• Genre definitions are always difficult but whether you consider John Sturges’ The Great Escape an action film, a war film, a prison film, or all of the above- it is a fabulous example of big budget Hollywood genre filmmaking.
  • It is impossible to talk about The Great Escape (1963) without talking about The Magnificent Seven (1960) as a companion piece. This is the stronger film, slightly, but both films have an ensemble cast headlined by Steve McQueen (they both also include Charles Bronson, James Coburn) and feature unforgettable scores by Elmer Bernstein. They both also have the big, bold red titles to open the film.

  • Though based on composites of a true story- the formula is very much like Seven Samurai where it is an all-star team coming together- each with their special abilities like Charles Bronson digging tunnels or the handsome James Garner in a turtleneck as the scrounger

With his leather bomber jacket and baseball glove- you can’t take your eyes off Steve McQueen when he’s on screen. He disappears from the film for long stretches while he’s in the cooler (bouncing the baseball off the wall) and it is to Sturges’ and the rest of the cast’s credit it doesn’t suffer too much. McQueen just has that inexpressible star quality about him like so many before him like Gabin, Cagney or Bogart. He has a swagger- walks taller than characters and actors around him.

  • Sturges deserves credit for the editing balancing act. From Grand Hotel to The Rules of the Game to Nashville and Magnolia– each story line is touched on an appropriate amount of time- it is a difficult task.
  • The story is in the title—the details involved in their escape- how wide should the lapels be on the costumes they are designing to escape, what color is the shade of the dirt in the camp vs. in the tunnel. I always shake my head at the accommodations in this prisoner of war camp with the bookshelves in the background loaded with books as the men discuss their strategy.
  • The 4th of July potato/alcohol scene is just a great little vignette.
  • I could do without Bronson’s character (the tunnel expert) also being claustrophobic—too much.
  • The last hour (the film runs at 172 minutes—hard to find an easier 172 minute watch in cinema history) is the actual escape. The location shooting (shot in Germany) may not matter all that much for the two hours at the POW camp—but in the escape with the Alps and landscapes it certainly does.
  • McQueen, famously, rode his own motorcycle of course- he was an avid rider and sportsman. You can see him plainly wheeling around without a helmet. But the big jump was performed by Bud Ekins.
  • It is no pure escapist Hollywood ending. There is a lot of randomness, life and death portrayed rather frankly (though it doesn’t touch what Melville does in Army of Shadows here in terms of futility, war games and espionage). The very end is McQueen with the baseball again and that catch, very whistle-able Bernstein tune.
  • Highly Recommend- top 10 of the year quality film