All Hail the Cooler King!

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2013)

The Great Escape directed by John Sturges is about the real life escape by WWII Allied POWs from a German prison camp and lay chaos to all of Nazi Europe, but the film loosely close to the real life events. The film is more based on the novel of the same name by Paul Brickhill, which is a non-fiction account of the mass escape from Stalag Luft III, a new high-security prison in what's now modern day Poland. The characters in the film are composites of real men. Each of the characters brings something to the plot, and escape story-arch. Roger Bartlett DFC RAF, "Big X" (Richard Attenborough) is the brains of the operation. Richard brings a commanding role to the character, and gives him the cutting edge intelligent needed for such a task. He organized teams of people to make tunnels such as Tom, Dick, Harry, but also as well make civilian clothing, forge documents, procure contraband materials, and prevent guards from discovering their work. Flight Lieutenant Robert Hendley (James Garner) AKA 'The scrounger', job is finds what the others need, from a camera to clothes and identity cards. James gives the role, a great sly edge to the character. Australian Flying Officer Louis Sedgwick (James Coburn), "the manufacturer," makes tools such as picks for digging and bellows for pumping air into the tunnels. Flight Lieutenant Danny Velinski (Charles Bronson) is "the tunnel king" in charge of making the tunnels. Charles get down and dirty for this task. Forgery is handled by Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe (Donald Pleasence) who brilliant acting is amazing, not only is he acting nearly blind from intricate work by candlelight, but Donald Pleasence was truly a real life prison of war during WWII. It took a lot out of him. One of the biggest character and screen time is spent on Captain Virgil Hilts (Steven McQueen), "The Cooler King," whom job is irritates guards with frequent escape attempts so he can recon what's outside the camp. . The information he brings back is used to create maps showing the nearest town and railway station. At this point, with multiply attempts, he would have been shot, but in the film, he's still escaping after time after time. Just go with it. He has a number of key scenes, like tossing a baseball in the cooler, the 4th of July celebrating, and others. Sometimes the film focus way too much of Hilts and little about the other characters, that it become known as only a Steven McQueen movie, when there are other fine actors in this movie. It's really a shame to see the other actors playing second fiddle to McQueen here. The movie gets better when they do escape, as the men find ways to get out of Nazi control areas by any means. No matter if it's by bus, train, boat, plane, or in case of Steve McQueen jumping over barb-wire fence with a motorcycle. Debunking a myth, McQueen didn't do the final jump as it was done by Bud Ekins, but McQueen did the other motorcycles stunts as well as playing the German guard. The ending after that can be really sad after watching 3 hours of the film, after seeing how much work went into escaping, but the film tries to leave the audience with a good note with scenes that their work wasn't in veil. The film was to some extent a work of fiction, based on the real events but with compromises made for purposes of commercial appeal, serving as a vehicle for its box-office stars. While many of its characters were fictitious, most were amalgams of several real characters and many were based on real people. There were no escapes by motorcycle, or aircraft. The screenwriters increased the importance of the roles of American POWs even to the point, that the real escape was by British not Americans. In reality Canadians played a prominent role in the construction of the tunnels and the escape itself. The film little mention them. Another example of Hollywood trying to convince the public that the Germans were idiots. It's hard to think that the Germans would allowed them to have it American flags, a drum, a flute, a still and all those potatoes. Plus all the shoe dye you could use. It's seem unrealish. Not only that the film has the escape in the summer, when it happen in the winter. One thing that the film goes right is the rousing Elmer Bernstein score which gives the movie it's famous tune. It's wonderful and catchy. The film is a triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity. A classic film and iconic theme tune, but don't forget the sadness. Over 50 men were murdered by the Nazis for their part in the escape - facing death not in a field but often alone in a prison yard. Let us never forget such men and such bravery.