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The Great Escape
1963 173 min United States of America 12+
★8.4
Adventure, Drama, War
Director: John Sturges
🎭 Based on
«The Great Escape»
byPaul Brickhill
Trailers
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Description
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.
Budget:
$4M
Worldwide:
$11.7M
Starring
Steve McQueen
Actor
James Garner
Actor
Richard Attenborough
Actor
Awards
Moscow International Film Festival 1963
— Silver Award – Best Actor
Academy Awards 1964
— Best Film Editing
Golden Globe 1964
— Best Picture (Drama)
Moscow International Film Festival 1963
— Silver Award – Best Actor
Key opinion
The Great Escape is widely regarded as a classic Hollywood adventure, celebrated for its star-studded ensemble cast and skillful direction. However, opinions diverge significantly regarding its historical tone, with some viewers praising its lighthearted, heist-like spectacle while others criticize it as an implausible, sanitized depiction of WWII that trivializes the reality of life in a POW camp.
| Acting | The ensemble cast, featuring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Charles Bronson, provides a compelling and charismatic anchor for the film. | |
| Direction | John Sturges’s direction effectively transitions the film from a methodical, heist-like planning phase to an intense and high-stakes escape narrative. | |
| Score | Elmer Bernstein’s iconic score successfully reinforces the film’s adventurous and determined tone. | |
| Runtime | The three-hour runtime is a point of contention; supporters find the pacing meticulous and tension-filled, while critics feel it is bloated with unnecessary filler and suffers from a sluggish tempo. | |
| Theme | The depiction of the German captors as benevolent and the camp environment as relatively comfortable creates a divide; some view this as an enjoyable, lighthearted adventure, while others find it an offensive or absurd distortion of wartime reality. | |
| Adaptation | The adaptation of history is viewed variably, with some appreciating the technical details of the escape, while others point to the significant exaggeration of the American role and the omission of the actual grit experienced by prisoners. |