T01:05:24.853-04:002015-06-18T01:05:24.853-04:00It was never even considered, Mark. I think it'...It was never even considered, Mark. I think it's a wonderful show. David Hofstedehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15288510542472710879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-16480665061642112502015-06-17T20:50:06.139-04:002015-06-17T20:50:06.139-04:00My idea for a "Hogan's Heroes" final...My idea for a "Hogan's Heroes" finale runs along the lines of the boundary between the American (or, more historically, British) and Soviet occupation zones in Germany running straight down the middle of Stalag 13. Think of the Cold War foreshadowing....<br /><br />By the way, one of the things I appreciate most about David Hofstede's book, "What Were They Thinking?", is the fact that it makes no mention whatsoever of "Hogan's Heroes", seemingly a staple of books on bad TV, and a series that I feel has gotten a bum rap over the years.Mark Harrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-68778833140907011412015-06-17T16:06:16.501-04:002015-06-17T16:06:16.501-04:00Intrigued by this idea, since this is the classic ...Intrigued by this idea, since this is the classic TV character whose name is closest to my own (a dubious distinction, indeed).<br /><br />Like you I have often lamented the absence of a "final" episode for Hogan's Heroes. How wonderful would it have been to have the allies 'liberate' Stalag 13, or for Hogan and his men to make one final escape through the tunnels, taking Schultz with them, before the bombing started. Werner Klemperer was such a good actor - I'd love to see him walking alone through all of the abandoned tunnels, seeing the extent of his prisoners' activities, and realizing what a fool he had been. David Hofstedehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15288510542472710879noreply@blogger.com