Great Escape

A long time favorite - an enjoyable movie

Exciting to watch over and over

Item was exactly as advertised. Seller was prompt and delivery was fast.

Great movie

I like Steve McQueen, and I like James Garner, and other actors in this movie -- James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Gordon Jackson, Richard Attenborough -- have all done good work too. But they have nothing to do here. They play one-note characters, and they're all professionals, so they dig in, but it doesn't come to life. For one thing, it's far too long. The most tense sequence, the escape itself, comes late in the movie, and by that time, our interest is waning. The escape perks it up a bit, but the aftermath resorts to familiar tropes and situations, and so it's all a bit anti-climactic.The obvious questions is, why was it so successful in 1963 -- and even the Amazon reviewers like it! -- but why doesn't it work for me now? I think the answer has to do with the far more extensive, detailed and nuanced treatments that we have seen since that focus on war and prison camps. Admittedly, we're not in a death camp here, but still, it's all too comfortable, and escape is treated as a kind of game for most of the first half of the movie. The tone is pretty light, the characters are one-dimensional, and when things do get serious later in the movie, the tonal shift is jarring, and visually, the director, John Sturges, doesn't have the courage to show the real horror of some situations. Compare Steve McQueen's performance in "Papillon" to what's required of him in this movie, and the difference is telling. My point is that good and pretty good actors are wasted in this movie. It's the kind of war movie I associate with my childhood -- the visual, dramatic, and psychological conventions of movies that focused on WW2 in the 1950s and '60s put a great distance between us, the audience, and what we know now, and are willing to see, of the reality of that war. These conventions undermine plausibility and credibility, and so the movie hasn't worn well. Its historical interest isn't in what it tells us about the war but in what it tells us about movies.

This movie ranks as one of the greatest war movies of all time.

This is a review of the 2020 Warner Blu Ray release. While the film is a classic that doesn't really need reviewing and it does look spectacular, there appears to be an authoring problem with the Blu-Ray. There is on the copy which Amazon sent out to me, anyway. Pop the disc into the machine, there's no menu. It just goes straight into playing the movie. And that's fine in one respect; no silly adverts forced on us. However, the back of the Blu-Ray advertises no less than ten Special Features including 'The Great Escape: The Untold Story' plus additional interviews and, given the subject matter, I actually wanted to watch those. Extras that people actually want to watch - who knew? However, it seems the Blu-Ray copy I have been sent has no access to these special features. There is no Menu screen. Hitting 'Disc Menu' or anything else on your remote won't produce one. Trying to cheat-find them by typing in chapter numbers won't help as these are blocked. So, if this Blu-Ray is packed full of the Special Features as described in the packaging, that's lovely but I have no way of playing them as this is a badly authored Blu-Ray which won't let me access any Special Features. I am now off to YouTube to see if anyone has uploaded the promised 'The Great Escape: The Untold Story' in breach of copyright law. At least I can watch what I have actually paid for that way.

The true and enduring re-enactment of the greatest escape from a P.O.W camp during WW2.....The Germans open the 'Stalag Luft 111' camp in 1943 putting 'all the bad eggs in the one basket' -so to speak.The high security camp built to house the most persistent escapee's with little or no realistic chance of escaping,however from the outset many of the new inmates are already assessing the best way to do so..The senior Officer among the P.O.W's 'Ramsey' (James Donald) 'Cooler-King' 'Hilts' (Steve McQueen) one of theearly occupants of the 'Cooler' along with 'Ives' (Angus Lennie) after an attempt on the first day, 'Hilts' always withbaseball and gloves to hand.When 'Big X' 'Roger Bartlett' (Richard Attenborough) arrives, he quickly realizes that many of his old team havebeen placed at the camp, he immediately along with his Intelligence Officer 'Macdonald' (Gordon Jackson) beginto plan a mass escape to cause the Germans maximum disruption..........his intention, to take 250 out of the campin one night.He has to put together his team, 'The Forger' - 'Blythe' (Donald Pleasence) who despite rapidly loosing his sightwill keep at it, preparing the documentation necessary for all prospective escapee's.'The Scrounger' 'Hendley' (James Garner) who's job it is to acquire equipment needed to assist the escape, 'TheMole' 'Danny' (Charles Bronson) who along with 'Willie' (John Leyton also known for his early recording success)and 'Eqipment-Manufacturer and Mole' 'Sedgwick' (James Coburn) are in charge of the tunnelling, 'Danny' had inother P.O.W Camps already dug 17 tunnels in earlier camps.Of course they had to disperse the soil dug out of the tunnels, this job fell to 'Ashley-Pitt' (David McCallum) manytalented participants including a Tailor to convert existing clothing for the out-of-camp wear.'Roger' has to persuade 'Virgil Hilts' to join the team-effort and put aside his constant one-man escape efforts.The German camp-commander is no fool, regular checks are made, though some attempts have failed and one ofthe three tunnels found, the prisoners resolve continues in earnest.Seventy-Six made the escape, an outstanding achievement, most were re-captured, some killed in the process ofescape, Fifty, were executed by machine-gun fire, the film showing just three actually making a successful escape,the remainder returned to camp.This is outstanding re-construction of the real event, well staged, the Blu-ray upgrade for the 1963 film is pretty goodoverall.....many will like myself have seen the film when first released, many will have seen the film on TV, maybemany times, myself, I purchased and watched the film on DVD when issued, however, though owning the Blu-rayversion since becoming available, this is the first time I've viewed it on the format.Certainly a must-see if you've never previously watched it, or indeed like myself, worth a re-visit.Features -Audio Commentary by director John Sturges, cast and crew.The Great Escape - Bringing fact to fictionThe Great Escape - Preparation for FreedomThe Great Escape - The flight to FreedomThe Great Escape - The standing ovationThe Great Escape - The Untold StoryThe Great Escape - The Untold Story - Additional InterviewsThe Real Virgil Hilts - A Man called JonesReturn To The Great EscapeOriginal Theatrical Trailer

I sent for this as it is now available in blu ray. It is over 50 years old and I have seen it before but it is just great. Based on a true story it tells of an escape from a prisoner of war camp in WWII. The ingenuity and courage of these men is beyond belief. It is well written and acted and reminds us of the debt we owe to my father's generation. I would recommend anyone to watch it.

Always wanted a copy of this on blu-ray. It isn't perfect but makes viewing an old film much clearer. The criticisms levelled about no extras are undeserved. Bizarrely they are in the titles/popup menu rather than disc menu. Not sure why, but they are there and worth watching.Classic film, great story, great acting - love it! Worth every penny! :)

Great edition. Good image/sound, good extras and lots of subtitles. One of my favourite movies off all time. Another must have in my collection. Very happy with the purchase. Good price too. Friday night i will rewatch this great classic with a nice bottle of wine. I love this edition. Thank you Amazon. :)