The Great Escape (1963) on Netflix
Approved19632h 52mAdventureDramaHistory
In 1942 the Germans move their most persistent Allied escapees to a camp they consider escape-proof. Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett proposes a breakout of 250 men through three tunnels.
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Trailer
Plot summary
In 1942 the Germans gather Allied prisoners who have escaped from other camps into a camp they consider escape-proof, under Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger, who warns the senior officer, Group Captain Ramsey, that anyone who gets out will be shot. Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett rebuilds the escape committee and sets a target of 250 men. Three tunnels are started, named Tom, Dick and Harry, with prisoners assigned to dig, to hide the soil, to forge papers and to find supplies on the black market. Captain Virgil Hilts, a persistent American escapee, spots a gap in the fence and turns himself in without telling the guards. Bartlett asks him to be recaptured deliberately so he can map the country outside; Hilts refuses.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Great Escape (1963)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Tilman 'Til Kiwe' Kiver, who plays the German guard Frick, had been a German paratrooper officer held prisoner at a POW camp in Colorado; he made several escape attempts, dyeing his uniform and carrying forged papers, was captured at the St. Louis train station and had won the Knight's Cross before his capture.
- Insurance concerns prevented McQueen from performing the film's notable motorcycle leap, which was done by his friend and fellow cycle enthusiast Bud Ekins; when Johnny Carson later tried to congratulate him for it on The Tonight Show, McQueen said, "It wasn't me. That was Bud Ekins."
- Flt Lt Colin Blythe, "The Forger", was based on Tim Walenn and played by Donald Pleasence, who had himself served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, been shot down and spent a year in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I.
- Charles Bronson had been a gunner in the USAAF and was wounded, but never shot down; like his character, Danny Welinski, he suffered from claustrophobia because of his childhood work in a mine.
- Richard Attenborough's Sqn Ldr Roger Bartlett, "Big X", was based on Roger Bushell, the South African-born British POW who was the mastermind of the real Great Escape, and this was the film that first brought Attenborough to common notice in the United States.
- In 2016 the sons of Elmer Bernstein openly criticized the use of the Great Escape theme by the Vote Leave campaign in the UK Brexit referendum, saying "Our father would never have allowed UKIP to use his music" because he would have strongly opposed the party.
- James Garner had been a soldier in the Korean War and was twice wounded, and like his character he had been a scrounger during that time.
SPOILER
The film is accurate in showing only three escapees made home runs, though the real ones differed: Danny and Willie's escape to Sweden is based on two Norwegians, Per Bergsland and Jens Müller, and RAAF Flying Officer Sedgwick's escape to Spain on the Dutchman Bram van der Stok.
