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What was Security's job?

posted 8 years ago by dayvit78
5 replies | jump to latest

I'm a bit confused by the role of Price, aka Security, in the barrack's operations. The barrack's chief - easy to understand. From the German's perspective, he was the liaison between the POWs and the guards. He was responsible for making sure everybody followed the guard's orders. From the POW's perspective, he was their moral leader and everything they did should be approved by him so he could coordinate with other barracks, etc.

So, what was Security's role?

Procurement? Fake IDs? Calculating timing? Gathering knowledge about the guards? Gathering knowledge about the other POWs?

I ask because I never saw Price do a d*mn thing (in the first half of the movie before he revealed himself a clumsy spy)

[–] movieghoul 8 years ago

I thin khis main job was to prevent any information about planned escapes or contraband, like the radio, from leaking to the Germans. Not very successful, was he?

[–] dayvit78 8 years ago

I guess that kind of makes sense. Probably that if something does go wrong, he has to investigate who leaked. But yeah, obviously he never found anybody*, so you think they would pass the job to somebody else.

*Yes, he picks the trader, but that was in the middle of the movie (also he doesn't seem to do any investigating). You have to consider that many things happened before - the escape attempt we witness was not the first time they failed, and they didn't seem to suspect him until this time.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] stevekaczynski 8 years ago

Checking that new arrivals in the camp came from where they said they did, to spot any German infiltrators - that kind of thing.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."

[–] billymac72 8 years ago

Have you seen "The Great Escape?" That's another classic about POWs. They go into a lot more detail about all that goes into escape efforts.

Security does what the title suggests, i.e., he keeps all things involved "secure", or secret/hidden from the Germans.

For instance, in the Great Escape, we see elaborate signaling systems employed to look out for roaming guards. The appearance of the barracks at night are also carefully camouflaged so the men could work on the tunneling after lights out. I'm sure gathering information is vital to his role as well. He is largely responsible for making sure things are kept under wraps. We hear Duke blame Price early on ("How come the Krauts knew about that stove, Security? And the tunnel? How come you can't lay down a belch around here without them knowing it?") and later on, Sefton does the same ("I'll tell you how come. You, the Barrack Chief gave them the green light. And you, our Security Officer, said it'd be safe. That's how come!").

In Stalag 17, you're correct: we never really see Price do anything other than sit near Hoffy, so we know he's in the inner circle, so to speak, and making important decisions. In a lot of ways, that was probably how the screenwriters kept his profile low and didn't tip their hat as to his true identity.