Little Dieter Needs to Fly

original title:
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
other titles:
(Flucht aus Laos)
country / year of production:
Germany / 1997
original length:
80 min. , color
premiere:
14 February 1998, Portland International Film Festival
genre:
docu dram
based on:
Dieter Dengler. Escape From Laos. New York: Presidio Press, 1996.
director:
Werner Herzog
film script:
Werner Herzog
producer:
Werner Herzog
cinematographer:
Peter Zeitlinger
editor:
Joe Bini , Glen Scantlebury , Rainer Standke
composer:
cast (role):
Dieter Dengler (Dieter Dengler) , Eugene Peyton Jr. Deatrick (Eugene Peyton Deatrick Jr.) , Dieter Dengler , Eugene Peyton Jr. Deatrick
more:
plot synopsis:
The film tells the story of Dieter Dengler who was born in Germany and experienced the Second World War as child. One day as he saw allied planes in the sky, he knew that he wanted to become a pilot. In the age of 18 he immigrates to the USA and becomes a pilot in the navy. After retiring the pilot training he is sent to Vietnam. On one of his first missions he is shot down and captured by the Laotian Pathet Lao. After being held captive under inhuman conditions, he is able to flee. He is the only US soldier of 500 who was able to escape from Laotian imprisonment on his own. Totally only ten soldiers returned alive from the Laotian imprisonment. After being back in the USA he was celebrated as hero and wrote his book “Escape from Laos”.
keywords:
jungle , prisoners of war , captivity , air force
war:
Vietnam War (1946-1975)
literature:
remarks:
1999 nominated for the Emmy “outstanding Non-Fiction Special”.

Dieter Dengler and Eugene Deatrick are playing themselfes in this documentation.
availability: