Escape To Athena (1979)

Set in 1944 German occupied Greece, some prisoners of war are used to dig for archaeological Greek treasures which in turned are looted by the Nazis and returned to Germany. The head (Telly Savalas) of the local resistance movement plans to liberate the POW camp while inside the camp, a group of prisoners (David Niven, Elliott Gould, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono) plot to escape and rob the local monastery of its treasures. Directed by George Pan Cosmatos (THE CASSANDRA CROSSING). This WWII action adventure doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be THE GREAT ESCAPE or HOGAN'S HEROES. The comedy elements border on the offensive amongst the indiscriminate Nazi executions and Roger Moore as the POW commandant is problematic. He's supposed to be a "good" German (actually, the film goes out of its way to make it known he's Austrian) and when Stefanie Powers has an affair with him, are we not to think she's a collaborator? The film meanders aimlessly for most of the film before whipping up a genuinely exciting finale as the resistance takes over a Nazi stronghold in the mountains. The pedestrian score is by Lalo Schifrin but Gilbert Taylor (DR. STRANGELOVE) does a nice job of capturing the island of Rhodes on film. With Claudia Cardinale as the local madam and William Holden whose brief presence as a POW is an "in" joke referring to his Oscar winning role in STALAG 17.