MMG - Rate this movie... The Great Escape

[Scott Rose]

Today's movie is The Great Escape. Please vote in the poll and reply to this threads with your thoughts about the movie. What you loved... or hated about it. Thanks.

[Dave Lindauer]

Awesome movie. In my opinion, this is as about as good as they get.

For POW movies I'd give The Great Escape a slight nod over Stalag 17 (although I'd rate that a 5 also), and probably consider it a tie with the stunning Bridge on the River Kwai.

[Kyleb]

Excellent movie. The only thing I could do without was Steve McQueen's character, which was fabricated to keep him happy (He was a big star and they needed his marquee value).

The book was even better than the movie.

[Pathfinder]

The McQueen character was based on Maj. Jerry Sage OSS.

[Mike Halbrook]

We recently had a talk here at the Warhawk Air Museum by Tom Young, a B-17 pilot that did time at Stalag Luft III. He showed up after the "Great Escape". He indicated that conditions there were pretty good (for a POW camp). Issues being it was cold, there wasn't quite enough to eat, and they were incarcerated.

[Kyleb]

The McQueen character was based on Maj. Jerry Sage OSS.

I'm not an expert, but I think Sage had been transferred from Luft Stalag III prior to the Great Escape.

McQueen's character was an amalgam of a few prisoner's exploits (including at least one of Sage's), plus a very liberal amount of screenwriting fiction - the motorcycle scenes, intentionally getting recaptured following an escape, etc.

Last edited by Kyleb on Sat Dec 03, 2011 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Pathfinder]

That's right about Sage....but he was very much involved in the digging of the three primary tunnels.

[Pathfinder]

This is a very insightful bit of research on the amalgamation of characters from history into the film.

As an aside, Davey Jones, of Doolittle fame, was with Sage in Luft III and also moved just prior to the great escape. Both had significant roles with the creation of the three famous tunnels in the months prior to the event.

http://www.elsham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ ... movie.html

[John Dupre]

One of things I never understood from the film was how crucial Americans were in building the tunnels. It was only in reading articles and then books about story that I learned that. I don't fault the movie too much since it was trying to tell the story as economically as it could and in the end it was largely British servicemen who had the opportunity to escape.

[Buzzie]

I gave this one five stars--One of the great war films that is in my library.

[maxum96]

I know I'm a little bit late to the party on this review. Here's a little tidbit for you. McQueen actually played some of the German soldiers on motorcycles chasing his Hiltz character. You can't tell it's McQueen (as the Germans) because he's wearing a helmet and goggles. He did a lot of the riding as Hiltz. But he did not do the big jump. I'm sure he wanted to, but the insurance company was not about to let him. Bud Ekins (long time friend of McQueen and a stuntman) did the jump. Ekins also did most of the stunt driving of the Mustang in McQueen's film Bullitt.

[Snake45]

I'm late to the party, too.

Five stars. Awesome movie--I hope no genius in Hollywood ever gets the idea that it needs to be remade and "improved." Couldn't be done. The soundtrack/score is particularly good--right up there with The Magnificent Seven.

Some of the characters in the movie are real, others (like James Garner's scrounger) seem to be composites of two or more real people. As I understand it, the McQueen character was entirely fictional, added by the producers only because they thought the film wouldn't do well in America without a big Amerian star in it. I don't care. I love that character, and McQueen's portrayal of it ("Why, I wouldn't do that for my own mother!"). In fact, I once went to a Halloween party as "Virgil Hilts," going so far as to cut a GI stencil and paint HILTS on the back of an old flight jacket. Only about two people "got it," sadly.