Great Escape

UPC: 027616668028

Studio: MGM

Summary: The Great Escape is based on the true story of a group of Allied prisoners of war who managed to escape from an allegedly impenetrable Nazi prison camp during World War II. At the beginning of the film, the Nazis gather all their most devious and troublesome POWs and place them at a new prison camp, which was designed to be impervious to escapes. Immediately, the prisoners develop a scheme where they will leave the camp by building three separate escape tunnels. Richard Attenborough is the British soldier who masterminds the whole plan, and who commands his motley squad--featuring Charles Bronson as a Polish trench-digging expert, James Garner as an American with a talent for theft, Donald Pleasence as a masterful forger, and Steve McQueen as an American rebel--through the construction of the tunnels and, eventually, their escape. An epic adventure film, The Great Escape runs nearly three hours, featuring a rousing Elmer Bernstein score and exciting action sequences -- including a notorious motorcycle chase between McQueen and the Nazis -- the likes of which had never been seen before in Hollywood productions. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Category: War

Awards: Best Picture - Drama – null Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: 24-minute documentary on the making of "The Great Escape"
Trivia and production notes
Original theatrical trailer
Dual-layer format for continuous playback

Great Escape

Format: DVD

Release Date: 03/31/1998

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: 1 USA & territories, Canada

Runtime: 172 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Scene Selections
0. Scene Selections
1. Main Titles [:21]
2. The Prisoners Arrive [3:22]
3. Escape Attempt #1 [4:45]
4. The Blind Spot [8:18]
5. To The Cooler [:28]
6. Barlett's Arrival [1:40]
7. The Objective [3:23]
8. The Escape Committee [4:32]
9. Forger & Scrounger [4:19]
10. Stealing Steel [2:24]
11. Tunneling Begins. [1:21]
12. Spot Inspection [2:17]
13. Hilts & Ives' Plan [4:19]
14. Come All Ye Faithful [1:09]
15. Tempting The Guard [:17]
16. Dealing For A Camera [2:27]
17. Tunnel Collapse [2:06]
18. Independence Day [2:51]
19. Finding "Tom" [6:24]
20. Doubts Abut Blythe [1:21]
21. The Escape Begins [8:48]
22. 20 Feet Short [3:28]
23. Discovered! [1:56]
24. The Chase [1:53]
25. Death At The Station [6:13]
26. Taking The Plane [1:42]
27. Crash Landing [5:16]
28. Motorcycle Pursuit [2:48]
29. The Resistance [7:25]
30. The Massacre [2:00]
31. Back To The Cooler [6:04]
32. End Titles [6:36]

Bruce Eder

John Sturges' The Great Escape could easily be the most under-appreciated movie of its genre and decade, which may seem a strange thing to say about a movie that is one of the most popular World War II adventure films ever made. It not only defined the screen personae of Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough and much of the rest of the cast, but along with The Magnificent Seven represented a high-water mark in Sturges' career. Yet, despite that and the millions of dollars it earned at the box office, The Great Escape didn't command much respect until years after its release. Critics lumped the film together with such mammoth World War II productions as The Longest Day, The Guns of Navarone and Battle of the Bulge and overlooked its unique status as a fundamentally tragic movie that still managed to appeal to audiences in an upbeat manner. Beneath the fact-based heroics, the humor of many of the portrayals and Elmer Bernstein's rich, rousing score lay the elements of a classic tragedy. While ordinary viewers responded to the driving dramatic forces among the characters -- Bartlett's obsession, Hilts's self-absorption and cynicism, Hedley's practical approach to survival and the mission -- critics and scholars viewed the movie as an artless, empty blockbuster. They were looking for self-conscious subtlety and obvious artistic touches in a story that required only a straightforward, unpretentious telling. The Great Escape expresses its depth and drama through action rather than ponderous dialogue, and in that sense, was probably too true to its subject for its own good, at least in terms of achieving critical respect. Only in recent years have film historians grudgingly confronted the fact that The Great Escape's audience has broadened since its release, and reappraised its unique qualities. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Elmer Bernstein  Composer (Music Score) 
W.R. Burnett  Screenwriter 
James Clavell  Screenwriter 
John Sturges  Director 
John Sturges  Producer 
Steve McQueen  Actor 
James Garner  Actor 
Richard Attenborough  Actor 
James Donald  Actor 
Charles Bronson  Actor 
James Coburn  Actor 
David McCallum  Actor 
Donald Pleasence  Actor 
Gordon Jackson  Actor 
John Leyton  Actor 
Angus Lennie  Actor 
Nigel Stock  Actor 
Jud Taylor  Actor 
William Russell  Actor 
Robert Desmond  Actor 
Tom Adams  Actor 
Lawrence Montaigne  Actor 
Hannes Messemer  Actor 
Robert Graf  Actor 
Harry Riebauer  Actor 
Hans Reiser  Actor 
Robert Freitag  Actor 
Heinz Weiss  Actor 
Til Kiwe  Actor 
Ulrich Beiger  Actor 
George Mikell  Actor 
Karl Otto Alberty  Actor 

Country: USA