Movie Review: The Great Escape (1963) directed by John Sturges
During World War Two, the Germans captured quite a few enemy soldiers, primarily aviators who’d been shot down or crashed. The Allied prisoners considered it their first duty to escape from captivity, and several of them caused enough headaches that the Luftwaffe built a new prison camp, Stalag Luft III, to transfer the escape artists and other annoyances to, a special camp built to be escape-proof. Naturally, just because you tell British, Commonwealth and American soldiers that a prison is inescapable doesn’t mean they’ll just give up. They soon planned the biggest escape attempt of the war. This movie is a fictionalized version of that event, The Great Escape.
Camp Commandant Von Luger (Hannes Messemer) warns senior British officer Ramsey (John Donald) of the new conditions and urges him to get his men to sit tight for the rest of the war, as Von Luger would like to avoid killing the prisoners, who as fellow military men he respects. Ramsey has a severe limp, so knows that he personally won’t be involved in any escape attempt, but he’s certainly not going to tell his fellow prisoners to fail their duty.
Because this stalag has been designated as the place to send the most incorrigible escape risks, the Germans have as a side effect created an all-star escape team. Leader “Big X” Bartlett (Richard Attenborough), Scrounger Hendley (James Garner), tunnel king Danny (Charles Bronson), forger Blythe (Donald Pleasance), manufacturer Sedgwick (James Coburn), dispersal expert Ashley-Pitt (David McCallum) and other experts. Plus wild card loose cannon Captain Hilts (Steve McQueen) who soon becomes known as the “Cooler King” for being thrown in isolation so often.
From the moment they arrive, the various prisoners start assessing the prison’s defenses, potential blind spots and geology. A couple of improvised attempts at escape are shortly quashed. It’s quickly decided that tunnels are the best option, so three are begun. Almost everyone is on board with the plan, but Hilts is more concerned with getting himself (and maybe one other person) out than the insane idea of getting oh, say, 250 prisoners to escape at the same time.
Eventually, Hilts realizes he’s being a bit too selfish, and starts cooperating. At last the escape happens, and seventy-six prisoners manage to get outside the camp. The remainder of the film follows their attempts to remain free.
While Steve McQueen is top-billed (and his character was made American for box-office purposes; in real life the Americans had been moved to another stalag before the escape happened), the rest of the cast is also strong and many of them get their own moments to shine. It helps that many of them had their own military experience to draw on. Donald Pleasance had even spent time in a German POW camp, while some of the German actors had been in Russian or American camps.
As part of his contract negotiations for the part of Hilts, Mr. McQueen insisted on being able to show off his motorcycle skills, and does all of his own riding (and a couple of other characters’) except the big jump stunt. This makes for some exciting riding scenes, even if that part is entirely fictional.
Set design is excellent (and if it looks too clean/nice, remember that British and American POWs were actually treated according to the Geneva Convention most of the time.) There’s some lovely German scenery in the last third of the movie as the escapees spread out across Germany. Oh, and the jaunty theme tune is a classic.
Content note: Several people are shot dead, very little blood. One of these scenes is a war crime by the Gestapo (who are villainous Nazis compared to the relatively honorable Luftwaffe.) Fisticuffs. A character commits suicide by guard. Danny has a severe meltdown due to his claustrophobia. Younger or more sensitive viewers may need parental guidance.
Overall: This is deservedly one of the favorite movies of many film fans. Yes, the historical accuracy suffers a bit to include Steve McQueen’s character, but the story is well-told enough to forgive this. Highly recommended to war movie and Steve McQueen fans.
