1960's drama movie about escaping East Berlin?!
Question: There's a movie made around 1960's about East Germans trying to escape over the Berlin wall by jumping with a parachute. My mom can't remember the name of it. That's all the info she gave me. I was just wondering if anybody the name of the movie.
Answers: There's a movie made around 1960's about East Germans trying to escape over the Berlin wall by jumping with a parachute. My mom can't remember the name of it. That's all the info she gave me. I was just wondering if anybody the name of the movie.
Night Crossing (1981)
starring John Hurt, Jane Alexander, Doug McKeon, Keith McKeon, Beau Bridges, Glynnis O'Connor, Ian Bannen
Synopsis:
This story of two East German families who launch an escape to the free world by using a hot-air balloon is based on an actual incident. Tired of the Cold War rules that restricted their lives, two families built their own balloon as an escape vehicle to the West. This uplifting tale inspires with its mix of human determination and heroism in the face of oppression.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/night_cr...
Could she be thinking of this film? I haven't found any that mention an attempt to use a parachute. That sounds doubtful considering how security at the Wall was set up, as described at this "Night Crossing" site:
The East German border: 836 miles of barbed wire walls, automated machine guns, armed guards, and deadly land mines. On September 15, 1979 two families tried to cross it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082810/
The following is a Sixties film about an escape, but they tunnel beneath the Wall.
Escape from East Berlin (1962)
IMDB synopsis:
In January of 1962, 29 East Berliners escaped to West Berlin via a tunnel they had dug beneath the Berlin Wall, led by Erwin Becker, a chauffeur in the car pool of the East Germany Parliament, who served as technical adviser on this film. The film opens with Karl Schroeder (Don Murray), chauffeur to an East German Major, seeing a friend killed as he tried to drive his truck through the wall, He is persuaded by the friend's sister, Erika Jurgens (Christine Kaufmann), and his own family to engineer an attempt to make an escape to the Western sector of the city by digging a tunnel under the wall which is close to their home. Their efforts to evade the suspicions of the East German police, their fear of betrayal by inquisitive neighbors and the exhaustion of the digging are only a few of the difficulties faced by the group.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055962/
I'll see what else I can find, as there likely are a number of films on this topic.