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The Great Escape
on DVD (1963)
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| Starring: |
Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Coburn, Donald Pleasence, James Donald, John Leyton, Nigel Stock, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, Angus Lennie, Jud Taylor |
| Director: |
John Sturges |
| Studio: |
MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time: |
172 mins |
| Certificate: |
 |
| Collections: |
100 must-see movies, 100 Top Thrillers |
| User collections: |
This means War!, The best true stories, Sweet and Sour, Films you HAVE to see, Unmissably great..., Yet another top 10, Ultimate films for the action fan, films to love!, Stef's Top 100 - A Miscellany, Best of British |
| Genres: |
Action/Adventure, Drama |
| Languages: |
English |
| Hearing-impaired: |
English |
| Subtitles: |
Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish |
| Released: |
20/05/2002
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Brief synopsis of The Great Escape
Arguably the best World War II adventure film ever made, John Sturges's dramatisation of the true story of a group of British, American, and Canadian POWs who executed a massive escape from Stalag Luft III in Upper Silesia in March 1944, stars Steve McQueen as the rebellious Virgil Hilts. The German high command has filtered out all the most talented escape artists of the Allies' and placed them in a POW camp specifically designed to foil any unwanted departures. Of course, as soon as they arrive, the prisoners begin work on a series of tunnels under the direction of Roger "Big X" Bartlett (Richard Attenborough). He assigns the POWs to jobs according to their specialties: Bob "Scrounger" Hendley (James Garner) steals necessary items, Eric "Dispersal" Ashley-Pitt (David McCallum) hides the soil being dug from the tunnels, and Danny "the Tunnel King" Willinski (Charles Bronson) and Colin "the Forger" Blythe (Donald Pleasence) have self-explanatory handles. For more than a year, 600 prisoners, most of whom won't be leaving, work toward an escape that will temporarily disrupt the operations of the German army. The host of big-name stars meshes beautifully in this meticulous re-creation of the legendary escape. Although this is a film about courage, Sturges wisely takes a low-key approach, leavened with humour, rather than allowing the cast to indulge in macho antics. However, McQueen's memorable motorcycle stunts could be said to fit in that category. THE GREAT ESCAPE, based on the book by Paul Brickhill, is quite simply one of the grandest war films ever made, featuring many key scenes (McQueen's motorcycle chase, McQueen tossing the baseball against the cell wall, Bronson sliding on his chest in the tunnel) that are unforgettable.
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All DVDs in this series
The Great Escape
Arguably the best World War II adventure film ever made, John Sturges's dramatisation of the true story of a g...
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Great Escape, The - Bonus Features
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Related
Critics Reviews
Radio Times
Neither the passing of time nor the familiarity of its content have diminished the excitement of director John Sturges's terrific war film, an epic on the scale of his Magnificent Seven, which was shot on authentic European locations. The climactic scenes are now rightly regarded as classic, and the characters have passed into folklore. Three of the “Magnificent Seven” are reunited (Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn) in a brilliant Anglo-American cast that couldn't be bettered. Elmer Bernstein's deceptively simple march theme has passed into movie legend.
Total Film
"...THE GREAT ESCAPE is the finest, all-out entertaining movie from that pot of World War Two, multi-star films..." -- 4 out of 5 stars
Halliwell's Film Guide
Pretty good but overlong POW adventure with a tragic ending that gave Steve McQueen his defining role.
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