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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | In 1943, the Germans opened Stalag Luft North, a maximum-security prisoner-of-war camp, designed tohold even the craftiest escape artists. In doing so, however, the Nazis unwittingly assembled the finest escape team in military historybrilliantly portrayed here by Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson and James Coburnwho worked on what became the largest prison breakout ever attempted. One of the most ingenious and suspenseful adventure films of all time, The Great Escape is a masterful collaboration between director John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven), screenwriters James Clavell (Shogun) and W.R. Burnett (Little Caesar), and composer Elmer Bernstein. Based on a true story, The Great Escape is epic entertainment that "entertains,captivates, thrills and stirs" (Variety). | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Actors: | Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence | | Director: | John Sturges | | Format: | Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language: | English, French | | Subtitle: | English, Spanish, French | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Studio: | MGM (Video & DVD) | | Run Time: | 172 minutes | | DVD Release Date: | March 31, 1998 | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 246 reviews |
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 The Great Escape is Great Mar 20, 2010
I can't imagine anyone has not seen this great film. I saw it as a kid in 1963 and have loved it ever since. It is director John Sturges' triumph, coming three years after his other legendary film "The Magnificent 7." The plot in quite simple. The Germans stupidly put hundreds of allied prisoners with histories of escaping from other camps in one "escape-proof" prison camp. It isn't. This is based on a true story. However the original escape was by basically all British prisoners. In order to heighten box-office, a few American prisoners were added to the film, namely Steve McQueen and James Garner.
When one thinks of "The Great Escape," one thinks Of McQueen on his motorcycle being chased by dozens of German soldiers. (No, despite what a lot of people think, McQueen did not do the motorcycle jump over the high German barbed-wire fence near the end. That was done by a buddy of his, professional motorcycle racer and stuntman Bud Elkins.) McQueen was a star before this film, he was a superstar afterward. Yet as we learn on one of the retrospectives included in this set, McQueen was unhappy with his role, thinking it did not give him enough to do. His co-stars, James Garner and James Coburn, had to go meet with him personally at his hotel to convince him to return to the film and stop creating so many problems during the filming. Despite what McQueen thought, his role as Hilts, the "cooler-king" is the star role in the film. Garner is as good as Hendley, the "scrounger," the type of good-natured con-man that Garner played in "Maverick" and turned into an art-form 11 years later with "The Rockford Files." Richard Attenborough also stars as "Big X," the British prisoner in charge of the operation of constructing three tunnels to get 250 prisoners out of the camp (75 did get out.) Charles Bronson is terrific as Willy, the Polish prisoner in charge of digging the tunnels and James Coburn as the Austrailian who invents many of the gadgets needed for the escape. (This film reunited McQueen, Bronson, Coburn and director Sturges after their previous triumph "The Magnificent 7.". Before "Magnificent 7," McQueen was terrific in a supporting role in another Sturges' WW II film: "Never So Few." McQueen co-starred with Frank Sinatra in this exciting film.) Donald Pleasence brought a sense of reality as the British prisoner in charge of forging documents since Pleasence was a real German P.O.W. in WW II. Finally there was a little known British actor named David McCallum in a nice role as "Ashley-Pitt," the British Lieutenant who figures out a way of dispersing the soil dug up in the digging of the tunnel. The next year, McCallum would become "Illya Kuryakin" on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and the rest is history. He is currently "Ducky" on "NCIS."
This film is nearly 3 hours long. I have watched it many, many times and I never tire of it (except for one scene which still makes me cringe. I won't say what that is.) The great music is by Elmer Bernstein, who also scored "The Magnificent 7" with its classic theme. The theme music from this film makes one forget the "Colonel Bogey March," from the great P.O.W. film before this one: "The Bridge on the River Kwai." (I have always preferred this film.)
There are several retrospectives included on the escape itself and the making of this legendary film.
As stated at the beginning, if you love war films, P.O.W. films or great classic films in general, I can't imagine you have not seen this one. However, if you have not, you should grab this DVD right away. You will love it. (Like so many other great films, I look forward to its arrival on blu-ray.)
Very impressive 2-disc edition, however.... Mar 03, 2010
OK, first, "The Great Escape" did not inspire the lame 60's TV show Hogan's Heroes - The Complete First Season. That was inspired far more by Stalag 17 and George Segal's King character from King Rat.
And while I'm usually very critical of films that overplay the US contribution in WWII(like the execreble U-571 (Collector's Edition)) or the overrated The Longest Day (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)(before you bitch about my dissing The Longest Day, I saw it the weekend it came out, and at 12 years old thought it fakey). However, in the case of The Great Escape, I'll give Hollywood a pass, since if not for Hollywood, this story probably would not have made it to the silver screen. English cinema at the time was gearing up for Swinging 60's films like Alfie, A Hard Day's Night, and Billy Liar - Criterion Collection. There were so many great war films out of the UK in the late 40's to mid 50's, it was as if Ealing and Pinewood and the rest just wanted to forget WWII and get on with it! One thing that I've really come to treasure about The Great Escape is that the screenplay was written by James Clavell, ex-RAF pilot & POW at Singapore's notorious Changi POW camp and the author of the semi-autobiographical King Rat.
While there were POWs from the US in Stalag Luft III, they didn't play large roles as James Garner's "Canadian" scrounger, or Steve McQueen's Hilts "The Cooler King", although for an interesting insight into a Hilts-like character, read Sage by Jerry Sage.
Yes, Steve McQueen's bike scenes were contrived, and he was riding a Triumph, and that lame bF-108 from The Longest Day reappeared here & US AT-6/Texan/Harvard trainers with German markings were used, but The Great Escape is still a thrilling movie, and I'd never known that Donald Pleasance("The Forger") was an ex-RAF Lancaster crewman who was a former POW in Germany.
The one problem I really had with the set was in the Extras: an English-made look at the real Great Escape showed "German" guards wearing RAF uniforms, and carrying British Mk III Enfield rifles and Sten guns. It's not like there aren't plenty of Mausers and Schmeissers out there that they could have used. Still, the looks at the memorial to the 50 were touching.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
"Cooler . . . Twenty Days." Jan 31, 2010
An ensemble cast highlighted by Richard Attenborough, Steve McQueen, James Garner, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn and Charles Bronson brilliantly reenacts the legendary Great Escape of World War Two, wherein sixty men managed to go through the wire at the high security POW camp Stalag Luft III.
All things considered, this is an honest and scrupulously accurate cinema portrayal. The producers spared no expense in recreating the camp and recreating the complex scheme which sprang the men. There is a little Hollywoodization in the portrayal of the men as a group of unfailingly cool, cocky, fearless POWs, and McQueen's daring attempt to jump a motorcycle across the Swiss-German border, but all in all, Director John Sturges and his cast (largely reconstituted from The Magnificent Seven) are convincingly real. There's no glory in the end, just an indomitable spirit.
One of the great war movies of all time, THE GREAT ESCAPE remains ageless.
Exceptionally Happy Jan 27, 2010
I found this 2 DVD set very entertaining as well as informative. The extra features on the second disc provide an excellent capping to the story.
One of the best... Jan 24, 2010
This is, without a doubt, one of the best war films ever made. The musical score is just icing on the cake. Steve McQueen is the original super cool actor. Maybe the only one. I can't imagine a negative review on this movie. Maybe they just didn't understand it. Read the book after you see the movie. It's a wonderful tale.
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