War > Donald, James War

Advantages: great film
Disadvantages: none

Arguebly the best war film of all time. The great escape is set during WWII in a prisoner of war camp. The main aim of the film is for the prisoners to escape and flee to a safe area. The main characters are Hilts, Roger, Hendley. Firstly there is Hilts "the cooler king" as he was well known as in the film, because of his multiple daring escape attempts which did work but he was then caught the next day and sent to the cooler. Secondly there is Roger ...
...the the escapes and did actually manage to escape but then he was caught and murdered in the final scene. Hendley or "the scrounger" as he was better known, got someone to divert the attention of the guards while he would steal something useful. The main escape plan in the great escape is to escape out of the POW camp via an underground tunnel. The characters performance in the film were amazing and like no other. The stunts and special effects ... Read review

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 ... Read review

Advantages: excellent acting, great story, thought-provoking
Disadvantages: historically inaccurate

Bridge On The River Kwai, made in 1957, is an outstanding film, which unlike most WWII films does not choose to take sides, giving the viewer an unique insight into both the Allied and Japanese beliefs, as well as including a strong anti-war undercurrent. The story was based on a 1952 novel "La Pont de la Riviere Kwai" by Pierre Boulle (better known for his screenplay for the Planet Of The Apes), who had been a POW in Thailand. The book won France's ...
...including Best Picture. The setting is deep in the Thai jungle, the year 1943. The film focuses on Camp 16, a few grass huts set up by the Japanese at Tamarkan, with the objective to use Allied Prisoners Of War to build a bridge over the River Kwai, part of the notorious Bangkok-Rangoon 'Death' Railway, the building of which cost the lives of 16,000 POWs and 100,000 Asian labourers. The film opens following the passage of a soaring hawk through ... Read review

Advantages: The cast is remarkable
Disadvantages: nothing

...Japanese POW camp in 1965's King Rat, based on a novel by James Clavell. As Corporal King, Segal swaggers and schemes, running his little corner of the black market with help from a ragtag group of soldiers willing to do anything for a few bucks. King befriends Brit officer Peter Marlowe (James Fox), who speaks the local language and can translate for King when he sells off watches and jewelry for other desperate prisoners (for a sizable fee, of ...
...(Tom Courtenay), whose loathing of King borders on the pathological. The prisoners in King Rat aren't plotting to make a run for it, a la The Great Escape - it's established early in the film that such is not an option, as there's literally nowhere for escapees from the Singapore camp to go. The movie instead explores the day-to-day life of these beaten-down men, starving and sick, as they scrape together the best sort of life they can under the ... Read review

Advantages: Still the best war film ever with loads of extras
Disadvantages: Maybe not suitable for Scots, Welsh + Irish

"It is the duty of any officer in time of war...to do all in his power to escape" - General George Harsh. Never has this been shown in such passionate detail as in the The Great Escape. Based on a true story, it is set in 1943 in a brand new POW camp in Germany. This camp was constucted by the German's to hold all the troublesome Allied POW's - Summed up by Von Luger, the Commandant in the movie as "Putting all our rotten eggs in one basket". ...
...McQueen(Hilts - The Cooler King), James Garner(Hendley - The Scrounger), Richard Attenborough(Bartlett - Big X), James Donald(Ramsey - SBO), Charles Bronson(Danny - Tunnel King), Donald Pleasence(Blythe - The Forger) and James Coburn(Sedgwick - The Manufacturer). All these stars play huge parts in the film with none having a 'more important role' than another although viewers will tend to remember Steve McQueen more due to the charasmatic character ... Read review