Celebrated Remembrance Day early last night by watching The Great Escape.
Loosely based on a mass breakout by Allied prisoners in a Nazi detention camp during the Second World War, John Sturges’ 1963 film is my favourite war movie, and one of my favourite movies period. Even though there isn’t a single woman in it. It’s a Boys’ Own adventure story about teamwork and loyalty, with an all-star cast including Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Charles Bronson, David McCallum and James Coburn.
Backed by Elmer Bernstein’s jaunty score, The Great Escape is great entertainment from its opening sequence right through to McQueen’s daring motorcycle bid for freedom, and its denouement following up the escapees outside the camp: hitchhiking, and on bicycle, bus, train, plane and rowboat.
McQueen’s iconic freedom jump and the movie’s other stunts are pure Hollywood, but The Great Escape is more than escapism. The determination of human beings to escape captivity is instinctual and makes a moving story. As senior British officer Ramsey (James Donald) tells the Nazi commander, “It is the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape. If they can’t, it is their duty to cause the enemy to use an inordinate number of troops to guard them.” The prisoners in Stalag Luft III organize themselves into teams, displaying amazing ingenuity in getting out of the camp and outfitting themselves to continue their flight outside. Attenborough’s Squadron Leader Bartlett says, “All this kept me alive.”
There is no sermonizing on the horrors or the futility of war. Just the single-minded focus of these men. And, above all, their courage.
The Great Escape is also one of my favourites, for the story itself and the cast. A good movie to watch leading up to Remembrance Day.
Thanks for your comment, Liz!
Several years ago I heard a former prisoner-of-war that was in Stalag Luft III during the time of The Great Escape. The details he gave us were amazing and gave us a much more human view of what the prisoners did to escape than the Hollywood heroics (although I enjoyed the movie). One of Mom’s cousins was also married to another prison in the same camp, who fortunately survived. I have read some of his reports that he submitted to the British High Command at the end of the war.
In 2008, I interviewed the late Canadian Harold Garland for a newspaper article I wrote. Truly amazing the courage of these guys…including Canadians. . https://www.pressreader.com/canada/vancouver-sun/20081111/281994668330008