The Great Escape

Directed by John Sturges. Written by Paul Brickhill (book), James Clavell, and W.R. Burnett. Starring Steve McQueen (Hilts 'The Cooler King'), James Garner (Hendley 'The Scrounger'), and Richard Attenborough (Bartlett 'Big X').

Bottom line: The story, acting, music and cinematography are spot on. I can't remember the last time I saw an almost three hour movie and thought, 'I wish there was more'.

4/4

The Great Escape opens to a Nazi caravan behind the bold, red, opening credits. A whistling, patriotic song provides music. It is brilliant way to set the tone the movie. An attitude of optimistic rebellion opposes the seriousness of the situation. We soon find out what the trucks hold; a shipment of British soldiers most of whom have escapes or attempted escape from POW camps throughout the German empire. In the words of the man in charge of the newly designed prison, all of the rotten eggs put into one basket, a basket that very closely watched.

One of the prisoners is an American named Hilts. He is one of the best escapees. Within the first twenty minutes of being in the camp, he devises a strategy for escape. He suspects and proves that there is a blind spot in the watchtowers’ view. However, in his test, he doesn't account for the sentries walking throughout the compound. He is captured and thrown in solitary confinement ("the cooler") for twenty days. Meanwhile, the British prisoners, led by the master escapist Big X (Attenborough), are planning a massive breakout. We are told that the mission of every captured officer is to disrupt and hinder the enemy as much as possible. What better way to accomplish this objective than to break out not two or three but two hundred and fifty men?

I could discuss about the plans that the prisoners concoct or about each of the wonderfully developed characters but I would be writing for quite a while. Despite the healthy length of 172 minutes, this movie kept me on the edge of my seat. Each of the escape attempts are thrilling and each of the characters are fascinating. It’s refreshing to have over a dozen characters feel human. Even the Nazi soldiers feel rightly human.

Often, there seems to be a need to demonize the Nazis just to make it perfectly clear that they are the enemy. In The Great Escape, the enemy becomes the camp itself. The camp is an obstacle must be defeated for the good of the Allied Powers (rather than for the destruction of the Axis). Instead of structuring it as “I have to break out of here to kill these Nazis,” the film is saying, “I have to get out of here to make them spend more time and money chasing after me and guarding me.”

I also enjoyed the set design. For the enclosed spaces, we watch from a cross-section of the room or tunnel. This way, we get a mild sensation of the enclosed space but it doesn't distract from the movie. It is unlike, if my memory serves me, the scene in Kill Bill where the protagonist is buried alive. The camera is almost inside the coffin. Now, don't get me wrong, the feelings of claustrophobia was the point but it would become a distracting if the majority of the film was structured that way.

I highly recommend The Great Escape. It is a fun and exciting movie that I look forward to seeing again. It has a bittersweet ending but never loses the bright optimism of the introduction.