THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Action / Adventure / War

Director: John Sturges

Cast: Steve McQueen / James Garner / Richard Attenborough

Plot
British and American prisoners plot an escape from a Nazi camp during World War II.


What I Liked

*spoiler alert*

With big names filling the screen in every scene, “The Great Escape” is part of a series of excellent Hollywood action and war pictures made during this period to feature a star-studded male ensemble (“The Longest Day,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Dirty Dozen,” “Kelly’s Heroes”).  Like those others, it is a rousing adventure with likeable heroes, a few-against-many conflict, a memorable score, and exciting action sequences.  Also like those some of those others it was written, produced, and advertised as simple escapist fun.  In many scenes it succeeds at this goal better than its peers.  Yet, as the plot draws toward its conclusion, one realizes that “The Great Escape” also carries a certain realist weight, thanks to a script that breaks out of the mold of simple, unquestioning idealism common to most of the American war films that preceded it.

A year previous, another World War II film based loosely on fact was released called “The Longest Day.”  A classic in its own right, this movie featured some of the biggest names in the business, but these were the living legends of the old guard in Hollywood: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton, Peter Lawford.  By comparison, “The Great Escape” featured a cast of relative upstarts who, instead of representing the past, would dominate the action films to come in the future: Steve McQueen (in his breakout performance), James Garner, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn.  Young and hungry, these actors bring a youthful enthusiasm and rebelliousness to their characters.  It is precisely this pugnacity which defines the movie’s overall appeal.

Though its basis on the facts concerning the escape from the German prison camp Stalag Luft III is decidedly loose, the filmmakers make an interesting choice in not altering the most tragic facts of the event, namely the capture of almost all of the escapees and the execution of fifty.  It is a disturbingly dark closing to a movie that until this point had been mostly upbeat and optimistic.  I suppose the facts are the facts, but the filmmakers did a good job in not sugar coating the less idealistic truths and yet still never letting go of the stick-it-to-‘em spirit of the film as a whole.

What I Didn’t Like

At just under three hours long, “The Great Escape” is a bit overlong for a straight-forward action flick for my taste.  Others may disagree and it is to the film’s credit that I still enjoyed most of the movie despite the length, largely due to the sense of adventure generated by the production and acting.  It just would have been that much better had some of the fat been shaved off.

The length would have been more bearable had the characters been more realistic and relateable.  The script for this film was written in part by a novelist whose work I have enjoyed, James Clavell (who was himself a POW in the Second World War).  It is therefore disappointing that Clavell and his co-writers chose to write such poorly developed characters.  You’ve got the rebellious one, the brainy one, the gregarious one, and so on.  As they are written, the characters never develop much further than these simple descriptions. Thankfully, they are portrayed by capable actors who, as I mentioned before, are able to dig up some soulfulness out of nothing.

And what is it with movies made prior to the 1970s that have characters in desperate, physically trying situations and yet there’s rarely a hair out of place on the star’s head or a stain on their perfectly pressed suits and uniforms?

Most Memorable Scene

If one had to crown an actor as king of the chase scenes, I can’t imagine any other candidate but Steve McQueen.  “Bullitt,” also starring McQueen, may feature the most influential car chase scene in history, but as motorcycle chases go, few are as iconic as his rip roaring tear through the European countryside in “The Great Escape.”  It’s the most exciting and eye-catching scene of a film full of intense moments.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5