Customer Reviews

Summer of My German Soldier [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This a a sweet and tender little movie that conveys a tangible sense of what WWII-era rural Georgia may have been like geographically, culturally, and emotionally with regard to the war. I viewed it recently for a third time over about a ten year period, and it still came across well.

The character of the young German soldier is a bit fanciful (hard to believe a POW would have been that "ideal,") but the troubled young lady yearning for a friend in the face of an impossible father comes across well. Dad is an ogre. Mom is a wimp. The black maid is a small heroine.

All in all, worth a look.

The main character pulls at your heart strings from the very beginning. Patty longs to have a friend. Someone who really likes her, maybe even love her. By rescuing the escaping soldier, she learns more about the world, other people, her family, friends, and herself. I saw this movie when it first aired, and have never forgotten it. I wish they would air it again. Although this film was set during WWII, I think young people today could still learn that not all is what it seems, and that we have to love our selves first before another can.

Based on a book by the same name by Bette Greene this is a good movie about a 13 year old Jewish girl growing up in a rural southern town during World War II, a town that has a prisioner of war camp for German POWs and the girl who is nmaed Patty comes from a dysfunctional home in which her fat slob father is an abusive drunk who hates her and is constantly beating her and her mother is an uncaring wimp who also doesn't care about her daughter yet they love and spoil Patty's little sister Sharon and the only love Patty receives is from the family's black housekeeper and than Patty meets an escaped German POW who it turns out was forced into the German Army and hated Hitler and she strikes up a friendship with him. This is a sad but good movie but can be very controversial. The cast for this movie includes Kristy McNichol as Patty, Bruce Davidson as Anton the escaped POW, Ester Rolle as Ruth the housekeeper, Michael Constantine as Patty's father, Barbara Barrie as Patty's mother and Robin Lively as Patty's little sister Sharon. BTW' a Previous reviewer says she watched this movie in black and white, but this movie first aired on TV in 1978 and is acolor movie so she must have watched it on an old black and white TV set...... This is also a book and I think I actually saw the movie first and than read the book.

Every now and then I come to Amazon and search for this movie on DVD. Every time I come away disappointed. Will it ever be presented in DVD? So much crap available out there, but not this, and I don't understand why.

This might be Kristi M's finest performance. Certainly it is a very touching, moving film and as others have said, very sad. I haven't seen it in over 25 years and yet I remember it well and long to see it. I just refuse to spend money on outdated media like VHS.

Of all the movies I've seen having to do with WWII, this was the one I remember the most. Here you see not all of Germany was under the spell of Hitler and the Nazis. There were human beings wearing the German uniform also. So often we see how the Nazi atrocities hurt the Jews--in this film we see another victim of Nazi Germany; he's the guy in the uniform.

Touching, sweet, and memorable. I would, if I had it, watch it again many times, and always with a box of tissues close by.

this film, whilst possibly being caught up in the political net of the war era, handles the subject with care and understanding. kristy McNichol once again demonstrates why she is possibly the most understated actress of the last 40 years bar none, a fact already acknowledged by her many fans. recommended as a must for anyone who might want to see a touchy subject done beautifully.

Heart warming story about a jewish family living in a small southern town & a POW from Germany that escapes from pow camp for Germans captured abroad during WW11.

The classic children's book by Betty Green comes to life in this WWII period picture. I saw this on reel to reel in elementary school, and it gave me the courage to get through some rough times. Great acting by Kristy McNichol, Bruce Davison, Esther Rolle, and Michael Constantine. Filmed in Georgia.
I wished it came on DVD, but I'm ecstatic to find it on VHS to bring back some memories. Fans of the book will NOT be disappointed by the film.

The quality is OK for its age. The story is a good one for showing that all Germans weren't bad and that Jews and Germans could be friends and help each other. War truly does make strange bedfellows. The movie does a good job of following the book.

This is a really nice movie even though i saw it in black and white i thought it was interesting.And the part where patty's father beats on her is really sad.Its not as good as the book though,they took out some characters and some parts like at the end she didnt go to the camp for bad girls or whatever like she did in the book.But i think you'll enjoy it anyhow!