The Great Escape (1963)

Allied POWs plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.

Director:

John Sturges

Writers:

Paul Brickhill (book), James Clavell (screenplay),

Stars:

Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough

Top 250 #113 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve McQueen	...	Hilts 'The Cooler King'
James Garner	...	Hendley 'The Scrounger'
Richard Attenborough	...	Bartlett 'Big X'
James Donald	...	Ramsey 'The SBO'
Charles Bronson	...	Danny 'Tunnel King'
Donald Pleasence	...	Blythe 'The Forger'
James Coburn	...	Sedgwick 'The Manufacturer'
Hannes Messemer	...	Von Luger 'The Kommandant'
David McCallum	...	Ashley-Pitt 'Dispersal'
Gordon Jackson	...	MacDonald 'Intelligence'
John Leyton	...	Willie 'Tunnel King'
Angus Lennie	...	Ives 'The Mole'
Nigel Stock	...	Cavendish 'The Surveyor'
Robert Graf	...	Werner 'The Ferret'
Jud Taylor	...	Goff

Storyline

Based on a true story, a group of allied escape artist type prisoners of war are all put in an 'escape proof' camp. Their leader decides to try to take out several hundred all at once. The first half of the film is played for comedy as the prisoners mostly outwit their jailers to dig the escape tunnel. The second half is high adventure as they use boats and trains and planes to get out of occupied Europe.

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Plot Keywords:

Escape | Escape Attempt | Plan | Prisoner | Tunnel | 

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Taglines:

the great adventure! the great entertainment!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | History | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German French Russian

Release Date:

4 July 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

El gran escape

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

172 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The motorcycle that Hilts (Steve McQueen) rides is a cosmetically modified Triumph TR6 Trophy. Bud Ekins who actually performs the famous barbed wire leap stunt, was a Triumph dealer. Triumph was McQueen's favorite motorcycle marque. The motorcycle sidecar combination that crashes into a ditch is revealed to be a Triumph motorcycle, too. As is well known, these British motorcycle models were not in existence during the Second World War and their appearance is somewhat incongruous.

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Goofs

On the left side of the screen in the closing scene, as Hilts walks to the cooler, the camera track is visible between the fence and the warning wire.

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Quotes

Bartlett: Gentlemen, no doubt you've heard the immortal words of our new commandant: devote your energies to things other than escape, and sit out the war as comfortably as possible.
Sedgwick: [derisively] Ha!
Bartlett: Well, that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to devote our energies to sports and gardening, all the cultural pursuits as far as they're concerned. In fact, we're going to put the goons to sleep. Meanwhile, we dig. Now, even a superficial look at the compound shows us that Huts 104 and 5 are ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Three Hats for Lisa (1966)
Seen on marquee outside theatre

User Reviews

The greatest of escapes.

The Great Escape is THE prison escape movie. The film is rich with characters and the direction by John Sturges is great. Steve McQueen is the man and the rest of the cast are terrific. This movie is heroic and shows the bravery of men in the second world war. I escape into this movie whenever I feel really down, it's a great spirit lifter and one of the greatest films of all time.