The Great Escape (1963)

(On VHS, November 2000) Allied prisoners-of-war try to escape a high-security Nazi camp. Ingredient for a classic? Absolutely! A totally satisfying film experience? Not quite. If the first two-third of the film are a fascinating parade of clever ways to escape the camp, the film is dragged down by a depressing last third, in which the logical conclusion of the great escape (it ain’t a spoiler, it’s the title!) are played out. But don’t interpret that as an excuse not to rush out and grab the copy at your nearest video store: The Great Escape withstands the test of time quite well, with its top-notch technical credits, all-around great performances (Steve McQueen!) and nifty script.

(Second Viewing, On Cable TV, July 2021) Clearly hailing from the war-is-an-adventure school of filmmaking, The Great Escape is never quite as good as when it details how a group of allied prisoners plot their escape from a Nazi camp. Much of the film’s first act is a pure procedural, as the locked-up allied flyers poke and prod at the camp’s weaknesses, find ingenious ways to plan their escape and react to unforeseen circumstances. The middle portion of the film is the escape itself, a tense but fascinating sequence in which a few of them make it outside the camp. It’s perhaps inevitable that the film loses some steam in the last third – if you accept the escape as the climax, the rest feels like an extended epilogue, and a somewhat grim one considering that many escapees are not brought back to camp. Still, The Great Escape does make for some fascinating viewing, especially when you start looking at the cast. It’s impressive how the film managed to find a place for a loner persona such as Steve McQueen’s, even in the middle of an ensemble cast. Otherwise, well, you get to pick from James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, Donald Plesance or James Coburn, among others. It’s fascinating to read about the real events that inspired the film – while many details have been modified or stripped away (including the Canadian participation, grump grump), a good chunk of authenticity has been kept after Hollywood’s alterations. It all makes for a film that has aged quite well and will continue to find fans for a while longer.