The Great Escape (1963) (Not Rated)
Directed by John Sturges
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald
Daughter Says:
The Great Escape is a war movie about escaping a prison. When held captive by the other side, what do Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, and more do? They make a great escape. For a prison camp, the prisoners didn’t seem to get treated too badly, but they still wanted to escape. Steve McQueen plays a fighter pilot that likes to test the boundaries. He’d see how far he could get before the captors threw him into the cooler. The cooler was where people were taken if they disobeyed the rules. Let’s just say for most of the time McQueen spent it in the cooler bouncing a baseball against the wall.
Now to start with the dissecting process. Hold on, give me a minute. It’s still not coming. Why can’t I think of anything? Oh, that’s because this movie was bloody brilliant. The whole thinking process put into this movie made The Great Escape well, GREAT. I loved this movie from the moment it started. I must say I’m in love with Steve McQueen and I hope to see more of his movies. He made the mood light in The Great Escape. He’d find the funniest ways to get thrown into the cooler and how to waste his time. He really brought his character to life on the big screen.
He wasn’t the only one to bring this movie to life. Everyone in this film and involved in it did such a brilliant job with it. I just can’t get over how great this movie was. I never thought that any war movie could be so fun and adventurous at the same time, but The Great Escape executed it perfectly. The setting, color, casting, and timing were all perfect. Even the ending was satisfying. It had a good and bad ending, but you still feel like the movie had a point. (I can’t even bash on a bad ending. I don’t know whether to like that or hate it.)
Rating for The Great Escape: ****1/2.
Daddy Says:
The Great Escape is wonderful entertainment on a grand scale. These days when a movie has an all-star cast, you can almost count on being disappointed. If the studio spends all its money on the actors, something else usually suffers, and most of the time it's the script. But here everything works. You've got some of the biggest stars of the time, along with one of the best scripts I've heard in a long time, along with the steady direction of John Sturges (who had also directed the Steve McQueen action film The Magnificent Seven previously).
It's also a film that has influenced many other over the decades. From The Goonies to Indiana Jones to Hogan's Heroes to Chicken Run (itself almost a direct copy in animated form), it has become a part of our cinematic collective unconscious. It's theme music has become synonamous with pulling off a plan either breaking out, or breaking into, somewhere that is considered impregnable. If a character starts humming it in a film or TV show, you immediately know what they're thinking.
I can't honestly remember many of the character's names, but it's not really their names that are important, its their jobs that are essential. One's a forger, another's a scrounger, there's experts in digging tunnels and hiding them from the German guards. The leader mentions a complication, and just like that someone comes up with a solution to it.
With the recent trend at the movies of remaking everything Hollywood can get their hands on, I can't imagine what this movie would look like if it were remade today. The Nazis would probably be a lot more evil than they are here. And there would probably be a lot more explosions. And there would probably be some kind of social message mixed in, to give it that extra weight a movie about the evils of the Third Reich should have, sucking all the fun out of what is essentially a lightweight entertainment. A "popcorn" movie if you will.
Here's hoping that they leave this one alone. It's one of the greatest "popcorn" movies ever made.
Rating for The Great Escape: ****1/2.
Directed by John Sturges
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald
Daughter Says:
The Great Escape is a war movie about escaping a prison. When held captive by the other side, what do Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, and more do? They make a great escape. For a prison camp, the prisoners didn’t seem to get treated too badly, but they still wanted to escape. Steve McQueen plays a fighter pilot that likes to test the boundaries. He’d see how far he could get before the captors threw him into the cooler. The cooler was where people were taken if they disobeyed the rules. Let’s just say for most of the time McQueen spent it in the cooler bouncing a baseball against the wall.
Now to start with the dissecting process. Hold on, give me a minute. It’s still not coming. Why can’t I think of anything? Oh, that’s because this movie was bloody brilliant. The whole thinking process put into this movie made The Great Escape well, GREAT. I loved this movie from the moment it started. I must say I’m in love with Steve McQueen and I hope to see more of his movies. He made the mood light in The Great Escape. He’d find the funniest ways to get thrown into the cooler and how to waste his time. He really brought his character to life on the big screen.
He wasn’t the only one to bring this movie to life. Everyone in this film and involved in it did such a brilliant job with it. I just can’t get over how great this movie was. I never thought that any war movie could be so fun and adventurous at the same time, but The Great Escape executed it perfectly. The setting, color, casting, and timing were all perfect. Even the ending was satisfying. It had a good and bad ending, but you still feel like the movie had a point. (I can’t even bash on a bad ending. I don’t know whether to like that or hate it.)
Rating for The Great Escape: ****1/2.
Daddy Says:
The Great Escape is wonderful entertainment on a grand scale. These days when a movie has an all-star cast, you can almost count on being disappointed. If the studio spends all its money on the actors, something else usually suffers, and most of the time it's the script. But here everything works. You've got some of the biggest stars of the time, along with one of the best scripts I've heard in a long time, along with the steady direction of John Sturges (who had also directed the Steve McQueen action film The Magnificent Seven previously).
It's also a film that has influenced many other over the decades. From The Goonies to Indiana Jones to Hogan's Heroes to Chicken Run (itself almost a direct copy in animated form), it has become a part of our cinematic collective unconscious. It's theme music has become synonamous with pulling off a plan either breaking out, or breaking into, somewhere that is considered impregnable. If a character starts humming it in a film or TV show, you immediately know what they're thinking.
I can't honestly remember many of the character's names, but it's not really their names that are important, its their jobs that are essential. One's a forger, another's a scrounger, there's experts in digging tunnels and hiding them from the German guards. The leader mentions a complication, and just like that someone comes up with a solution to it.
With the recent trend at the movies of remaking everything Hollywood can get their hands on, I can't imagine what this movie would look like if it were remade today. The Nazis would probably be a lot more evil than they are here. And there would probably be a lot more explosions. And there would probably be some kind of social message mixed in, to give it that extra weight a movie about the evils of the Third Reich should have, sucking all the fun out of what is essentially a lightweight entertainment. A "popcorn" movie if you will.
Here's hoping that they leave this one alone. It's one of the greatest "popcorn" movies ever made.
Rating for The Great Escape: ****1/2.
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