A notable film from 1963, The Great Escape features an all-star ensemble cast. The action takes us to a German World War II prison camp to witness a truly great escape in the making.
The screenplay is based on the true story of men who were able to escape a Nazi prison camp. It is a glamorized war film. You can expect no less from Hollywood for a film made during this time period. It is not rated, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing.
A long film of 2 hours 52 minutes, I didn’t feel that any part of it dragged. These brave and cunning men are building a tunnel to escape in the hundreds, and the ingenuity used to make this work is really extraordinary.
Hilts “The Cooler King” (Steve McQueen), although not the most important character, is always remembered in this film. McQueen’s bad boy kind of persona shines through in his role as Hilts. Also notable is Hendley “The Scrounger” (James Garner), able to sweet talk his way into obtaining any forbidden item they require in order to make the escape work. His scenes with young Nazi soldier Werner (Robert Graf) are believable, the fear of the young man in service to the Nazi’s used to Hendley’s advantage.
Liberties were taken with the story, but it is true that men escaped from this prison camp. Allied soldiers from Canada, Great Britain, and Australia, the U.S., the Netherlands, and Norway were all at the camp and participated in making the escape happen. I read that some German officers actually helped the prisoners acquire what they needed to make the escape as successful as it was.
After you watch the film, look up The Great Escape on Wikipedia and read about the real men who inspired the film.
Have you seen The Great Escape? Did you like it? Are there other films set during the World War II era that you think are worth a watch?
I love this film! It's one of my favourite films and a true story especially the way the made those tunnels. Many Canadians were part of the making of these tunnels and I watched a documentary about the escape on the History channel. There were a few survivors whom they brought to the area where the camp was and found the tunnels! They couldn't investigate inside too much because it was very unstable-sandy soil. I loved Donald Pleasance in this film who actually was in a POW camp. I thought they showed some of the German military in a better light than they do now. Another favourite is the Commandant who played his part well and you knew what he was thinking just by the way he moved his eyes. There are many WW2 films that i say need to be seen...The Longest Day, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Guns of Navarone, The Sands of Iwo Jima, The Battle of Britain, 2 films where James mason plays Rommel-sorry I forgot their titles at this moment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your sharing background of this film. The James Mason films where he played Rommel is The Desert Fox, and The Desert Rats. He is one of my favorite actors, and was interestingly a conscientious objector. Good for him.
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