The Germans, "with madness in their method" have taken every captured flier who has made repeated attempts to escape and put them in a POW camp which they have devised to be inescapable. Under the supervision of Richard Attenborough, they immediately begin to dig tunnels to break out 250 men.

There are anhistorical elements here. There were four tunnels dug, not the three in the movie; the date of the escape was changed; most notably, several American flyers took part in the breakout. While Americans did take part in the planning and construction, they had been moved to a different camp by the time of the event. This was an American film, and director John Sturges had been trying to get this project off the ground for the better part of a decade before he and the Mirisches got United Artists to foot the bill, so James Garner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson (as a Pole) got major roles. UA also wanted a shorter running time, and some women, which Sturges was able to resist.

It's a great, gripping blend of suspense and thrills, with some pawky humor thrown in, and a canny shift in camerawork. The first two-thirds, with its closed-in spaces sustains an element of oppression, culminating with the breakout, at night in the confined space of the tunnel. This is followed by brightly lit and open vistas as the escapees make their ways towards freedom. Because Sturges had directed THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, the remake of Kurosawa's THE SEVEN SAMURAI, I thought for many years this dichotomy was taken from Kurosawa's HIGH AND LOW. However, the latter picture was released four months after Sturges'.

170 minutes is a very long time for a feature film, and this was undoubtedly released in a road show version with an intermission. The natural place for a break would be right after the Germans discover the primary tunnel. Nowadays, when I watch this, I can take a break whenever I like. Even knowing how it comes out, it's a struggle to stop the movie at any point.

"Wait a minute, you aren't seriously suggesting that if I get thru the wire and case everything out there, and don't get picked up, to turn myself in and get thrown in the cooler for a couple of months so you can get the information you need"

Smart, witty and directed with adroit hands by John Sturges, The Great Escape is standing the test of time as a joyous multi cast family favourite. Based on the real accounts of allied soldiers escaping en mass from a German POW camp back in 1942, the film is involving from start to finish, due in the main to the wonderful array of characters on show. We follow them from the moment they arrive at the camp right through to the stunning climax, and it is with great joy I say that none of the cast lets the side down, they all do great work for the astute and undervalued Sturges. A number of great set pieces align with Elmer Bernstein's fabulous score to never let the blood settle, and in among the cheeky slices of humour is palpable tension to make this simply one of the best films of its type, in fact one of the best films ever.

Sturges and his writers, James Clavell & W.R. Burnett, adapt from the book written by Paul Brickhill, someone who speaks from experience having been one of the prisoners of super POW camp Stalag Luft III, which of course is what The Great Escape is born from. Sturges was fascinated by the story and after trying without fail for over a decade to get it onto the screen, he finally succeeded. The success three years earlier of his star ensemble Western, The Magnificent Seven, enabled Sturges to realise his vision, the result of which is still enthralling new generations with each passing year.

The cast is made up of notable thespians and iconic heroes. Steve McQueen (enticing the American audience in one feels), Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, James Donald, Donald Pleasance, James Coburn, James Garner, David McCallum, John Leyton and Gordon Jackson. Which of course is a pretty tidy roll call, but the input and impact of Hannes Messemer as the Camp Commandant, Colonel Von Luger should not be understated. His scenes have a real humanistic quality that shows a softer side of Germany to the one ruled by a certain despot (the finale here offering up the counter opposite of the war), the writers smartly, and rightly, not tarring a nation with the same old brush.

A wonderful involving movie that puts characteristic heart in bed with the action and suspense laden plot. 10/10

The Great Escape tells the amazing story of a whole bunch of allied prisoners who accomplish a mass breakout during World War II, some of whom actually did make it to freedom and the allied armed forces once again. The film is so good that you do not mind the fact that some American players were tossed into the story as the real story was one accomplished by the British.

To insure that the American movie public would be buying tickets, several American players got into The Great Escape. Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and a pair of American TV cowboys just breaking into big screen star status, James Garner and Steve McQueen were put in the film. Director John Sturges had worked with McQueen, Coburn, and Bronson in his last film The Magnificent Seven. Sturges does a grand job in never letting his audiences attention flag for one minute in this almost three hour length film.

What the Nazis have done in this film is to build a brand new prison camp and have put all the perennial escape artists in this one. Of course by doing so a whole lot of talented escape artists in one place.

And the organized effort is led by Richard Attenborough. Without going overboard into a whole lot of flag waving, Sturges and Attenborough give us the portrayal of a deeply patriotic man who if he can't back into the fight himself, is going to do what he can from a POW camp to bedevil the people making war on his country. He leads the mass escape attempt with an almost corporate efficiency.

The opposite of course is Steve McQueen. I've always thought of Captain Virgil Hills as the ultimate Steve McQueen role of individualism. He and flight officer Angus Lennie are going to get out, no matter what, on their own or with the group. Angus Lennie is the former jockey now RAF flight officer and his death amidst a Fourth of July party that McQueen, Garner, and Jud Taylor have is one of the most moving scenes ever put on film. McQueen decides to play for the team after that.

The Great Escape allowed McQueen to indulge in one of his hobbies of motorcycling. His race through the German country side on a stolen Nazi uniform and motorcycle is a spectacular one, aided and abetted by Elmer Bernstein's magnificent film score.

James Garner bonds with Donald Pleasance in the film. Garner is an American in the RAF Eagle Squadron, Americans who couldn't wait for their own country to get into the war who enlisted in the RAF. A lot of Garner's TV character of Bret Maverick is in his role as Hendley the scrounger/con artist.

Pleasance is his room mate, the shy bird watcher who does the work of forging documents for the escaping prisoners. He's going blind as it turns out, my guess would be from untreated glaucoma. It's nice to see Donald Pleasance for once as a nice guy on the screen. His death due in part to his incipient blindness is also a moving one.

Charles Bronson is also another foreign volunteer for the RAF, from Poland as befitting Bronson who is of Polish origin. He's the tunnel digger who suffers from claustrophobia and his scenes are primarily with British teen idol John Leyton. This was another of a long series of great character roles for Bronson on his way to stardom.

James Coburn shows that like Robert Mitchum, he too had a good ear for accents. His Aussie speech pattern is as good as Mitchum's was in The Sundowners.

The Germans here are also portrayed three dimensionally. Robert Graf is the not too bright corporal who isn't exactly happy to be at war, but is grateful he ain't serving in Russia. He gets unmercifully conned by Garner. Hannes Messemer is the commandant of the POW camp, an officer in the Luftwaffe. The prisoners are nearly all RAF officers and enlisted men and the Luftwaffe is in charge of the camp. Messemer is as fearful of the S.S. and the Gestapo as his prisoners are. He's also as very conscious of the atrocities those worthy organizations are capable of and my favorite scene in the film is him having to tell of one to the Senior British officer in the camp, James Donald. Messemer is conscious also of his failure to watch the basket of rotten eggs put in his charge very closely.

The Great Escape does the one essential thing for a movie to do, it moves. Even in just the scenes of planning and preparation you are aware of movement. I mentioned Elmer Bernstein's film score. It's one of Bernstein's best, maybe one of the best known of any film in cinema history.

The Great Escape is one of those films you can watch dozens of times and never tire of. It's a wonderful film, a real tribute to the best in mankind under some of the worst circumstances.