Night Crossing

A brief summary of conditions in East Germany and the border zone shows stock footage such as Conrad Schumann's jump over barbed wire in Berlin as the Berlin Wall is constructed.

In April 1978 in the small town of Pößneck, Thuringia, teenager Lukas Keller attempts to escape East Germany by riding a bulldozer through the Inner German border zone. However, he is shot by automatic machine guns and left for dead by the guards. His family is informed while on a picnic with their friends the Strelzyks and the Wetzels, and the entire Keller family are taken by the police. Aggravated with life under the GDR regime, Peter Strelzyk proposes a daring plan to his friend Günter Wetzel: they will build a balloon to carry themselves and their families (a total of eight people) over the border to West Germany. They purchase 1,255 square yards of taffeta, claiming that it is for a camping club, and Günter sews the fabric together with a sewing machine in his attic while Peter experiments for months with devising a burner for the hot-air balloon. They face setbacks such as fires while trying to inflate the balloon, a lack of power for the burner, extremely suspicious neighbors and doubts about the plan's feasibility by Günter's wife Petra.

Peter and Günter then stop seeing each other in order to avoid suspicion that may arise when the Strelzyks escape. Peter and his eldest son Frank complete the burner and, after extensive testing, manage to inflate the balloon. On July 3, 1979, the four members of the Strelzyk family attempt to fly the balloon. They successfully lift off but they are spotted by a border guard. However, a cloud dampens the balloon and the burner, and they crash within the border zone only a few hundred feet from the fences, and the balloon floats away. Miraculously, they escape the zone, return to their car and drive home. Meanwhile, the border guard finds the balloon and the Stasi, led by Major Koerner, begins an investigation to identify the balloon's creators in order to prevent them from trying again to do so. Initially distraught over his failure, Peter is convinced by his sons to try again, knowing that the Stasi may soon uncover the plot. Peter convinces Günter to help him and both families begin work on a larger balloon to carry them all out of East Germany. Petra agrees to the plan, especially because her mother in West Berlin is very sick and the East German government has repeatedly denied her request to visit her.

Having identified the initial launch area, the Stasi begins closing in on Pößneck. The Strelzyks and Wetzels purchase smaller quantities of taffeta from various stores to avoid suspicion, but they are running out of time. Peter tries to buy taffeta, claiming it is for his group of Young Pioneers, but the store manager secretly notifies the Stasi. The men eventually finish the balloon but have no time to test it. On 15 September 1979, the families prepare to act on the plan while the Stasi finds blood-pressure medicine belonging to Peter's wife Doris where the first balloon had landed. The Stasi contacts the pharmacy and is able to identify the owner of the pills as Doris. The families' neighbor, a member of the Stasi, reports that they had been acting suspiciously. The families leave only minutes before the Stasi arrives at their homes. They reach their launch point while the border is placed on emergency alert.

The balloon is inflated and the burner is lit. Both families climb into the balloon's basket and cut their ropes. A fire is started in the cloth, but it is quickly extinguished by Günter. They later notice a hole in the balloon and hope that it will hold. While in flight, the balloon is spotted and Koerner pursues them in a helicopter. Eventually, the burner's propane supply is expended and the balloon descends, and the border guard is mobilized to find them. The balloon lands in a clearing with all eight people unharmed. Peter and Günter attempt to determine where they are as they are discovered by a police car. Peter asks the police if they are in the West, and the police officer confirms. Overjoyed, Peter and Günter light their signal flare. The families happily embrace.

• John Hurt as Peter Strelzyk
• Doug McKeon as Frank Strelzyk
• Keith McKeon as Fitscher Strelzyk
• Beau Bridges as Günter Wetzel
• Jane Alexander as Doris Strelzyk
• Glynnis O'Connor as Petra Wetzel
• Klaus Löwitsch as Schmolk
• Geoffrey Liesik as Peter Wetzel
• Michael Liesik as Andreas Wetzel
• Ian Bannen as Josef Keller
• Anne Stallybrass as Magda Keller
• Matthew Taylor as Lukas Keller
• Günter Meisner as Major Koerner
• Sky Dumont as Ziegler
• Jan Niklas as Lieutenant Fehler
• Kay Walsh as Doris' Mother

The day after the September 1979 real-life balloon escape of the Strelzyk and Wetzel families from East Germany, Walt Disney Productions producer Tom Leetch approached Disney’s vice president of production Ron Miller and executive producer Eva Redfern, who contacted the two families to discuss the possibility of creating a film about them. Less than a month later, Redfern met with Peter Strelzyk at the Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg, Germany. Although the families received five offers from other filmmakers, they accepted Disney’s terms—a $5,000 six-month story option and $50,000 if the studio moved ahead with development—because they remembered watching Disney films through illicit television signals at their home in East Germany. They also hoped that the film would educate people in their home country. In November 1979, the Strelzyks and Wetzels traveled to Los Angeles, where they recorded 20 hours of interviews for Leetch, associate producer Marc Stirdivant and writer John McGreevey. The film's unofficial working title was The Balloon Movie.[1]

Filming was scheduled to begin on 1 September 1980 in Munich, but an eight-week Screen Actors Guild strike delayed production until 27 October. Production notes list the German cities of Landsberg, Mühltal, Harthausen and Munich among the filming locations. In the town of Eulenschwang, the production team recreated a half-mile section of the border between East and West Germany at a cost of $300,000. Near Lake Constance in Friedrichschafen, filmmakers transplanted 300 pine trees, 150 cubic yards of soil and 6,000 square yards of black plastic to transform a large fair exhibition hall into a contained forest set. The construction project lasted two weeks and cost $150,000. Additional interior filming took place at Munich’s Bavaria Studios. Seven balloons were created for the film, six of which were authentic recreations of the actual balloon used by the Strelzyks and Wetzels, with material and technical changes made to comply with regulations. The remaining balloon was a smaller utility aircraft used for preliminary tests and aerial photography. One balloon reportedly required 12,453 square feet of material. Unexpected snowfall caused delays during the final week of filming, and production completed during the week of 18 January 1981, at least a week behind schedule and in excess of the film's budget. The final cost was estimated at more than $10 million.[1]

• The German title Mit dem Wind nach Westen translates as With the Wind to the West, although the families' actual flight path from Pößneck in Thuringia to Naila, near Hof in Bavaria, did not take them west geographically but almost due south.
• The license plates shown on the cars in the film used the correct East German numbering system but were pressed on West German blanks using West German DIN-standard dies. Such plates were issued briefly, but not until after German reunification, thus creating an unintended anachronism.
• John Hurt was approached on set to lend his voice for Disney's upcoming animated feature The Black Cauldron as the Horned King.
• The film was nominated for two Young Artist Awards: Best Family Picture and Best Young Actor (Doug McKeon).
• Jürgen Petschull's 1980 non-fiction book With the Wind to the West was republished to coincide with the film's release that same year.
• The film's working titles included The Balloon Movie, The Last Flight to Freedom and Wind to the West.

• Official website (archived)
• Night Crossing at IMDb
• Night Crossing at Rotten Tomatoes
• Night Crossing at the TCM Movie Database