The Great Escape
by Cheeto
Posted on 14 April 2021
Rating -
The Great Escape is a 1963 American epic adventure suspense war film starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough and featuring James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, John Leyton, David McCallum and Hannes Messemer. It was filmed in Panavision.
The film is based on Paul Brickhill’s 1950 non-fiction book of the same name, a firsthand account of the mass escape by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from German POW camp Stalag Luft III in Sagan (now Żagań, Poland), in the province of Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany. The film portrays a heavily fictionalised version of the escape, with numerous compromises for its commercial appeal, such as focusing more on American involvement in the escape.
The Great Escape was made by The Mirisch Company, released by United Artists, and produced and directed by John Sturges. The film had its Royal World Premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London’s West End on 20 June 1963. The Great Escape is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. It emerged as one of the highest-grossing films of the year, winning McQueen the award for Best Actor at the Moscow International Film Festival, and is now considered a classic. The Great Escape is also noted for its motorcycle chase and jump scene, which is considered one of the best stunts ever performed.
The Great Escape as a 21 year old, is a film where I wish I was alive when it came out. The buzz surrounding this film when it came out; I can only imagine it was the same as The Avengers films. The Reason? You have every major British and American film star at the time, all in one movie. Not only that; you also have a thrilling plot and an awesome score by Elmer Bernstein.
This film has setback after setback as we see the allies try and do what it takes to escape the axis camp. Everything from digging underneath the camp, to physically climbing over the fence. This film has a big sense of togetherness and working together to achieve their goal. As they escape the camp using Harry (one of the three tunnels dug to escape), you feel what they are feeling, a sense of freedom and relief.
Overall, even though this film doesn’t necessarily end in the way we (the viewer) would want it to end, just the trilling suspenseful act of escaping the camp is enough to leave the viewer happy and fulfilled. Give The Great Escape a watch if you want thrills, suspense and a great cast.
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