Review of The Great Escape (1963) by Emmanuel S — 24 Dec 2015

The Great Escape is one of those films that you could watch time and time again and still love even more with each viewing. Imagine a movie where you would put all the greatest movie stars of their Era in.

That's exactly what they did here! The Great Escape is, in my mind, the greatest War movie of all Time. Add to the stellar cast, a score by Legendary Hollywood composer Elmer Bernstein and there you have one of the greatest War movie themes of all Time.

A theme with a tune so catchy, so memorable that you might find yourself humming and whistling it as you go through your day. The Great Escape is basically the story of POW during War time in their Nazi detention camp.

And what are, not just POW but the best POW, up to in their enemy detention camp? They plan their escape. An escape so ingenious that it involves digging three tunnels at the same time underneath and through their camp to the wood outside.

In the main role we have Hollywood Legend, Steve Mc Queen as Lieutenant Virgil Hilts, a hot shot American pilot who has only one idea in his head, Escaping! One of the most interesting scene for me was at the end, when Hilts, recaptured again, is about to be put back in his cell inside the cooler.

There you have a German guard ready to put our hero, who incidentally is the personification of the perfect Aryan, blue eyed and blond hairs, into his cell. As the guard closes the door and walks away from Hilts' cell, he hears the noise of Hilts' baseball bouncing off the walls, back and forth into Hilts' baseball glove.

He pauses for instant as if to ponder whether what he is doing to the embodiment of the perfect German specimen is wrong. He lowers his head, then walks away with his head held down as if to convey that he realizes that what he is doing is wrong and he could never break Hilts' strong spirit.

I highly recommend this all time Classic for all, a masterpiece!