The Great Escape - A Classic Adventure

my rating:

There's an old neighborhood theater down the street from me, recently renovated as a community resource center and showing second-run and classic movies. Since both second-run movies and neighborhood cinemas had died out around here, it's great to have (back). This weekend (in addition to Terminator 3 they're showing The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, etc. Since this movie was the primary inspiration for the wonderful Chicken Run film, I had to see it.

The film was made in 1963, which puts it two decades after the events it depicts and a full four decades before the present day. In this relative-contemporary context, it definitely deserves credit for casting actual Germans to play the Germans, and depicting them as people - some worse than others - rather than as just a pack of Nazi monsters. I'm also impressed that (as the opening credits boast) it took very few liberties with the actual events, fictionalising only the characters and (obviously) the staging.

The movie was just shy of 3 hours long, but it didn't seem any longer than many movies half that length. The story kept moving, keeping the anticipation high enough to keep my attention. I went into the movie not knowing the details of the incident, except the obvious implication from the title that there was, in fact, an escape. But how will they do it? What parts of the plan will succeed and where will it fail? How many - and who - will make it out of the camp? And since this isn't Chicken Run and "escape" means more than just getting outside the fence: Who will make it to freedom? Who will be captured? Who will be killed?

In a sense this movie was the opposite of last night's Underworld; there was a whole ensemble of interesting, generally likeable characters (an assortment of English, American, Australian, and Scottish POWs). Although none of them (even the nominal "stars") got enough individual screen time to become well-rounded characters, I spent enough time with them to get to know them and care about their fates.

Even aside from the I-almost-didn't-recognise-him youthfulness of the actors, the film felt a bit dated, with the sets more carefully groomed and the characters more cleanly costumed than would be fashionable today. Far fewer stunts and explosions than a modern production would have as well. And the soundtrack is a bit heavily orchestrated, with the ever-present jaunty march that serves as the main theme getting a bit irritating by the end. But the film never made me cringe like, say, a typical 1960's spy thriller or romantic comedy or musical would. A compelling story with well-played characters, it stands up as a classic.

Now I need to rent Chicken Run so I can watch it again and catch the rest of the Escape references this time.