The Great Escape (1963) | |
| Director(s) | John Sturges |
| Producer(s) | John Sturges, James Clavell (uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Action, Adventure, Drama, Historical, War |
| Top Topics | World War II |
Featured Cast:
The Great Escape Overview:
The Great Escape (1963) was a Adventure - Drama Film directed by John Sturges and produced by James Clavell and John Sturges.
Academy Awards 1963 --- Ceremony Number 36 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Film Editing | Ferris Webster | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
Cinemallennials: The Great Escape (1963)
By Dave Lewis on Jun 16, 2021 From Classic Movie Hub BlogCinemallennials: The Great Escape (1963) For those of you who are unfamiliar with Cinemallennials, it is a bi-weekly podcast in which I, and another millennial, watch a classic film that we?ve never seen before, and discuss its significance and relevance in today?s world. In today?s ... Read full article
The Great Escape (1963) (2)
By Beatrice on Jan 5, 2018 From Flickers in TimeThe Great Escape Directed by John Sturges Written by James Clavell and W.R. Burnett from a book by Paul Brickhill 1963/USA The Mirisch Company Repeat viewing/Netflixrental One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die I’ve loved this movie since I was a kid. The German Luftwaffe gets the b... Read full article
The Great Escape (1963, John Sturges)
By Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 21, 2014 From The Stop ButtonWhile The Great Escape runs nearly three hours, director Sturges and screenwriters James Clavell and W.R. Burnett never let it feel too long. Part of the quick pace comes from the first half hour being told in something like real time and another big part of it is the aftermath of the escape taking ... Read full article
The Great Escape (1963) (1)
By 4 Star Film Fan on Apr 25, 2014 From 4 Star FilmsBased on true events, this film describes the heroic exploits of POWs in a German Stalag during World War II. With extreme heart and teamwork the men take upon the task of making a?massive?escape. Led by Richard Attenbourough, Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Charles Bronson to name a few, they begi... Read full article
The Great Escape (1963) (3)
By 4 Star Film Fan on Apr 25, 2014 From 4 Star FilmsBased on true events, this film describes the heroic exploits of POWs in a German Stalag during World War II. With extreme heart and teamwork the men take upon the task of making a?massive?escape. Led by Richard Attenbourough, Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Charles Bronson to name a few, they begi... Read full article
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Quotes from
Danny: This is from the tunnel.
[Mac takes a handful of tunnel dirt and sprinkles it onto the mound from the compound]
MacDonald: Wherever we put it, they're going to spot it a mile away.
Flight Lt. William Dickes "The Tunneler": Well, maybe we could put it under the huts. The dirt's dark there.
MacDonald: Nah. No, it's the first place the ferrets would look. I saw one measuring the height under a hut yesterday.
Flight Lt. William Dickes "The Tunneler": Well, maybe we could dry it out the same color.
Danny: We'll have fifty tons of it.
Flight Lt. William Dickes "The Tunneler": Well, I was just thinking out loud.
Bartlett: If you must think, for God's sake, think clearly. Where the devil is Ashley-Pitt?
MacDonald: We can't destroy the dirt, and we can't eat it. The only thing left to do is... camouflage it. That's as far as my thinking takes me.
[Ashley-Pitt enters]
Bartlett: Didn't they teach you promptness in the R.N.?
Lt. Cmdr. Eric 'Dispersal' Ashley-Pitt: You'll never believe it, but I think I have the solution. The problem is somehow to get rid of this tunnel dirt over the compound.
Bartlett: Well, of course.
Lt. Cmdr. Eric 'Dispersal' Ashley-Pitt: Would you mind?
[Eric hands Danny and Willie a blanket, which they set on the floor, while Eric gets his contraption ready]
Lt. Cmdr. Eric 'Dispersal' Ashley-Pitt: Now... you fill these bags with the dirt from the tunnel. Then, wearing them *inside* your trousers, you wander out into the compound, where you pull these strings in your pockets. Out come the pins...
[Eric pulls the pins out to demonstrate]
Danny: Eric, it's good.
Lt. Cmdr. Eric 'Dispersal' Ashley-Pitt: All you have to do is... kick it in. Unless you're a complete fool, the ferrets will never see a thing.
MacDonald: It's indecently brilliant. What do you think, Roger?
Bartlett: We'll try it first thing tomorrow.
Lt. Cmdr. Eric 'Dispersal' Ashley-Pitt: I already have. It works.
Goff: [Sedgewick has just descended into the tunnel entrance] Was that Sedgewick with his steamer trunk?
POW: Who else?
Goff: I wish he was back in Australia with his kangaroos.
Flight Lt. William Dickes "The Tunneler": [arriving at Stalag Luft III] How far are the trees, Danny?
Danny: Over... two hundred feet.
Flight Lt. William Dickes "The Tunneler": Yeah, I'd say three hundred.
Danny: Long ways to dig.
Flight Lt. William Dickes "The Tunneler": We'll get Cavendish to make a survey. I wish Big X were here.
Danny: Willy, you think X got away?
Flight Lt. William Dickes "The Tunneler": Well, he'd have sent us word somehow if he had.
Danny: Gestapo, you think?
Flight Lt. William Dickes "The Tunneler": Either that or he's dead.
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Facts about
Hilts (Steve McQueen) strings a wire across the road to obtain a motorcycle. McQueen himself played the German motorcyclist who hits the wire.
Steve McQueen's character Hilts was based on amalgamation of several characters, including Major Dave Jones, a flight commander during Doolittle's Raid who made it to Europe and was shot down and captured and Colonel Jerry Sage, who was an OSS agent in the North African desert when he was captured. Col. Sage was able to don a flight jacket and pass as a flier otherwise he would have been executed as a spy. Another inspiration was probably Sqn Ldr Eric Foster who escaped no less than seven times from German prisoner-of-war camps.
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