The Great Escape

featuring James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, John Leyton and Angus Lennie. It was filmed in Panavision, and its musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein.

Based on Paul Brickhill’s 1950 non-fiction book of the same name, the film depicts a heavily fictionalized version of the mass escape by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from German POW camp Stalag Luft III during the Second World War.

The film made numerous compromises for its commercial appeal, including its portrayal of American prisoners’ involvement in the escape.

The Great Escape was made by The Mirisch Company, released by United Artists, and produced and directed by John Sturges. The film had its Royal World Premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London’s West End on 20 June 1963.

The Great Escape received critical acclaim and emerged as one of the highest-grossing films of the year, winning McQueen the award for Best Actor at the Moscow International Film Festival, and is considered a classic.

The film is also noted for its motorcycle chase and jump scene, which is considered one of the best stunts ever performed.

He warns British Group Captain Ramsey—the highest-ranked POW officer and their de facto leader—that any man who escapes will be shot.

Behind the scenes von Luger has opposed such measures, but the Gestapo has grown tired of the extensive and costly disruptions created by repeated prisoner escapes and has promised to intervene if the Luftwaffe fails to contain the prisoners this time.

Regardless of the Gestapo’s threat, many of the prisoners improvise various escape attempts on the first day, though none make it past the fence.

USAAF Captain Hilts, a notoriously prolific escapee, spots a blind spot between two guard towers—however, he purposefully gets caught before the guards can realize his discovery.

He is sentenced to solitary isolation (“the cooler”) with RAF Flying Officer Ives, whom he befriends. Ives is among the most eager to escape, having been held prisoner since 1940.

RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett re-establishes “the X Organisation”, the escape-planning committee at their former camp, with Ramsey’s tacit approval.

He argues that the best way to help the Allied forces is to break out 250 men simultaneously, forcing the Germans to divert significant manpower away from the front. The POWs begin working on three tunnels: “Tom”, “Dick”, and “Harry”.

Each POW brings something to the plan. Hendley secures vital objects on the black market, and forms a bond with Blythe, an expert forger. Sedgwick makes picks and air bellows, while Welinski and Dickes oversee the digging.

MacDonald gathers intelligence, Griffith sews civilian disguises, and Ashley-Pitt devises a method of hiding the excavated dirt. Digging noise is masked by a choir, led by Cavendish, who also surveys the tunnels’ routes.

Aware that Hilts was planning to use the blind spot to jump the fence, Bartlett asks him to instead help the X Organisation by escaping, scouting out the surrounding area, and then allowing himself to be recaptured so he can draw maps for the main breakout.

Hilts refuses out of pride. When “Tom” nears completion first, Bartlett orders “Dick” and “Harry” sealed off.

Hilts, Hendley, and Goff brew potato moonshine with a homemade still and celebrate the Fourth of July with the entire camp, but to the POWs’ dismay the guards accidentally find “Tom”.

A despondent Ives snaps, frantically climbs the barbed wire fence, and is shot dead. Hilts, shaken, agrees to Bartlett’s proposal. Bartlett switches the prisoners’ efforts to “Harry”.

When the tunnel partially collapses, Welinski has a breakdown and confides to Dickes that he is claustrophobic. He tries to break out through the fence, but Dickes manages to calm him down and prevent him being shot like Ives.

Blythe finds he is going blind due to progressive myopia, and Hendley takes it upon himself to be Blythe’s eyes during the escape.

The last part of the tunnel is soon completed, but when they break the surface on the night of the escape, the end is found to be 20 feet short of their intended endpoint among trees, and within sight of the guards.

Guided by Hilts using a tug on a rope as a signal— and aided by a fortuitous air raid blackout— multiple POWs flee before Cavendish slips and makes a noise.

An impatient Griffith surfaces while a guard investigates and is captured, ending the breakout. The 76 escapees flee throughout Europe.

Three make it to freedom: Welinski and Dickes row to a port and board a ship for Sweden, while Sedgwick makes it to France, where the Resistance smuggles him to Spain.

The rest are unsuccessful: Cavendish hitches a ride on a truck, but is turned in by the driver. Hilts steals a motorcycle and heads for the German-Swiss border, chased by soldiers.

He successfully jumps one line of barbed-wire-topped tank barriers, but the bike is shot at a second, and he becomes entangled in wire and is recaptured.

Hendley and Blythe steal a Luftwaffe training plane to fly to Switzerland, but crash when the engine fails 20 minutes before arriving; Blythe is shot and Hendley recaptured.

At a railway station, Kuhn, a Gestapo guard from the camp, is with the authorities searching the disembarking passengers for escapees. Ashley-Pitt kills Kuhn to prevent him recognizing Bartlett and is shot dead.

However, Bartlett and MacDonald are still caught when another Gestapo officer tricks MacDonald into speaking English while boarding a bus.

Most of the men are loaded into trucks, but instead of returning to the camp are taken to a field and shot dead on Hitler’s direct orders.

An ashamed von Luger tells Ramsey that 50 were killed; a broken Hendley asks Ramsey if the escape was worth it.

Von Luger is relieved of command, and as he is being brought to a car to be driven to an uncertain fate, he comes face-to-face with Hilts, who has just been brought back to camp.

The now-former Kommandant tells Hilts that it looks like he [Hilts] will be the one to see Berlin first. Hilts is sent to the cooler, where he begins planning his next escape.