A Truly Great Movie

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2013)

The Great Escape is undoubtedly the finest war/prison movie ever made. Directed by John Sturges,whose film credits include Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Ice Station Zebra (1968). In World War II,Mr. Sturges made documentaries and training films while enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. His exhaustive research and attention to detail are certainly on display in this film. Because of his success with The Magnificent Seven,he was able to convince MGM to undertake this monumental project. After much negotiations, he was able to convince his star from The Magnificent Seven, Steve McQueen,to come aboard for this film. McQueen was reluctant to do another war movie, and only accepted the part if a motorcycle chase was wrote in exclusively for him. Sturges agreed, and the chase toward the end of the movie became one of the signature highlights of the film. A little known fact is that during the chase McQueen, through the magic of editing, was also used as one of the German motorcycle riders,thereby creating the unique circumstance of McQueen being pursued by himself during the chase scene! An all-star collection of American and British actors, McQueen as Hilts,the Cooler King, James Garner as the Scrounger,Richard Attenborough as Big X, Charles Bronson as the Tunnel King, James Coburn as the Manufacturer and Donald Pleasance as the Forger,to name a few.
Thrown together in the German prison camp Stalag Luft III, the Air Force prisoners use their creative talents to dig three tunnels( Tom,Dick & Harry) and get as many men out as quickly as possible, and to create as much confusion for the German SS as they can in trying to find and recapture them. Based on a true story, this film combines the components of suspense, ingenuity, adventure and the triumph of the human spirit to attain freedom no matter the cost. Screenwritten by James Clavell (Shogun) and W.R.Burnett (Little Caesar), a wonderful music score by Elmer Bernstein,beautiful scenic filming near Munich, Germany, this magnificent film captures all the elements of a timeless classic!