Historically important, well made and well acted, The Great Escape is simply a film that must be seen

Rating: 8/10 (31 March 2014)

I'd heard lots of great things about The Great Escape, but had never got round to watching it until very recently. Having watched it, all I can say is that I wished I'd watched it years ago.
The Great Escape is the true story of a mixture of American and English soldiers who are being held in a prisoner of war camp in Germany during World War 2. This film chronicles their escape from this POW camp. I went into watching this film with no prior knowledge of how the escape was orchestrated and that was the thing that really impressed me; the sheer ingenuity of the escape and how methodical and carefully planned everything was. Each man brings their own strengths to the table such as James Garner's character Scrounger who is the guy who can get anything for you (similar to Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption) and Donald Pleasance's character Blythe who is a 'master forger'. Truth be told, I would have enjoyed The Great Escape even if it was fictional, but the fact that this is a true story is a real testament to those men that were involved.
Acting wise I'd probably single Attenborough and Pleasance out as being the best, but that's not to disparage anyone else as everyone was excellent. This is another example of a film that has humour, tension and at times it was also quite moving. History had already written the script for this film so it's down to the actors to bring the characters to life and with the strong cast that we've got in this film that was always going to be a 'done' deal.
I only realised after I'd watched The Great Escape that there was a documentary on after it which depicted the real Great Escape. I only wished that I'd spotted it as I would have really liked to have watched it (particularly so after watching this excellent film).
This is a film that I would recommend to everyone. I knew nothing of the history behind this film so I found it particularly clever and entertaining. If you haven't seen The Great Escape yet, don't make the same mistake that I made and wait years to watch it. It's an important part of history and a damn fine film as well! Highly recommended