“The Great Escape”

Movie Review

A war action movie from 1963, The Great Escape also stars James Donald, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, and Angus Lennie in addition to Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough. Elmer Bernstein wrote the musical score for it, and the movie was shot in Panavision.

The movie is based on the 1950 non-fiction book of the same name by Paul Brickhill, a first-person account of the mass breakout of British Commonwealth POWs from German POW camp Stalag Luft III near Sagan, in the Nazi Germany district of Lower Silesia. The escape is shown in the movie as a highly dramatized event, with several compromises made for the sake of commercial appeals, such as emphasizing more American involvement in the escape.

John Sturges produced and directed The Great Escape for The Mirisch Corporation. The Odeon Leicester Square in London's West End hosted the movie's Royal World Premiere on June 20, 1963. The Great Escape became one of the most popular movies of the year, garnering McQueen the Best Actor prize at the Moscow International Film Festival, and is now regarded as a masterpiece. Another notable feature of The Great Escape is the motorbike chase and leap scene, which is regarded as one of the best stunts ever pulled off.

The Nazi German military forces transfer the most determined prisoners of war to Stalag Luft III, a new, maximum-security prisoner-of-war camp under the command of Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger, in late 1942 after spending a lot of resources constantly recapturing Allied POWs. The inmates form the "X" Organization, an escape plan commanded by "Big X," RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett. Bartlett presents a bold proposal: to tunnel beyond the camp's barrier and into the forest, to free 250 of the men. This plan receives the implicit endorsement of British Group Captain Ramsey, the most senior officer of any nationality in the camp. He is aware that although the majority of them will likely be recaptured, the Germans will need to divert a sizable amount of men away from the front to conduct the search, which will benefit the Allied war effort.

The guys form teams and work on "Tom," "Dick," and "Harry" tunnels simultaneously. Any item, including a camera and identification cards, may be located by American Flight Lieutenant Bob Hendley. To pump air into the tunnels, Australian Flying Officer Sedgwick creates instruments like picks and bellows. The tunnels are being dug by Flying Lieutenants Willie Dickes and Danny Welinski. Bartlett's second-in-command, Flying Lieutenant Andy MacDonald, gathers and offers intelligence.

The Royal Navy's Lieutenant Commander Eric Ashley-Pitt comes up with a plan to sneak the tunnel soil under the guards' noses. Once the POWs escape, Flight Lieutenant Griffith fashions clothing out of salvaged materials for them to wear as civilians. In order to carry out the more dangerous portions of the plan undetected, Dai Nimmo and Haynes are in charge of diverting the guards' attention to other things in the camp. Security is under Sorren's control. Colin Blythe, a flight lieutenant, deals with document forgery. The prisoner choir, under the direction of Flying Lieutenant Dennis Cavendish, who also conducts surveys to determine the tunnel's path, masks the operating sounds.

On June 20, 1943, Bartlett requests that USAAF Captain Virgil Hilts, a legendary prolific escapee who is repeatedly punished with solitary confinement in the "cooler," assist in the escape by breaking through the barbed wire, scouting the area, and then allowing himself to be recaptured so he can draw a map for the X Organization. Hilts declines. Hilts befriends Scottish RAF Flying Officer Archie Ives during his first stretch in the cooler at the camp.

Bartlett instructs "Dick" and "Harry" to be shut off as "Tom" is most likely to be finished shortly. Hilts, Hendley, and American Second Lieutenant Goff create moonshine using a homemade still and celebrate the Fourth of July with the entire camp after hoarding potatoes from the allotments. The guards find "Tom" in the center of the party. Ives, who is dejected, furiously tries to scale the barbed wire fence and is shot dead as the POWs react with shock.

Ives' passing causes Hilts to reconsider. After making his way out of the camp, he allows himself to be taken prisoner before making his way back with reconnaissance data on the surrounding area. Bartlett changes the focus of the inmates' efforts to "Harry". After experiencing many tunnels collapses, Danny cracks and confides in Willie that despite his significant tunneling skills he is genuinely claustrophobic. He almost succeeds in trying to cut through the fence, but Willie talks him down just in time to prevent getting shot. Hendley decides to be Blythe's escape guide after learning that Blythe is losing his vision due to increasing myopia.

On March 24, 1944, the final section of the tunnel is finished during the predetermined evening. The tunnel, however, is 20 feet away from the tree line. The inmates carefully emerge from the tunnel one at a time during an air raid blackout and make their way to the forest under Hilts' guidance, who uses a rope to signify when it is safe to go. Bartlett, MacDonald, Hendley, Blythe, Hilts, Ashley-Pitt, Welinski, Dickes, Sedgwick, Cavendish, Nimmo, and Haynes are among the 76 convicts who escape.

Cavendish exits the tunnel, but after tripping and falling, a guard notices him. Griffith pokes his head out before Hilts gives the all-clear and is quickly apprehended as the guard stands adjacent to the hole, otherwise unaware. The 76 POWs scatter in various ways. Cavendish hitches on a vehicle but is taken straight to the police at a neighboring castle, where he discovers Haynes, who has been captured and is pretending to be a German soldier. In an attempt to fly over the Swiss border, Hendley and Blythe steal a plane. However, the engine fails, and they crash land; Blythe is shot and dies, while Hendley is apprehended.

German soldiers follow Hilts as he steals a motorcycle and travels toward the Swiss-German border. As he starts to scale barbed-wire fences, troops shoot out the bike's tire, capturing him. When Ashley-Pitt creates a distraction to save MacDonald and Bartlett from being shot and killed at a train station, they are saved, but they are later imprisoned after a Gestapo officer baits them into speaking in English.

48 captives, including Bartlett, MacDonald, Cavendish, and Haynes, were killed by the Gestapo on Adolf Hitler's orders under the pretense that they were attempting to flee, bringing the total number of dead to 50. Only 3 POWs managed to flee. Stealing a rowboat, Welinski and Dickes travel downstream to a harbor where they board a ship headed for Sweden. After stealing a bicycle, Sedgwick travels to France via train, where the French Resistance helps him get to Spain.

Nimmo, Hendley, and nine other people are brought back to the camp. When Hendley learns about the deceased, he questions whether the price was worthwhile. Ramsey responds that it depends on his perspective. Hilts returns and is placed in the cooler where he starts plotting another escape, at which point Von Luger is relieved of command.

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