Von Ryan's Express - Plot

Plot

Colonel Joseph L. Ryan (Frank Sinatra) is a US pilot whose P-38 Lightning is shot down. He is captured by Italian troops and taken to an Italian prisoner-of-war camp in Italy, run by the cruel Blackshirt Major Battaglia (Adolfo Celi). The camp is populated mainly by British prisoners (9th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, 167 Infantry Brigade, 56th (London) Infantry Division).

The previous British commanding officer, Col. Brian Lockhart, had recently died as a result of harsh camp discipline, specifically in being put in the metal "sweat box." When Ryan arrives in camp, Major Eric Fincham (Trevor Howard) is the ranking British officer. The American colonel being senior to Fincham, Ryan assumes command of the prisoners.

Ryan pays respect to his predecessor by refusing to sit in the late commanding officer's chair. When a US prisoner (there are only eight) is about to be punished for stealing rations, Ryan discovers he was stealing medicine, which Fincham had ordered be stashed for a future escape attempt. Ryan orders that the drugs be dispensed as necessary.

He then shows the Italian guards the prisoners' escape tunnels under construction, which infuriates the British prisoners. When Battaglia doesn't keep his word to improve conditions as much as agreed, Ryan orders the prisoners to strip and burn their filthy clothes in an effort to force Battaglia into issuing new ones. Battaglia does so, but throws Ryan into the sweat box as a punishment.

After hearing of the Italian capitulation to the Allies, the guards flee, leaving the camp unguarded. The British promptly put Battaglia on trial as a war criminal, and allow his second-in-command and Anglo-Italian translator, Captain Oriani (Sergio Fantoni), to defend him. Battaglia portrays himself as a broken man who has repudiated fascism. Ryan orders him not to be executed, but to be put in the sweat box.

The men depart on a long trek across the Italian countryside, before hiding in ancient Roman ruins for the night, as Orianai attempts to contact Allied forces. When morning comes, Germans swarm out of the forest and recapture the prisoners, killing several. Fincham is furious as he thought that Oriani had betrayed them. However, when the POWs are put on the train, they find a severely battered Oriani in the prisoner carriage. Battaglia is outside, gloating, and they realise they were betrayed to the Germans by the former camp commandant.

The Nazis shoot all sick prisoners, causing the irate Fincham to shout, "You'll get your Iron Cross now, von Ryan!". The train travels to Rome, where the men are allowed to eat and a German officer, Major Von Klemment (Wolfgang Preiss), takes command of the train.

Ryan discovers that the floorboards of the boxcar the officers are locked in to be loose, and manages to pry a hole in the floor. That night, when the train stops to refuel, Ryan, Fincham, and Fincham's Lieutenant, Orde, sneak out from underneath the train and manage to kill several of the guards, taking their guns and helmets to blend in in the dark. They free a carload of the POW's, who take out the remaining guards, but accidentally kill the engine's Fireman in the process. Ryan and Fincham capture Major von Klemment and his Italian mistress, Gabriella (Raffaella Carrà). Before the men can escape, another train appears coming up behind them. They pull out of the station with seconds to spare. Oriani persuades the Italian locomotive engineer to help, and one of the POW's fills in as Fireman. Von Klemment reveals to the men that the train behind them is a German troop train on the same schedule as them, so the train cannot stop to let the men escape. They also find out that Von Klemment is to receive orders in each station the POW's stop in for food. A German-speaking Allied chaplain, Captain Costanzo (Edward Mulhare), is enlisted to impersonate the German commander to ensure their passage through the next station in Florence. Costanzo does the acting job bravely and with style by berating the sloppiness of the German clerk on duty, but when they return to the train, he faints.

Looking at the maps and papers Major von Klemment was to receive, they realise that the troop train and the prisoner train are headed towards Innsbruck in Nazi-controlled Austria. Through trickery and the forged signature of a member of the German General Staff, Ryan and the prisoners manage to switch their train at Bologna onto a different line while the troop train continues its usual route to Innsbruck. However, before the train can leave, two Gestapo agents board the train, seemingly for an inspection. It turns out that, after a brief moment of tension, where Fincham prepares to kill them, it is revealed the agents are black market hustlers. They merely want Ryan's US Air Corp wristwatch and trade American cigarettes and rare nylon stockings for it. Afterwards, the agents depart without further suspicion.

Major von Klemment and Gabriella are kept tightly bound and gagged. Fearing they will be murdered once the prisoners leave the train, Gabriella conceals a piece of a broken glass to cut their bonds. As the men further discuss their plans, Gabriella attempts to seduce Ryan, seductively putting on the nylon stockings Ryan had kept. Ryan asks her why she would stay with a German. Gabriella attempts to get him to feel pity for her, mentioning the hard life she had had before the war. At a water stop, where the men are being harassed by Italian civilians, Major von Klemment escapes and shoots Orde, but he is shot by Ryan. Ryan, in a German uniform, must reluctantly kill Gabriella as she escapes to prevent her from betraying his men. Ryan makes involuntary eye contact with a nearby Italian youth who had previously been hurling insults at what he thought were Germans. Now the youth silently stares with contempt at Ryan.

By this time, the Germans have wind of the ruse. The prisoners attempt to escape in what they believe is an abandoned siding storp, but discover that the track leads to a secret German facility, which is being bombed by an Allied air attack. The train races through the holocaust, bombs exploding left and right. Several of the cars catch fire, and a number of men are severely wounded.

The engineer and Oriani have an idea, as the next stop is Milan. If they could disable the signals at one key tower in the Central Station, they could also disable the controls and track displays at the station, confusing the Germans. At the same time, they could re-route the train up to neutral Switzerland through manual switching without being noticed.

The Germans are waiting for them at Milano Centrale. Ryan and his men successfully disable one electric interlocking tower and switch the train off on the key line to Switzerland. Realizing the feint, the Germans commandeer a freight train to pursue. As the Alps appear ahead of them, the train is attacked by three German fighter aircraft. One plane is shot down, but another destroys a section of track at a key bridge.

The POWs replace the damaged track in front of them as the Germans race up from behind. Ryan, Fincham and the others try to hold off the German soldiers; many of them are killed in the process. The track is repaired and the train begins to move as the remaining POW's race up from behind it. Fincham makes it onto the train and desperately reaches back for Ryan, urging him to run faster as the Germans race through the tunnel in pursuit. Ryan is shot in the back and killed by the German commander just short of the train, which then crosses into neutral Switzerland. With Ryan's sacrifice, the prisoners have made their successful getaway. The film ends with a voice-over by Fincham, repeating his early comment to Ryan, "If just one man escapes, it's a victory."