The Great Escape

July. 04,1963      NR
Rating:
8.2
Trailer Synopsis Cast

The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.

Steve McQueen as  Hilts 'The Cooler King'
James Garner as  Hendley 'The Scrounger'
Richard Attenborough as  Bartlett 'Big X'
James Donald as  Ramsey 'The SBO'
Charles Bronson as  Danny 'Tunnel King'
Donald Pleasence as  Blythe 'The Forger'
James Coburn as  Sedgwick 'Manufacturer'
Hannes Messemer as  Von Luger 'The Kommandant'
David McCallum as  Ashley-Pitt 'Dispersal'
Gordon Jackson as  MacDonald 'Intelligence'

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Reviews

Matialth
1963/07/04

Good concept, poorly executed.

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Claysaba
1963/07/05

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

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Gary
1963/07/06

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

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Scarlet
1963/07/07

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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disastrousdallas
1963/07/08

The Great Escape is Dare i say it possibly one of the greatest if not the greatest movie ever made.to properly review this film i need to go in depth on the cast and CharactersSteve McQueen plays Virgil Hilts a US Air force captain and leading man of the story, nicknamed the cooler king for spending most of the film in said building, McQueen brings the cocky nature of the Character to life and goes down as one of the most iconic.James Garner plays Robert Hendly, one of the three Americans in the camp and the only Character of the RAF eagle squadron, Garner brings the smoothness to the role that a scrounger would have and by the end of the film you love the character.Richard Attenbrough Plays Roger Bartlett the most faithful of the adapted characters from the true story, Known as the big X and based off the real life Big X Roger Bushel, Attenbroughs performance does the role justice.James Donald plays Ramsey the Senior British Officer, being the second most faithful of the Characters and based off of real life figure Herbert Massey and is wonderful as the leader of the escape party.Charles Bronson plays Danny Valinski, one of two Tunnel Kings, whilst many might say that he over acts in the tunnel scenes in which he breaks down i chalk that up to wonderful acting and a real life fear of Bronson, as his character unravels you begin to learn what he has sacrificed over the course of the war.Donald Pleasence plays Colin Blythe, i will admit he was a major factor in me deciding to watch this film having fallen in love with his portrayal of Sam Loomis in the Halloween saga, whilst in those films he was rough, this film showed another angle to his acting skills playing the soft spoken forger who whilst looking innocent is one of the cunning masterminds of the escape.James Coburn plays Sedgwick, whilst a great actor and a great character i had a hard time buying that the character was Australian the accent was off and the other numerous attempts to show him as Australian felt show horned in but the character added some nice light humour when needed.Hannes Messemer plays Von Luger, Whilst many people look at the whole German Army of WWII with disgust Messemers portrayal of Von Luger is one of the best in the films and shows another side to the German army that is rarely portrayed in today's films, showing that of an high ranking officer who doesn't always appear to agree with the views of his superiors or his underlings and his possible disagreement with the Nazi regime.David McCallum plays Ashley Pitt, not much can be said about his role as he's mainly relegated to the background but is noticeable in every scene he's in and wonderfully written as the character knowingly sacrifices himself for the needs of his superiors, like Plesence he is soft spoken and wonderful to watch.Gordon Jackson plays MacDonald, one of the leading forces of the escape Jackson portrays a man who doesn't agree with the war and is more focused on wanting to get everyone out of the camp no matter the cost, whilst not as soft spoken as the likes of Plesence or McCallum he is a joy to watch.Johny Leyton plays Willie, the second Tunnel King i will say that whoever said that singers can't act is quite mistaken, in fact i was taken a back to realize that he was a singer and this was his first film role, the character is kind and looks out for the panicked Danny towards the end of the film and is wonderfully played throughout.Nigel Stock plays Cavendish, whilst a great actor this is where i take a small disliking to the character is named the surveyor but is shown to be in adequate of doing so and is never seen doing the job and is then relegated to security for the remainder of the film and is played for comic relief, something the film didn't really need except for the bed collapsing scene which was based off of a true story, the character could have been combined with that or Sorans played by William Russell and there wouldn't be any difference although in a personal preference i would preferred Russell in the role.The story is faithful to the true escape with the post escape being added solely for the film but with an escape sequence that had me pausing almost every minute because of the sheer suspense that was killing me wondering who was going to escape, i honestly found myself enjoying this film every minute, I would recommend this movie for how wonderful it is as a timeless classic.

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Vondonnern
1963/07/09

This is one of the greatest movies of all time! Based on true story of real events by Paul Brickhill, with a great cast. This particular movie is a family favorite which brings my teenage daughter out from her room and may inspire and stir you too.The story of allied POWs with a knack and desire to escape - these escape artists have all been placed in one basket, Stalag Luft 3 - so the Germans can watch that one basket closely. The Stalag commander does not see the soldiers attempts to escape as "a matter of levity." Steve McQueen, James Garner, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, and Richard Attenborough are part of an all-star cast which tell the story of captured allied soldiers. Along with the all-star cast, great directing, a fantastic musical score, and great writing combine to make this a favorite for many. The editing in The Great Escape is excellent, smooth, natural and unobtrusive. One of the major scenes which communicates this excellently is the motorcycle chase scene where Steve McQueen appears to jump the barbed wire barricades. McQueen did complete many of the motorcycle scenes, riding through the hills of Germany, he even did many of shots where he dressed in a German uniform and appeared to be the soldiers. McQueen was actually an avid motorcyclist, appearing in the documentary On Any Sunday and would race in local races under the name Harvey Mushman.Sound has frequent rich wood, leather, and wool, and tin metal sound effects added during movements that give a sense of being surrounded by dirty wood floors and cheap metal. The music score transitions, coupled with wise-cracking personalities, add to the character development and sense of understanding what's happening and about to happen. This movie is even parodied by the animated movie "Chicken Run," where chickens try to escape by digging a tunnel away from their chicken farm and Germany has a similar story based on true events that are told in the film "The One That Got Away," by Roy Baker about a German pilot shot down in England. Stories about intestinal fortitude and insurmountable odds never get old. This is a film I can watch every year and never get tired of watching - this is not movie propaganda! You read it.

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felixoteiza
1963/07/10

I don't claim to have been in WWII—or maybe I was, during a past life— but this I know for sure: life in a German POW camp had nothing to do with what we see in TGE, let alone a POW camp where they had gathered Allied airmen. See, at a time when Allied warplanes were bombing German cities to dust the German populace had developed a deep hatred for all them and when they had the chance to get their hands on one of them the poor sap was lucky if all he got, before the local military came to get him, was just a good beating. In fact a number of them were lynched by irate mobs. Not to mention that many had had to bail out from their burning planes and then land on mud, water, bushes; had to spend hours, days, hiding in barns, forests, running for their lives, before being caught. And that some of their camp wardens had suffered themselves the effects of their bombing, lost homes, probably dear ones because of it and so were in no mood for youthful pranks. Not, life wasn't a picnic in those German POW camps. Not to mention that the Luftwaffe was a Nazi haven, Goering's baby. And yet what we see here is more like a group of well fed and contended, sharp and alert vacationers arriving to their resort in the heart of nature. If it wasn't for the guns you could even picture the German guards handing out leaflets with the activities of the day while Hendley looks for a comfy spot where to light up his pipe and engage in some good reading.But things don't get any better as we trod along, as we are next subjected to a stream of usual 60s war flick clichés, not the smallest of them that of the decent, fair, even likable German military officers who "are just doing their duty", as opposed to the dastardly Gestapo and SS goons. If you have seen enough of these U.S-U.K war flicks of the 50s, 60s you got to be familiar with the obvious dichotomy. Now, while I am sure that there were many honest and fair German military fighting in that war—despite the well known complicity of the brass of the Wehrmacht with the atrocities of the Nazis—the fact that they are a staple in these war flicks is not so much due to Hollywood's regard for historical truths as due to necessities of the Cold War, which by the 60s was going full steam. As Germany had gone from enemy to NATO ally, it wasn't anymore sensible to depict their military men as murderous brutes—as it was the case during the war of course—so they got around all it just putting all their bad deeds on the shoulders of the SS and Gestapo. That is the main reason why there are always nice, good, fair Germans in these war flicks.Now, if TGE is already looking pretty unrealistic by the moment McQueen's Hilts appears, with him it turns into a real masquerade. For one, Hilts must be the only man in History who comes out of a month in solitary confinement in a German POW camp looking far better than he did when he got in. With clean clothes—remember, he had entered all covered in mud—impeccable, well groomed, perfectly shaved. (Who washed his clothes, who cut, combed, his hair there, who gave him such clean shaves?) I'm not fan of Guns of Navarone, but compared to this one it looks like Shakespeare because, despite all its shortcomings it still has that aura of reality, is still happening in the real world, it still gives us a sense of what really Nazi occupation looked and felt like, In TGE there is instead there is no tension, no sense of vulnerability, no fear for your life from the part of the POWs. You feel like watching the youthful shenanigans of a bunch of teens in summer camp who, if caught will get just a slap in the wrist. See for ex. that after Tilts physically attacks two guards armed with automatic guns he is just let go scot free, he is not even reprimanded! After that scene you can't possible take TGE seriously. And what about guard Warner, who is smart enough to immediately discover the concealed tunnel but not enough to put the obvious two plus two together, that Hendley was the one who stole his wallet?. But the unrealistic reaches new heights with that Fourth of July parade. The German would have never ever allowed such a thing. No military in the world would ever allow their POWs such kind of display, let alone the Germans, who knew well how dangerous the mix of beer and flag waving could be. All that is pure Hollywood mythology. And to make things even worse, we got Steve McQueen, who every time he is on the screen, no matter what he does, say, he seems to be flaunting his star ratings. Not for a moment he makes you feel you are watching a real POW there, a man that feels impotent because deprived of his freedom, totally vulnerable to the whims and moods of his captors, but instead he gives you all along the feeling that Steve McQueen is all that there is to watch there and the rest is secondary. He feels all along so sure of himself that he can even engage in a staring contest with a SS heavy, a guy who could turn him into dust with a gesture of his little finger. But of course he knows he can do that, after all he is making thousands times more dough for this flick than the other guy, and than everyone else. He is the star here and he will never let them forget it, neither you, the spectator. In all, not worth watching, except for his fans. 3/10.

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tjsdomer2
1963/07/11

The Great Escape is sure a lot of fun. I was unsure whether a film of this magnitude could pull off all these characters, but I can say it does an admirable job at that. All the characters also admirably show what a person will do in order to obtain freedom, all the while depicting their German captors in a not so unsympathetic light; there is still chivalry among the armies.As far as characters are concerned, Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough really stand out as Allied captives. One minor character I enjoyed was the German soldier Werner, who has a funny interaction with Garner's character in the barracks.The last thirty minutes of The Great Escape dawdle a bit and come across as a bit of a footnote at first, until the viewer realizes the full scope and objective of the plan. Overall, there is a ton to like and this film is close enough to perfect to deserve a 4 out of 4 star rating.

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