FilmSkool — a free film school
The Great Escape
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.
1963 · Directed by John Sturges · 173 min · Adventure · Drama · War · 24 frames
Tagline
Put a fence in front of these men... and they'll climb it!
Crew
- Screenplay: James Clavell, W.R. Burnett
- Cinematography: Daniel L. Fapp
- Edited by: Ferris Webster
- Music: Elmer Bernstein
- Produced by: John Sturges, James Clavell
Cast
- Steve McQueen as Hilts 'The Cooler King'
- James Garner as Hendley 'The Scrounger'
- Richard Attenborough as Bartlett 'Big X'
- James Donald as Ramsey 'The SBO'
- Charles Bronson as Danny 'Tunnel King'
- Donald Pleasence as Blythe 'The Forger'
- James Coburn as Sedgwick 'Manufacturer'
- Hannes Messemer as Von Luger 'The Kommandant'
- David McCallum as Ashley-Pitt 'Dispersal'
- Gordon Jackson as MacDonald 'Intelligence'
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, German, French, Russian
- Studios: The Mirisch Company, United Artists
- Budget: $4,000,000
- Box office: $11,700,000
- Themes: prison, uniform, swastika, prisoner, based on novel or book, nazi, escape, optimism, freedom, machinegun
Own the film
FilmSkool earns a small commission from qualifying Amazon purchases, at no cost to you.
More by John Sturges
On this film
This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.