One throughly entertaining film

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2006)

This is as entertaining as a POW film can be. It is primary a lighthearted film, though it does have its serious moments. The characters are all very colorful. They are not overly stereotyped since this film helped to created the stereotypes. I enjoy that facts the prisoners get to work on escape before their feet hit ground. It is the thing that prisoners must do. The actors are all very good. Steve McQueen is my favorite--not because he is the best actor, but because he is so cool. Nobody makes riding a bike into a barbed wire fence more imitable than he. James Garner is perfect as the "Scrounger". I like the scenes where he is working on the German soldier. I really enjoy all the scenes where we get to see the soldiers working, and all the creative ways in which they get the job done. Though this doesn't have the psychological complexity of "Bridge on the River Kwai", it is one of my favorite war movies.