Movie Notes: The Great Escape

September 17th, 2008

= 4 stars

Starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson
Directed by John Sturges

Synopsis

Based on a true story of the largest group escape from a high security Nazi POW camp, involving British and American soldiers working together to cause a mass distraction that would waste Nazi resources.

The Good

• Interesting details come to light as the escape plan is set in motion — digging three tunnels (jokingly called Tom, Dick, and Harry) covertly. The determination and dedication spread over many days with many men and all without the Nazis realizing is staggering.
• Very fun to see a long list of actors who would go on to future stardom: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, and James Coburn.
• A few extremely tense moments during the escape itself. One prisoner tries to hide his blindness, and another suffers from acute claustrophobia while crawling through the dark tunnel.
• The movie doesn’t end after the prisoners get beyond the barbed wire. The prisoners try to get out of Germany through various means. McQueen does a cool motorcycle chase.

The Bad

• At times unbelievable that the Nazis were completely oblivious to the escape work going on, in particular, the gathering of materials for costumes and the amount of time the prisoners spent discussing the plan. I had to keep reminding myself this was based on actual events.
• Very long film — nearly three hours — and frankly, much of the first half had me checking my watch.

Conclusion

This is a classic escape flick, an obvious precursor to Escape From Alcatraz or even group-heist flicks like the Ocean’s series. Definitely worth a rental, but be forewarned that it’s quite long and you may need to watch it in two installments as I did.

IMDB: The Great Escape
Wikipedia: The Great Escape
Rotten Tomatoes: The Great Escape 91%