Great story, great casting but "great" problem in the execution...

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2017)

And I should have put 'execution' between two crosses, but it might have given away the film's ending (and problem) despite the spoiler warning. Anyway, I start my review.
For some reason, it took me till my 35th year to discover "The Great Escape". That's the catch with classics; they're so iconic you never really "discover" them. From that Simpsons' episode parodying the great escape with Maggie's glorious quest for the hidden pacifier, driven by Elmer Bernstein's score (and a cool nod to the "cooler" scene), I knew "The Great Escape". Of course, I can also mention the parodies of Steve McQueen's climactic motorcycle jump over the barbed wires and the stellar cast so typical of these testosterone-laden action flicks of the 60's, "Guns of Navarone", "The Dirty Dozen" and of course, John Sturges' previous classic "The Magnificent Seven".
I thought I knew everything about the film and needless to say that I heightened my expectation so high they really crashed into the realization that I've been misinformed all along. I love a movie that surprises me but I didn't expect that film to end that way. To put it simply: well, no one really escaped and those who did ended up being executed in the most cold-blooded and anti-climactic way. Now that was one downer ending that I didn't see coming, but it makes sense since the film insisted so much that it was based on a true story, only names were changed (the leader Burshell became Bartlett, played by an excellent Richard Attenborough) and some characters were composite of real-life personalities. Also no Americans took part to the escape but the producers wanted to include Steve McQueen and give him a substantial role. This is where the film gets more problematic.
As long as I was convinced that it would culminate with the spectacular jump, it was all worth the dated elements. Every member of the organization had a cool-nickname, James Garner the Scrounger, Donald Pleasance the Forger, Charles Bronson the Tunnel King, James Coburn the Manufacturer and McQueen has the coolest of all, The Cooler King, every guy is bad-ass in a way or another, every element of the escape is handled with the kind of meticulous precision the film can only get away with it on its "true story" premise, and there's that upbeat music from Bernstein.There's never a moment where you film the Germans in their usual mercilessness, the life in the camp seems pretty idle and we accept the notion of a POW having to escape as a duty in order to disorient the enemy and create as much confusion as possible. But there's never a moment where you feel that lives are at stakes, on an individual level maybe, but no in a crime-of-war "fashion".
As long as I expected a great escape, I enjoyed every bit of the film. But then something happened: Steve McQueen crashed on the barbed-wire fences and surrendered. If McQueen, the Cooler King didn't make it, then there was nothing really great about that escape. But the final nail on the coffin of my disappointment was the execution. I had followed Bartlett and McCallum all through the film and while their finale exchange before they hear the machine gun getting armed is poignant and beautifully done, the film had lost me. The bonus features went on great lengths about the real operation: what a tragic ending, what a waste of lives. I love the unease of the camp officer when announcing that everyone was dead, and when James Donald is told that fifty prisoners were shot while escaping and there was no wounded, it was easy to connect the dots.
In a way, this was a story that needed to be told, it is powerful and it does pay a tribute to these tragic heroes, the fifty who underestimated the cruelty of the enemy, but the way the escape is all set-up makes the ending feel like belonging to another movie. All the gags, the funny moments had lost their charm and worse, I felt that Steve McQueen wasn't fit for the film, which is perhaps the worst thing you can say about it. I don't mean I wish he wasn't in the film but it's obvious (and it's proved in the trivia) that McQueen wanted to have a role as big as in "Magnificent Seven" and this time he had no YulBrynner to rival with, no need to touch his hat or enhance his presence, his presence enhanced the film but not for the best. McQueen is as cool as an ice cube on a glass of potato vodka. But this film called for a 'Papillon' performance, when it ends with the same cooler moment, and the theme started playing, I didn't feel any reason to smile or be happy.
This aspect is also represented by the Forger's arc, Donald Pleasance plays the man who goes blind and thanks to the Scrounger's help, he manages to slip through the net until Garner decides to fly a plane in a scene that seems like gratuitous action spice and leading to his killing anyway. Of course, the weak, bald, blind guy didn't fit and Garner goes back to the camp without a scratch. McQueen goes back, learns about the deaths and then goes play ball in his cooler. The film is the weirdest cocktail of emotions, being too cinematic for its tragic material.
I enjoyed every bit of it at first, it sure has the thrills, the cast, the music, but the ending called for a more serious treatment. I guess I was mislead, but even the story is about people who were mislead by some misconception and ending executed. I still can't give the film a six given how iconic it is, so I give it a 7 but not magnificent one.