Trailer
Plot summary
August 1943. The American fighter pilot Colonel Joseph Ryan comes down over Italy and is imprisoned in a camp holding Allied prisoners, most of them from the British 9th Fusiliers. As the senior Allied officer there, Ryan takes command from Major Eric Fincham, and the two disagree over how to deal with the camp commandant, Battaglia. Fincham's men dig tunnels and hoard medicine for escape attempts, while Ryan, expecting Italy to leave the war soon, wants the Red Cross supplies given to the sick. He also negotiates with Battaglia for better conditions for the prisoners.
Cast
- John Van Dreelenas Col. Gortz (as John van Dreelen)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Von Ryan's Express (1965)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Frank Sinatra insisted that the ending of Von Ryan's Express be altered, a change that ended any chance of a sequel, and he also insisted the film be shot in Panavision rather than 20th Century Fox's CinemaScope.
- Frank Sinatra read David Westheimer's novel and wanted to buy the film rights himself; when he learned the rights had gone to 20th Century Fox, he offered his services for the lead role of Colonel Joseph Ryan.
- The film's climactic railway sequence was shot not in Italy but at the Caminito del Rey walkway in the El Chorro limestone gorge and an adjacent railway bridge near Málaga, Spain, because that bridge looked more attractive than anything on the Italian rail network.
- Novelist David Westheimer had himself been a prisoner of war during World War II, and witnessed the bombing of Bolzano in 1943 from a box car.
- The production got its realism from aircraft, trains and wheeled vehicles photographed on location along with the occasional model, and the planes passed off as Messerschmitts were genuine Messerschmitt Bf 108s.
- Still financially reeling from the extravagance and critical bashing of Cleopatra, 20th Century Fox shot Von Ryan's Express extensively on location in Europe and built a full-scale prison camp rather than filming the camp on a backlot.
