An Undeniable Classic

Rating: 10/10 (1 May 2007)

"The Great Escape" is easily one of the greatest films ever made. It chronicles the story of a number of Allied prisoners sent to a Nazi prison camp during WWII. The imprisonment eventually leads to, as the title implies, a large-scale escape attempt.
This film has everything. It has comedic moments throughout, especially with conversations between the main American officer and the jealous Asian SS guard (former Boy Scout). It also has a gripping plot and a cast of irresistible characters. As the film goes on, we learn to really like the prisoners. When the time comes and the escape begins,, our nerves rise up immediately. The film squeezes you and never lets go.
Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough give career defining roles, each with intense escape scenes of their own. The motorcycle chase involving McQueen, for example, is one of the greatest chase scenes ever filmed.
"The Great Escape" is deep, gripping, exciting, emotional, sad, enthralling, moving, inspiring, and unrelentlessly phenomenal. It is easily the greatest war-time prison camp film of its time, and will be enjoyed by countless generations to come.