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The Great Escape
original movie poster by Frank McCarthy
Directed by	John Sturges
Written by	Novel: Paul Brickhill Screenplay: James Clavell W.R. Burnett Walter Newman (uncredited)
Screenplay by	James Clavell
Produced by	John Sturges
Starring	Steve McQueen James Garner Richard Attenborough
Cinematography	Daniel L. Fapp
Edited by	Ferris Webster
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	4 July Template:Fy
Running time	172 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language	Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{langx|en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead.
Budget	$4,000,000
Box office	$5,500,000 (US)

The Great Escape is a Template:Fy film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II. It is based on the book The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill, which is a novelization of the true story of a mass escape from Stalag Luft III. The film was made by the Mirisch Corporation, released by United Artists, produced and directed by John Sturges, and stars Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough.

Plot

Having been forced to waste an enormous amount of resources on recapturing escaped Allied prisoners of war (POWs), German forces move the most determined and capable escapees to a new, high-security prisoner of war camp. The commandant, Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger, states: "There will be no escapes from this camp."

On arrival, some prisoners make spur-of-the-moment escape attempts which are foiled by the German guards. As the POWs settle into their camp, the Gestapo and the SS deliver the man they consider most dangerous of all, "Big X", Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett, who is the prime organizer of most escape attempts by Allied prisoners in Germany. Gestapo agents Kuhn and Preissen warn the Englishman he will be shot should he attempt escape again. Locked up with "every escape artist in Germany", Bartlett immediately plans the greatest escape attempted—a tunnel system for exfiltrating 250 prisoners, the intent being to "confuse and harass the enemy" to the point that as many troops and resources as possible will be wasted on finding and detaining POWs instead of being used on the front line.

Teams are organized to tunnel, make civilian clothing, forge documents, procure contraband materials, and prevent the guards from discovering their work. Flight Lieutenant Hendley, an American in the RAF, is "the scrounger" who finds ingenious ways to get what the others need, from a camera to identity cards. Australian Flying Officer Louis Sedgwick, "the manufacturer", makes many of the tools, such as picks for digging and bellows for pumping air into the tunnels. Flight Lieutenant Danny Willinski, a former Polish Air Force officer who fled to the RAF, is "the tunnel king" in charge of digging, along with William "Willie" Dickes. Forgery is handled by Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe, who becomes nearly blind from intricate work by candlelight (progressive myopia); Hendley takes it upon himself to be Blythe's guide in the escape.

The prisoners work on three tunnels simultaneously, codenamed "Tom", "Dick", and "Harry". Work on Harry and Dick is stopped so that more work can be performed on Tom. The worst of the work noise is covered by the prisoner choir, while dirt from the tunnels is concealed by POWs who carry excavated soil in their pants to the camp's gardens.

Meanwhile, USAAF Captain Virgil Hilts, "The Cooler King", irritates the guards with frequent escape attempts and irreverent behavior. His first attempt, conceived while in the cooler, is a short tunnel with RAF Flying Officer Archibald Ives; they are caught and returned to the cooler.

While the three Americans in camp (Hendley, Hilts, and Goff) are celebrating The 4th of July with the other (mainly British) POWs, the guards discover tunnel Tom. The depressed Ives snaps and climbs the barbed wire fence in full view of the tower guards. Hilts runs to stop him but is too late and Ives is machine-gunned dead on the wire. With Tom discovered, the prisoners switch their efforts to Harry.

After the death of Ives, Hilts' escape partner, Hilts agrees to a previous request made by Bartlett to fake an escape and reconnoiter the vicinity of the POW camp, then allowing himself to be recaptured. The information he brings back is used by POW cartographers to create maps of the area, including the nearest town and railway station. Meanwhile Danny reveals to Willie that he is claustrophobic and afraid of panicking in the tunnel.

The last part of the tunnel is completed on the night of the escape, but is 20 feet short of woods that are to provide cover. Danny nearly snaps in the tunnel, but is helped by Willie. Nevertheless, 76 escape before the guards discover the escaping prisoners.

After attempts to reach neutral Switzerland, Sweden, and Spain, almost all the POWs are recaptured or killed. Hendley and Blythe steal a Luftwaffe trainer airplane, intending to fly over the Swiss border, but the engine fails and they crash-land. Soldiers arrive at the crash, shooting Blythe dead before Hendley surrenders. Flt. Lt. Cavendish, having hitched a ride in a truck, is captured at a checkpoint, discovering another POW, Haynes, captured in his German soldier disguise.

Bartlett and MacDonald, are recognized at a railroad station by Gestapo agent Kuhn, but slip away after fellow POW, Fleet Air Arm Lieutenant Commander Eric Ashley-Pitt, sacrifices himself by killing Kuhn and is, in turn, killed by soldiers, while running away from Bartlett and MacDonald. Bartlett and MacDonald attempt to board a bus in the town, but MacDonald is tricked into revealing his nationality. They flee but MacDonald is caught shortly afterward, and Bartlett escapes over rooftops. However, after Bartlett fools some pursuing Gestapo, he is recognized by his previous captors. Lastly, Hilts attempts to jump the barbed wire Swiss-German border fence with a stolen Wehrmacht motorcycle, but he becomes entangled in the wire.

Some of the other POWs, including Bartlett, MacDonald, Cavendish, and Haynes, are executed by the Gestapo and SS after they are told to get out of the truck transporting them and "stretch their legs" in a field. In total, 50 escapees are killed. Meanwhile, Hendley, Sorren, and a small group of others are returned to the oflag. The senior British officer in Stalag Luft III, Group Captain Ramsey, hears of the massacre of the 50 from von Luger, who is subsequently relieved of command and driven away by the SS to face the consequences of failing to prevent the breakout.

Only three POWs evade capture and make it to safety. Danny and Willie (the tunnel kings) steal a rowboat and proceed downriver to the Baltic coast, where they board a Swedish merchant ship. Sedgewick steals a bicycle and hides in a boxcar and makes it to France. While he is resting in a café the local Resistance stages a drive-by shooting of German officers. Realizing he is an Allied POW, the Resistance guide Sedgewick into Spain.

Hilts is brought back alone to the camp, and subsequently to the cooler. His fellow American, USAAF 1st Lt. Goff, throws him his baseball and glove as he walks into solitary confinement. As the Luftwaffe guard locks him in his cell and walks away, he hears the familiar sound of Hilts bouncing his baseball against a cell wall. The film ends with this scene, under the caption, "This picture is dedicated to the 50."

Cast

Production

Adaptation

The story was adapted for the screen by James Clavell, W.R. Burnett, and Walter Newman from Paul Brickhill's book The Great Escape. Brickhill had been a prisoner at Stalag Luft III during World War II and novelized the experience.

The screenwriters increased the importance of the roles of American POWs relative to the reality of the actual escape, as their role was minor and it was a largely British affair. Fictional, dramatic elements were added, such as Hilts's dash for the border by motorcycle. The scene was added at the insistence of McQueen, a keen motorcyclist, and has become one of the most famous action scenes of 1960s cinema.

Ex-POWs asked the filmmakers to exclude details about the help that the POWs received from their home countries, such as maps, papers and tools hidden in gift packages, lest it jeopardize future POW escapes. The filmmakers complied.

Casting

Steve McQueen's Virgil Hilts, "remains one of the film's most enduring characters, his cooler king having become an icon of cool who continues to inform popular culture." McQueen agreed to join the cast if a motorbike sequence was added to the film so he could show off his riding skills (there was no such occurrence during the actual escape).

Richard Attenborough was cast as Sqn. Ldr. Roger Bartlett RAF ("Big X"), a character based on Roger Bushell, a South African POW at Stalag Luft III. Similarly, the character of Flt. Lt. Colin Blythe RAF ("The Forger") was created, based on Tim Walenn, and played by Donald Pleasence.

Donald Pleasence had served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He was shot down and spent a year in a German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft 1. James Garner was a soldier and wounded twice during the Korean War and was a scrounger during that time.

Hannes Messemer was cast as the Kommandant of Stalag Luft III, "Colonel von Luger," a character based on Oberst Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau.

Angus Lennie's Flying Officer Archibald Ives RAF "The Mole" was based on Jimmy Kiddel who was shot dead while trying to scale the perimeter fence.

Location and set design

As noted by David McCallum in the DVD extra, the "barbed wire" that Hilts (Steve McQueen) crashed into in the scene above was actually made of little strips of rubber tied around normal wire, and was made by the cast and crew during their free time. The film depicts Tom's entrance as being under a stove and Harry's as in a drain sump in a washroom. In reality, Dick's entrance was the drain sump, Harry's was under the stove, and Tom's was in a darkened corner next to a stove chimney.

Fact and Fiction

This section may contain minor, trivial or unrelated fictional references. Trivia or references unimportant to the overall plot of a work of fiction should be edited to explain their importance or deleted. (August 2009)

POWs who came up with plans to escape, needed permission to proceed from the Escape Committee. This was in order to avoid conflicting escapes from canceling each other out: an escaping prisoner being caught by the guards could cause the alarm to be raised and ruin a separate escape attempt—thus the scene where Hilts and Ives need Bartlett's permission before proceeding with their plan.

Sedgwick (James Coburn) is shown stealing a bicycle and Danny Velinski (Charles Bronson) and "Willi" Dickes (John Leyton) do the same with a rowboat. In fact the stealing of personal possessions was not recommended since escapers could face criminal charges if recaptured.

Reception

Upon its theatrical release in 1963, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther was disdainful of it: "But for much longer than is artful or essential, The Great Escape grinds out its tormenting story without a peek beneath the surface of any man, without a real sense of human involvement. It's a strictly mechanical adventure with make-believe men." British film critic Leslie Halliwell described it as "pretty good but overlong POW adventure with a tragic ending".

Time Magazine commented: "The use of color photography is unnecessary and jarring, but little else is wrong with this film. With accurate casting, a swift screenplay, and authentic German settings, Producer-Director John Sturges has created classic cinema of action. There is no sermonizing, no soul probing, no sex. The Great Escape is simply great escapism".

The film has been a regular feature on British TV, especially during the bank holiday periods such as Christmas. In a 2006 poll in the UK, regarding the family movie that TV viewers would most want to see on Christmas Day, The Great Escape came in third, and was first among the choices of male viewers.

In March 2009, former POWs returned to Stalag Luft III to mark the 65th anniversary of the real Great Escape and honor their 50 colleagues murdered by the Gestapo. The veterans also watched a screening of the film. Reginald Cleaver, 86, commented that, "The bits about the way the tunnel was dug and how things started was quite accurate, but the later bits were nonsense", referring to the motorbike scenes with Steve McQueen. Alfie Fripp, 94, added, "McQueen glamorised it, he made fun of the whole situation. It was serious for the people that went through it."

In Popular Culture

References to scenes and motifs from the film, as well as Elmer Bernstein's iconic musical theme, have frequently appeared in other films, television series, advertisements, and even as a mobile phone ringtone. These include television shows Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Simpsons, Hogan's Heroes, Nash Bridges, Seinfeld, Get Smart, Red Dwarf, as well as the films Chicken Run, Reservoir Dogs, The Parent Trap, and Charlie's Angels.

Advertising agency, Tom, Dick & Harry, http://www.tdhadvertising.com was named for the three tunnels featured in the movie after the founders had 'escaped' a much larger ad agency.

TV sequel and video games

A highly fictionalized, made-for-television sequel, The Great Escape II: The Untold Story, appeared many years later. It starred Christopher Reeve with Donald Pleasence as an SS villain.

Several video games were based on the movie, including one in 1986, and one in 2003.

See also

• Stalag Luft III (Includes section The "Great Escape", containing facts of actual escape)

References

1. As a historical note, 50 recaptured POWs were indeed executed by the Germans, although not en masse. After the war, the perpetrators were tried as war criminals and sentenced to prison or death. See The "Great Escape" and Great Escape: The Untold Story documentary, available on The Great Escape DVD Special Edition.
2. Wolter, Tim (2001). POW baseball in World War II. McFarland. pp. 24–5. ISBN 978-0786411863. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
3. Davis, Rob. "The 1963 film of the Great Escape". History of Film. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
4. The Great Escape: Heroes Underground documentary, available on The Great Escape DVD Special Edition.
5. Whalley, Kirsty (2008-11-10). "Escape artist's inspiring exploits". This is Local London. Newsquest Media Group / A Gannett Company. Retrieved 2009-09-25. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
6. "Now sporting a huge, bushy moustache ... he set to work arranging the operations of the forgery department" (Vance 2003, p. 44) harv error: no target: CITEREFVance2003 (help)
7. DVD extra
8. Carroll, Tim (2004). The Great Escapers. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1-84018-904-5.
9. "Veterans of the Great Escape visit old stalag" article at The Independent website
10. (Vance 2003, p. 116-118) harv error: no target: CITEREFVance2003 (help)
11. Timespan — Escapes by Tim Healey, published by Macdonald Phoebus, 1979
12. Timespan — Escapes by Tim Healey, published by Macdonald Phoebus, 1979, pages 56-57
13. Bosley Crowther (1963-08-08). "P.O.W.'s in 'Great Escape':Inmates of Nazi Camp Are Stereotypical – Steve McQueen Leads Snarling Tunnelers". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. Walker, John (1997). Halliwell's film and Video Guide. London: HarperCollins. p. 311. ISBN 006387799. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
15. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,896917,00.html
16. Empire - Special Collectors' Edition - The Greatest Action Movies Ever, published in 2001
17. "TV classics are recipe for Christmas Day delight". Freeview. 2006-12-11. Retrieved 2009-09-05. Archived version 2009-09-05
18. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5970344.ece "'Great Escape' PoWs remember comrades... and boo 'silly' Steve McQueen, The Times
19. Nixon, Rob (2008). "Pop Culture 101: The Great Escape". Turner Classic Movies, A Time Warner Company. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
20. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095252/

Bibliography

• The Great Escape, Paul Brickhill.
• The Tunnel King, The True Story of Wally Floody & the Great Escape, Barbara Hehner. Publ.: Harper Trophy Canada 2004.
• The Longest Tunnel, Alan Burgess.
• "Tre kom tilbake" (Three returned)", the Norwegian book by surviving escapee Jens Müller. Publ.: Gyldendal 1946.
• Exemplary Justice, Allen Andrews. Details the manhunt by the Royal Air Force's special investigations unit after the war to find and bring to trial the perpetrators of the "Sagan murders".
• Project Lessons from the Great Escape (Stalag Luft III), Mark Kozak-Holland. The prisoners formally structured their work as a project. This book analyzes their efforts using modern project management methods.
• 'Wings' Day, Sydney Smith, story of Wing Commander Harry "Wings" Day Pan Books 1968 ISBN 0330024949

External links

• The Great Escape at IMDb
• The Great Escape at the TCM Movie Database
• Template:Amg movie
• The Great Escape Theme (music)
• The Real Great Escape
• Great Escape (PBS Nova)
• Detailed information about the real event
• Exhibition about this and other escapes at the Imperial War Museum, London (until 31 July 2006)
• First hand account of Stalag Luft III by Wing Commander Ken Rees
• Pivotal Games site for the computer game version of The Great Escape
• World of Spectrum entry for the 1986 video game
• Project Management lessons from the Great Escape
• Interactive map of Tunnel Harry
• James Garner Interview on the Charlie Rose Show
• James Garner interview at Archive of American Television
• Death of Eric Dowling, one of the escape planners
• Death of Alex Lees, who helped with construction of tunnel 'Harry'

• Articles with fictioncruft from August 2009
• 1963 films
• American drama films
• English-language films
• Films directed by John Sturges
• Films set in Germany
• Prisoner of war films
• Screenplays by James Clavell
• War films based on actual events
• War adventure films
• World War II films
• Films about shot-down aviators
• Films set in the 1940s