\nThis is, perhaps, the best analysis of that character, played by William Holden, that I have ever read.<\/p>\n
Sefton is intelligent; that’s why he acts as he does. For the first time in films the philosophy of the solitary man is elaborated; this film is an apologia for individualism. (Certainly, the solitary man has been a theme in films, as with Charlie Chaplin and many other comedians. But he has usually been an inept person whose only desire was to fit into society.) Sefton is alone because he wants to be alone.<\/i> He has the qualities of leadership, and everything would tend to establish him as the barracks’ trusted leader. After the deception has been uncovered by Sefton himself, and the leader the man trusted has been unmasked and convicted, we may wonder if Sefton escapes in order to avoid being named to take his place, knowing his fellow prisoners would do exactly that, both to exonerate themselves and because they finally recognize him as their only possible leader.<\/p>\n
What’s sure is that Sefton escapes to get away from the companions whom he despises rather than from a regime he has come to terms with and guards he’s been able to bend to his needs.<\/p>\n
Sefton needs those whom he despises to despise him in turn. If he remains, he will be a hero – a role he rejects no matter what the cost. Having lost his moral solitude, he hastens to regain it by becoming an escapee, with all the risk that entails.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The rest of Truffaut’s essay on Stalag 17<\/i>, especially his thoughts on the danger of majorities<\/i>, is well worth looking at. But Sefton is one of my favorite fictional characters ever, borne out of a sincere and unshakable cynicism. It is this cynicism I think makes him great, and something that I think many people miss in him. They assign hidden altruism and heroism to him, because that is what they need from him – but remember his last line of the film, remember it – and I would suggest that you don’t look at that line as Sefton being your typical tough-guy making a joke in order to hide the fact that he is deeply moved at the goodbye moment. No. I would suggest that you take him at his word. He never <\/em>wants to see any <\/em>of those men again. He means what he says. He would cross the street<\/em> if he saw them. But he doesn’t say the line with viciousness, he says it with a little grin, and a cocky look on his face.<\/p>\nTerrific moment because of all of those contradictory (and confronting) levels.<\/p>\n
“Sefton is alone because he wants to be alone.<\/i>”<\/p>\n
Sefton is akin to Rick in Casablanca<\/i> saying “I stick my neck out for nobody”, only Rick has a long (albeit secret and somewhat shady) past of running guns for people on the “right” side of the ongoing worldwide conflict. You get the sense, through a comment here, a comment there, that once upon a time he really was involved in the fight, he was committed enough to the fight of the little guy against tyranny that he risked his own neck, time and time again. He doesn’t make a big deal about it, but it’s there in his character, and we know that it is there. He can tell us “I stick my neck out for nobody” as much as he wants, but he obviously has convictions. Sefton has none, except that he might as well participate in the flourishing wartime black market, because why not – and also that he is innocent of what the bastards in his barracks accuse him of. Take away Rick’s secret political convictions, and you will find a deeply cynical man. But Sefton really doesn’t<\/em> stick his neck out for no one. You’d never catch him running guns for freedom fighters or the political underground in France, no way, not unless he could make a buck off of it.<\/p>\nGreat great character, and fascinating analysis by Truffaut.<\/p>\n
— From The Films In My Life<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=thesheivari-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0306805995\")
<\/i>, by Fran\u00c3\u00a7ois Truffaut<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is, perhaps, the best analysis of that character, played by William Holden, that I have ever read. Sefton is intelligent; that’s why he acts as he does. For the first time in films the philosophy of the solitary man … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,4],"tags":[310,1237,389,141,292],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9503"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63217,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9503\/revisions\/63217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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