Feb. 8 movie: The Great Escape. I was going to say this was the greatest prison camp movie ever, but then I remembered Bridge on the River Kwai and Stalag 17. So let's just call The Great Escape one of the three greatest prison camp movies ever.
I read that it was based on a true story. Some changes were made, notably adding Steve McQueen's character, I guess to give the story more American appeal since the hero of the true story was British: Roger Bushell, called Roger Bartlett and played by Richard Attenborough in the movie. (Come to think of it, Bridge on the River Kwai did the same thing, adding William Holden's character to a true story about British prisoners.) But the tunnel escape really happened pretty much as described in the movie. As did the murder of 50 of the recaptured escapees.
I found a History in Film webpage that goes into nice detail about the actual events, and even compares the movie characters to the real people they were based on. The author of that page says that the movie is extremely accurate, especially about details like the lookout system in the camp, and the tricks to disguise the tunnel work. Although as Eddie Izzard points out, the movie has McQueen traveling to Switzerland by motorcycle and getting there faster than James Garner and Donald Pleasance by plane!
It was a good day on TCM; after The Great Escape they showed North by Northwest. Unfortunately I had to go to Stoneline so I couldn't hang around and watch it.
3 Comments
I recommend the original book The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill, who was there. I read it roughly a zillion times when I was a kid.
I just put a hold on it at the library. I read through that web page and it sounds like the true story was even more exciting than the movie! The author of the web page also recommends another book, _The Longest Tunnel._
I don't know The Longest Tunnel, but I can also recommend The Wooden Horse and the book Colditz. It becomes hard to believe that these stories are true (two prisoners in Colditz were building a glider in one of the attics -- the war ended before they could use it to escape but what incredible resourcefulness and vision!) but -- well, cool stuff anyway.