I love movies in
which a team of talented individuals get together to achieve a common goal.
Such examples include thieves trying to rob a casino, black ops soldiers trying
to destroy enemy weapons, or Tom Cruise and company trying to break into CIA
headquarters during an impossible mission. John Sturges’ The Great Escape (1963) stands out in this category because here
the group in question is not trying to break into a place, but break out.
Specifically they are a group of POWs trying to escape a massive Nazi prison
camp in order to distract German troops while the Allies are getting ready to
invade. The film may have its share of historical inaccuracies, but it is a
historical piece of filmmaking since its cast is made up of some of the biggest
names in Hollywood at the time.
Although it was
released in the early 1960s The Great
Escape has endured the test of time, first by becoming many grandfathers’
favourite movie, and then by influencing many filmmakers to come. Quentin
Tarantino (of course) has his characters name-check it in Reservoir Dogs, The Simpsons spoofed
it, and what is Chicken Run if not a
stop-motion version of The Great Escape with
chickens as the POWs? It took me a while to finally see it, but when I rented
it on DVD about ten years ago I was familiar with the premise and knew some of
the big names among the cast. What I did know at the time, and eventually
learned by doing some research, is that in real life Canadian prisoners played
a crucial role in the prison break. Yet there are no Canadian characters in The Great Escape, so where’s our movie
with our heroes?
That being said,
if you go into this story without too much historical knowledge it is one
entertaining ride that first grabs you with that iconic score by Elmer
Bernstein. The set-up of the movie is laid out by Colonel Von Luger (Hannes
Messemer) the Kommandant of a Nazi prisoner of war camp in 1943. He tells a British
officer, group captain Ramsey (James Donald) that this camp has been
specifically designed to guard some of the Allies’ best escape artists. As he
puts it, the Nazis have put all of their bad eggs in one basket. To discourage
Ramsey and anyone who listens to him, he explains the many security features of
the camp and how it is their best interests to be model prisoners.
However from
Ramsey’s point of view the best behaviour a prisoner of war can have is to
actively try to escape. Upon leaving Von Luger and reuniting with his fellow
allies a plan is hatched: they will attempt to escape this camp, not one or two
prisoners a week, but 250 all at once. To do this they will dig three tunnels
called Tom, Dick, and Harry, right under the noses of the guards. Once all of
those prisoners have escaped the Nazis will spend considerable time and
resources trying to get them back, which will distract them while Allied troops
are attacking elsewhere.
For this massive
undertaking you of course need a team of individuals with their own unique set
of skills. RAF Squadron leader Roger Bartlett (Richard Attenborough) a.k.a “Big
X,” is the man in charge of planning the operation. Flight lieutenant Robert
Hendley (James Garner) is the “Scrounger,” who can get his hands on anything
inside the prison. Australian flight officer Louis Segwick (James Coburn) is
the “Manufacturer,” in charge of making the tools needed for digging. Lieutenant
Colin Blythe (Donald Pleasence) is the “Forger,” who makes fake documents for
the men once they get to the border. To dig the tunnels you have lieutenants
Danny Velinsky (Charles Bronson) and William Dickes (John Leyton), known as the
“Tunnel Kings.” Then of course you have Steve McQueen as captain Virgil Hilts,
whose main skill seems to be annoying the guards and being thrown into solitary
confinement, earning him the nickname the “Cooler King.” Appropriate, since in
his day McQueen was known as the “King of Cool.”
He was so cool
that it was his idea to have a sequence in which Hilts tries to escape the Nazi
troops by speeding away on a motorcycle, and of course he did most of the stunt
riding. Again, historically inaccurate, but it looks cool as can be and you
really root for Hilts to escape. That seems to be the key to this movie: you
meet these characters who face incredible odds, you get to like them, and then
no matter how unbelievable the story gets you are cheering them on. The true
story is somewhere in the history books, but if what you are looking for is a
fun dramatization of WWII events, then you will find it in The Great Escape.
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