This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Kind of a Hogan's Heros without the most obvious low brow comedy.Sylva Koscina is enchanting as the countess... Yummy eye candy in a movie full of men.I'm looking forward to seeing it again, it's been many years.Kind of a fun movie.A fairly bloodless 'war' movie.More of a comedy, somewhere between 'The Great Escape' and 'Hogan's Heros'.Fun, goofy, and serious both...The Italians are running the POW camp... instead of the Germans.. at the time the Italians are about to capitulate to the Allies during WWII.

This is a movie that (If possible) should be seen as a Double Feature with "The Pigeon That Took Rome". They are very similar movies (Although I prefer "Pigeon") slightly. They are both movies about the "Fish Out Of Water" American mixed up with an Itallian Woman. What is different, is this film is about learning who you really are and what you can actually be: Countess Francesca De Montefiore (Sylvia Koscina)reached that stage (Being an average woman who married into royalty). MAJOR Spoilers Ahead: This is what will happen to Harry. "Are You A General Or Private?" Harry (Paul Newman) "A Little Of Both". And at the end where Harry tells the Countess "I Still Run Into The Generals From Time To Time, They Are Still Generals, But One Day I Will Get My Bars Back". Harry's plan (With the FULL participation of the Countess), is to marry her, rent the Villa/"Prison" he and the Generals were staying at DOUBLE the rent (That place was the softest definition of a prison possible), and live in the guest quarters with Francesca (Personal note: Mmmmmmm living with Sylvia Koscina, I would have signed up for that "Duty" in an instant). I have little doubt that he would have succeeded in his plan, because not only is he smart (And thinks outside the box), and has the Countess by his side, but has General Prentess (James Gregory), over him (Who knows that Harry can get things done, and made him an officer), finally, he learned quite a bit from Col. Enrico Ferrucci (Vito Scotti), on how to make Generals quite content.

If you want a good light-hearted laugh, this is it. Always looking for the angle, Harry Frigg is CON-MAN #1!!! Who else can be an imprisoned private and then demand to be made a general, and not just a one star either. Paul Newman's facial expressions really make the character come alive. I really liked two scenes in the movie. The first is when the real generals try to decide if he is legit or not and asks Andrew Duggan to join him in the chimney as he describes an incident involving "Ike" while at West Point. The second is when be BREAKS INTO the concentration camp at night, enters the barracks in a German uniform and utters his line with a thick German accent, "Cheese und crackers, something is r-r-rotten in here!!". The plots and sub-plots lead to a very funny film for any age to view.

This movie changed my life!I know this sounds like a melodramatic exaggeration, but it's true. The scene in which Harry is asked to name his favorite restaurant had happened to me in similar circumstances not six months before this movie was released in the theaters. I knew exactly how he felt. I am sure many of watching this movie might be able to relate to this. I determined, like Harry, to do something about it so that I wouldn't be embarrassed like that again. I couldn't afford to become an expert on "Chateau LaTour 1932", so I decided to become an expert on French onion soup. Sounds silly, and it was, but I was a young salesman and traveling all over the U.S., Canada, Mexico and parts of Europe. It wasn't too hard to collect names of restaurants from far flung places that had superior French onion soup. And I am amazed to this day how handy this pedantic info has come in at fancy-shmancy parties!Other than this personal note, I still find the movie as fresh today as when I originally saw it. I have had the pleasure of introducing it to hundreds of new viewers over the years. Almost without exception it is adored by young and old alike.There are all sorts of technical inaccuracies if you want to be picky. But this film is what movies were intended to be ... pure entertainment! I give it my highest recommendation.