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Hannibal Brooks

Hannibal Brooks

Comedy · War · 1969

A POW in World War II is put to work in a Munich zoo, looking after an Asian elephant. The zoo is bombed by the Americans and the director of the zoo decides it is not safe for his Asian elephant Lucy to remain there. So he sends Brooks to safety with Lucy. They escape and go on the run in order to get to Switzerland.

Movie details

Hannibal Brooks

“If Hannibal Did It...So Could Brooks!”

1969 Comedy · War 1h 42m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.6 / 10

1.8K votes

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A POW in World War II is put to work in a Munich zoo, looking after an Asian elephant. The zoo is bombed by the Americans and the director of the zoo decides it is not safe for his Asian elephant Lucy to remain there. So he sends Brooks to safety with Lucy. They escape and go on the run in order to get to Switzerland.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Hannibal Brooks?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Michael Winner

Written by

Michael Winner · Tom Wright · Dick Clement · Ian La Frenais

Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed

Brooks

Michael J. Pollard

Michael J. Pollard

Packy

Wolfgang Preiss

Wolfgang Preiss

Col. von Haller

Karin Baal

Karin Baal

Vronia

Helmuth Lohner

Helmuth Lohner

Willi

Peter Carsten

Peter Carsten

Kurt

Ralf Wolter

Ralf Wolter

Dr. Mendel

Court is in session

Put Hannibal Brooks on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.