A Great Escape to the Movies!

Rating: 10/10 (27 August 2005)

This film can make the 'greatest' list in so many categories, it's unbelievable! Greatest War Film; greatest chase; greatest historical piece; and let's begin with the greatest cast: I don't see too many surveys done on which film has the best overall cast, but this one must be it. McQueen - the king of cool and number one star with this film; Garner - almost as cool as McQueen; Attenborough - never utilized better than as Big X, the Brit stiff upper lip; Bronson - future superstar as a steady presence; Coburn - insolent mod sixties before it was chic; Pleasence - the quiet English reserve masking a powerhouse character; McCallum - before taking over TV with superspy Solo. And the beauty of it was, they were all packed together in one spot (one camp), plotting and scheming together until the inevitable chasing began.
This is the perfect adventure film and is endowed with an aura of greatness because it's based on real facts during the greatest war in the history of the world. It made a real impression on me when I saw it as a kid. I was fascinated by all the chief characters as they were introduced, all seemingly trapped forever in a cycle of escape and capture (as I was very young at the time, the length of World War II seemed like half a lifetime to me). Forced into such an existence, each character became an expert - not only in the art of escape - but in other esoteric disciplines, as well. In a way, the story comes across as an ideal game to a boy: the good guys are the best at what they do and must match wits with their captors, the bad Nazis. There's a lot of tension built up right from the start (as McQueen and others try their first escape attempts on the first day) but it's the planning by the prisoners, which we are privy to, that provides a truly interesting film experience. Some of the solutions they come up with are ingenious.
And then, the 3rd act, the actual escape. Where one usually expects a film so strong in the beginning and middle to bog down a bit, this one just explodes all over Germany. Though I've seen McQueen's mad dash on the motorcycle 15 times by now, it's still as thrilling as ever. But it's not just him; you follow along with many of the escapees in their clever, sometimes desperate bids for freedom. Again, it's a great game, but the possibilities and consequences can have a tremendous impact.