The Great Escape is a classic 1963 film directed by John Sturges, with an impressive cast list, including Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and stalwarts of the British Acting community such as Richard Attenborough and Gordon Jackson, along with Angus Lennie who went ... Read review
TheGreat Escapeimage of Steve McQueen (as "The Cooler King") astride his motorcycle has ... more
entered silver-screen iconography, alongside Brando on his bike fromThe Wild One. Based on a true story about a group of POWs who mount a daring breakout from a sup...
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In 1943, the Germans opened Stalag Luft North, a maximum security prisoner-of-war camp ... more
designed to hold even the craftiest escape artists. In doing so however the Nazis unwittingly assembled the finest escape team in military history - brilliantly port...
In 1943, the Germans opened Stalag Luft North, a maximum security prisoner-of-war camp, ... more
designed to hold even the craftiest escape artists. In doing so, however, the Nazis unwittingly assembled the finest escape team in military history - brilliantly portrayed here by Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson and James Coburn - who 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.
One of the most famous true stories from the last war The GREAT ESCAPE tells how more ... more
than six hundred men in a German prisoner-of-war camp worked together to achieve an extraordinary break-out. Every night for a year they dug tunnels and those who weren't digging forged passports drew maps faked weapons and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes to wear once they had escaped. All of this was conducted under the very noses of their prison guards. When the right night came the actual escape itself was timed to the split second - but of course not everything went according to plan...
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Production Year: 1954 - War - Director: Michael Anderson - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Richard Todd, Michael Redgrave, Ursula Jeans, Basil Sydney, Patrick Barr, Ernest Clark, Derek Farr, Laurence Naismith
Production Year: 1960 - War - Director: Lewis Gilbert - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Laurence Naismith, Carl Mohner, Dana Wynter, Kenneth More, Karel Stepanek
Advantages: Some interesting additional material Disadvantages: None Really
The Great Escape is a classic 1963 film directed by John Sturges, with an impressive cast list, including Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and stalwarts of the British Acting community such as Richard Attenborough and Gordon Jackson, along with Angus Lennie who went on from sharing the cooler with McQueen to become Shughie the chef in Crossroads for many years.
As I doubt many people are unaware of this film ... ...not my intention to review the film in detail but rather to discuss the additional features available on this two disk special edition.
Disk One
This contains first and foremost the film itself where you can relive the exploits of the digging of Tom, Dick and Harry, the forging and scrounging, the camp break out, McQueen's bike chase sequence et al to your hearts content. This first disk also contains an Audio commentary ... more
The Great Escape is a classic 1963 film directed by John Sturges, with an impressive cast list, including Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and stalwarts of the British Acting community such as Richard Attenborough and Gordon Jackson, along with Angus Lennie who went on from sharing the cooler with McQueen to become Shughie the chef in Crossroads for many years.
As I doubt many people are unaware of this film as it has been a stalwart of the TV schedules for as long as I can remember it is not my intention to review the film in detail but rather to discuss the additional features available on this two disk special edition.
Disk One
This contains first and foremost the film itself where you can relive the exploits of the digging of Tom, Dick and Harry, the forging and scrounging, the camp break out, McQueen's bike chase sequence et al to your hearts content. This first disk also contains an Audio commentary with cast and crew. This is one of those features that either appeals to you or it doesn't. In my case it doesn't, to me it is just basically a bunch of people talking over the film you are trying to watch. If however you do like this sort of extra it does appear to be very well done covering the entirety of the film.
Slightly more to my taste is the Trivia Track, this I found highly entertaining and for the Great Escape buffs out there will be a lot of fun. Essentially you can watch the film while a series of green boxes appear containing various pieces of trivia appear. On the whole these are relevant to the scene in question involving details of set, storyline, cast or crew. Unlike the Audio Commentary I found this extra really enjoyable and whilst I did tire of the reading eventually I have watched the film in this format a couple of time just to take in all the trivia.
Disk Two
The second disk contains the extra features, this is comprised mainly of 3 documentaries. The first entitled The Great Escape: The Untold Story has in the passed been shown on terrestrial television. This is a reasonably interesting documentary comprising interviews with escapee Jimmy Jones, camp forger Alex Cassie, who had declined the opportunity to join the escape and the sister of one of the murdered escapees. These interviews are interspersed with reconstructions of of parts of the escape bid and the post war criminal investigation into the murders that led to the execution of 13 Gestapo Officers and prison sentences for others. An additional 10 minutes of interviews, which were obviously cut from the finished documentary, are also included.
The second documentary is The Great Escape: Heroes Underground, which is about the making of the film with some interesting facts about the creation of composite characters and the decision to include Americans as escapees for the film despite the fact they had been moved to a different camp by the time of the escape. Annoyingly from my point of view is the fact that this documentary has been split into 7 parts despite only lasting about 45mins in total.
The final documentary is entitled The Real Virgil Hilts and concerns the story of American airman David Jones who the director John Sturges had described as the inspiration for the Steve McQueen character. This is an interesting enough documentary of the sort normally seen on the history channel, which includes interviews with Jones and follows his life from the cavalry through flight school, to being part of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, his subsequent capture and imprisonment by the Nazis to his post war career which ended at Nasa as part of the Apollo projects.
In addition to these documentaries the second disk also includes the original theatrical trailer and a file of still photographs from the making of the film. These are for the real Great Escape buffs and held little interest for me.
Overall
As this Special Edition DVD is currently available from Play.com at £6.99 I would certainly it consider worthwhile if you are looking to add The Great Escape to your DVD collection or to purchase the film for the fan in your family (there is always at least one). The documentaries are interesting, especially for those with an interest in history, and not overly long and the trivia track is one of the most enjoyable special features I have encountered for a while enjoyable.
Advantages: Fantastic story, excellent performances, true to the real story Disadvantages: Very few Hollywood action sequences
Before i get in to the actual movie, i think it's important to point out that The Great Escape is very much based upon a true story.
In World War II, the Germans grew tired of repeated escape attempts by POWs across the nation. As a way of putting "all their dirty eggs in one basket", the worst offenders were sent to a newly constructed camp; the infamous Stalag Luft III. Of course, what the Germans didn't consider was that by grouping the men together, ... ...the land.
"For you, the war is over."
A line famous as traditional German speech having captured a POW. But for these men, the war was far from over.
Not to reveal details for those who've yet to see the movie, but this long picture (close to three hours) depicts the efforts of the captured POWs as they evaded the camp guards and took part in the most famous prison breakout of all time. The ways in which they succeeded are truly inventive and ...
tehfincheh 29.12.2005 (02.01.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Great Escape (Special Edition) (DVD)
Advantages: Everything, seeing Steve McQueen lots is a bonus =] Disadvantages: none!
...of this movie but never the whole film, I decided to buy it on DVD. I bought it as part of a 'Great Films Starring Steve McQueen' box set. What an investment!
Produced in 1963, this DVD is based on a true story of a group of Allied P.O.W's who planned an escape from an 'escape proof' camp. This was the largest planned Allied escape attempt from a German POW camp.
This film features some famous names such as:
Steve McQueen
James Garner
Charles ... ...The first half of the film focuses on various escape attempts made by the POWs, as well of the planning of the escape and digging the tunnels, Tom, Dick, and Harry. This half of the film is quite comedic, and the characters work well together.
The second half of the film follows the escape of the prisoners, and follows their various journeys as they try and get back to Britain safely. It is much more dramatic than the first half, and is quite fast ...
skankinchar 31.05.2007 (05.06.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Great Escape (Special Edition) (DVD)
The Great Escape must be one of the best films I have ever seen. It is based on Prisoners of War (POWs) kept in German camps during WWI. It is based on a true story.
The film follows a large group of American and British troops who form a plan to escape from a prison camp. They succeed with some difficulties and the film goes on to follow them during their escape through Germany. The realism of this film is outstanding. All features of the film ... ...during WWI and the film shows us a great deal about what it would be like to be a POW or anyone in Germany.
Throughout the film, you will find yourself hanging on the edge of your seat - there are many exciting parts which hold the characters in life or death situations.
The cast and acting is amazing with Steve McQueen making an impressive performance.
The only 'downside' of this film is that there are not really many special effects. But considering ...
Elliottalex 06.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Great Escape (Special Edition) (DVD)
...top 10 of war films. The fact that it shows what prisoners of war went through to escape from POW camps in Germany and even better is that its a true story.
With such a star studded cast and fantastic personal performances from Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Richard Attinborough and many, many more great actors of the silver screen both British and American.
Its a must buy for anybody and where as Saving Private Ryan was about just a squad of ... ...their endevour to escape back to allied lines and to fight again against the Nazi Regime.
The DVD gives hours of entertainment with extras such as personal interviews with some of the cast.
Based on a true story, The Great Escape is epic entertainment that entertains, captivates, thrills and stirs. ...
steve09_1964 04.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of The Great Escape (Special Edition) (DVD)
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Advantages: Great for the whole family, Ben Stiller at his best Disadvantages: COuld do with more of the monkey
the museum and get the people and animals back as they escape. There is a great twist too with the old night watchmen.
I have the two disc specialeditiondvd and the second disc contains some great extras such as deleted scenes, comentary by director Shawn Levy, McFly music video, and a blooper reel plus much more. I was bought this as a gift but I have seen this for sale from £9.99.
In my opinion this is the best acting from Ben Stiller in a long time and I recommend it to all ages. ...
Advantages: Fantasic cast, acting, and storyline Disadvantages: VERY VERY sad!!!
This year for Father's Day my little brother bought my dad The GreatEscapespecialedition on dvd. My dad, who isn't that mad on that film took it back and exchanged it for several films including, Pay It Forward. The rest of family watched the film, and all said it was brilliant. Whilst everybody wa out the next day I was pretty bored and so thought I may as well give it a go.
The film started off with a reporter Chris Chandler (Jay Mohr, Jerry Maguire) being given a brand new jaguar by a total stranger, after his car had just been smashed up, the stranger is paying it forward. The film then jumps back in time by 4 months. This is when we see Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment, Sixth Sense), son in the film of drunk Arlene McKinney (Helen Hunt, What Women Want). Trevor is in school, his teacher Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey, American ...
Action and tension are equally balanced in this story of one of the most remarkable incidents of World War Two, in which a group of Allied POW's in a German camp plan and execute a breakout.
Audio Commentary By Cast And Crew, An American Icon Documentary, History Versus Hollywood Documentary, The Great Escape The Untold Story, Trivia Track, Theatrical Trailer, Photo Galleries
Aspect Ratio
2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Professional reviews
Review
"...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 (Total Film, p.108, 01/07/2000)
DVD Description
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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