Sie kommen hierher, jetzt!
Willkommen to Day 5 of Nazi Week and I felt we should end on a
thriller/comedy/action film of great proportions. A film of POWs confounding the enemy at every
turn that more resources and manpower are wasted find prisoners of war versus
the frontlines. So grab your pickaxe,
prep that candle and hope the guards don’t hear us. This is The Great Escape.
Ve have vays to make you...right, who threw that? |
Are all spoilers so
ill-mannered? Yeah, about 99 percent.
Producer/director John
Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Magnificent
Seven and Ice Station Zebra) brought us a bit of a doozy with this film
as it is to be depicted as Stalag Luft III, a high security POW compound has
been created and the commandant, Luftwaffe Colonel Luger (Hannes Messmer of Il Generale
della Rovere, The Devil Strikes at Night, The Odessa File andLangusten)
informs the highest ranking British officer Group Captain Ramsey (James
Donald of Lust for Life, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Five Million Years to
Earth and David Copperfield) that there will be no escapes from this
camp as Ramsey counters with its is their duty to try and escape. Our first day is a series of failed attempts
and the POWs grab their bunks and settle in at camp.
Sipping whiskey...Kentucky style. |
Later in the day Gestapo (Secret Police) and
Sicherheitsdienst (Nazi Secret Service) arrive with one Squadron Leader Roger
Bartlett RAF (Richard Attenborough of Breakout, The League of Gentlemen, The Flight
of the Phoenix, Doctor Dolittle, Brannigan and Jurassic Park). Bartlett is informed one more escape attempt
and he will be shot dead to follow up that he is to be isolated from the rest
of the prisoners. The commandant of
course simply places him in with the others.
USAF Captain Hilts (Steve McQueen of Wanted: Dead or Alive, The
Thomas Crown Affair Bullitt, Papillon and The Towering Inferno) tests a
theory that lands him in isolation for 20 days.
Colonel Klink is most annoyed with his brash behavior.
Bartlett pitches to the men a series of three
tunnels 30 feet down and then across to confound the Jerries. An escape of 250 men is to occur and by God
they are going to risk it. With every
man working each of their field they stand a good chance. Disaster with the tunnels as men are caught and punished but
the men preserver on. Will they be able
to burrow out in time and if so which way to go that will lead them to freedom?
Tijuana holding cell after Day of the Dead...I guess. |
And now comes the part where I have a few tidbits about the
film. Several of the cast were actually
POWs during WWII including Donald Pleasence being held by the Germans, Hannes
Messemer by The Russians and Hans Reiser by the Americans. James Garner developed his scrounger character
from his own personal stint in the military during the Korean War. While Steve McQueen did all his own motorcycle riding, the
famous 60 foot jump over a fence was done by Stuntman Bud Ekins and later
doubled for McQueen more than a few times.
Apparently McQueen tried the jump and crashed so Bud stepped in and gave
us that amazing shot. This film is dark,
clever, comical and tragic. I would say
it is the personification of war itself but what the hell does a civvie know?
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