What Is The Great Escape Movie

Directed By John Sturges and released in 1963, The Great Escape is a thrilling drama based off Paul Brickhill’s factual account of the efforts of Allied prisoners to break out of Stalag Luft III during World War II. The break out was the largest number of prisoners of war to escape from a German prison camp, even though this camp was designed to house prisoners who made a habit of escape attempts. About 100 miles southeast of Berlin, Germany, the Stalag Luft III was built. The North compound opened up in March of 1943 and was originally built to hold British airmen, but American and other Allied nations airmen came to stay also. This compound would be where the Great Escape occurred.

Paul Brickhill, a former prisoner at the North compound, escapee, and author of The Great Escape, starts his novel by explaining why he and the men became prisoners of war and how they got to the camp, but the movie starts out right as the prisoners are entering the camp grounds, more-so to save time during the, already 3 hour, film. John Sturges, director of the film, did a marvelous job recreating the compound. He made sure to include the 30 yards beyond the barbed wire and fencing that the Germans had cut trees back from to ensure that escaping unnoticed was even more difficult. Sturges also managed to portray the raised cabins that were originally a part of the camp to allow the German officers to see if their prisoners were escaping through tunnels from the cabins.

Throughout the movie, while the prisoners were digging their tunnels to escape, they would always have men doing something else to make noise so the officers would not think any suspicious activity was occurring. This was because the Germans hid microphones all around the camp to be ab...

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...ng many prisoners to run to freedom on that night.

At the very end of the movie, “Cooler King” Hilts, played by Steve McQueen, made an effort to jump the Swiss border on a motorcycle that he had stolen on his escape. Hilts had to jump two fences on the motorcycle to be free from the Germans forever. As he clears the first fence, he tried to jump the second fence, but was shot down and captured by the German police. This scene in the movie was fictional because Hilts was a fictional character and Sturges included this scene because Steve McQueen happened to be a big motorcycle man.

Overall, John Sturges did a wonderful job accurately depicting the real events that Paul Brickhill describes in his novel, The Great Escape. Although fictional scenes, characters, and extra Americans were included to add action and entertain viewers, this film could not be more on point.