Customer Reviews

The Great Escape: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(205)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

The Great Escape certainly didn't get its due when it was released -- it wasn't even nominated for Best Picture, Director or any of the Acting awards. In fact, it was only nominated for Film Editing! It seems, however, that the film doesn't even get its proper due today as it was not on the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Film list despite its large following.

The Great Escape is certainly one of the most memorable films I've ever seen. The cast includes the late great Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough (Director of Gandhi), Charles Bronson, James Coburn, James Donald (Bridge on the River Kwai), Donald Pleasance and David McCallum (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.). McQueen's performance is riveting and makes the viewer miss him all the more. Garner, who actually was a "Scrounger" during the Korean War, is terrific. It's also particularly nice to see a performance as a good guy from Pleasance and as a human being by Bronson (sorry, but Bronson truly wasted his talent in the Death Wish movies). And in an era when studios tried to substitute backlot sets for on location filming, the POW camp, which was built on location in Germany, looks completely authentic and makes the audience sympathize with the prisoners' plight even more. The DVD heightens the experience by presenting the film letterboxed in clear, vibrant colors. In addition, the DVD edition includes a documentary on both the real story and the making of the film. This film is a classic and the DVD edition does it great justice and makes you realize what a mistake the AFI made by excluding it from its list.

Here's to "the fifty."

I saw The Great Escape in the fall of 1963 when I was 8 years old. In my hometown during those days moviegoing was a family affair-- wear nice slacks and shirt etc. Seeing this grand movie with the macho stars on a big screen with booming sound made quite an impression on me. Steve McQueen was simply the "King Of Cool" and he became my favorite film star.

This movie has transcended generations -- my 18 year old son recently viewed it and he was totally engrossed in this fantastic true story of men seeking freedom under the most desperate circumstances. He agreed with me that "they don't make em like they used to" and that most of the films today can't hold a candle to The Great Escape.

The DVD is superb -- the color and picture quality is first rate -- looks just like when I saw it in the fall of 1963 at the old Capitol Theatre in Rome, NY. The featurette on the making of The Great Escape is a nice feature that I never saw before.

This is one of the all-time classic war movies. The story of how the Nazis put "all the bad eggs in one basket": they built a special camp in which they incarcerated the Allied pilots shot down over occupied Europe who had made escape attempts from other camps. Filmed on location in Germany (although the real-life camp was in Poland), the film has an authentic feel, with quaint German cottages and the foothills of the Alps rising in the background. Add in the plethora of nationalities (there are American, English, Scottish, Polish, Aussie, and Canadian prisoners among the inmates, all with authentic accents), the well-researched uniforms and camp layout, and some great cinematography, and you have a classic WWII film that stands the test of time.

The performances are outstanding. Notable examples are James Gardner as a scounger and Charles Bronson (virtually unrecognisable) as the tunnelling expert. The big name (at the time) is, of course, Steve McQueen, here his usual brash self, fleeing a German squad on a merry motorcycle chase in one of the movie's most famous scenes. More interesting for me, however, is the care the actors, directors, and screenwriters took to set up the escape - we are brought through the division of labour in the camp, the problems that must be overcome (such as incompatible dirt colours), and the clautrophobia of digging. (This seems to be proof that 10 screenwriters can occasionally produce a good movie, in spite of Roger Ebert's "law" that quality of a screenplay is inversely proportional to the number of people working on it.) Finally, the musical score is rousing, sombre, or lighthearted when called for. It might be a little overbearing, but no more so than in The Empire Strikes Back, for instance.

The DVD quality is low, hence the 4-star rating I'm giving to the movie in this format. The picture quality is okay - clear and crisp, but the sound is not particularly good. Why is it that video is always cleaned up so much better than sound? There are few extras on the DVD, but the "Making of" featurette contains a lot of information in its 24 minutes. For example, James Garner reveals how he was a scrounger in real life for his unit in Korea, the cinematographer talks about scouting locations, building sets, etc. One of the most useful featurettes I've seen.

"The Great Escape" is a WWII story about a group of POW's trying to escape from a German concentration camp. It stars Steve McQueen is Virgil Hilts, a American prisoner who delights in tormenting his Nazi captors with the prospect that one day he will successfully escape from their strong hold. Of course, his attempts result in his being placed in solitary confinement throughout the film. But escape plans really get underway when Big X (Richard Attenborough)plans to dig three escape tunnels under the camp. Although this plan of action is successful at temporarily outsmarting the Nazis, but with a victory that is short lived, the outstanding sequence in the film remains McQueen's electric cross-country chase on a motorcycle. James Garder, Donald Pleasance, James Coburn and Charles Bronson round out the stellar cast.
THE TRANSFER: : Time has not been kind to the film elements. Although this 2-disc special edition DVD is anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions, thereby improving the over all resolution of the image, colors remain pasty and dated throughout most of the film. Flesh tones are either an unnatural looking orange or overly pink. Outdoor scenes often suffer from a muddy color scheme in which greens, browns, blacks and grays become undistiguished and filtered through a sort of milky haze. As a result, definition and fine details often suffer. There is considerable film grain present during the outdoor scenes as well as some age related artifacts. Edge enhancement is present in some of the wire and mesh detailing of the camp. Blacks are not very deep or solid. Whites are rather grayish for the most part. Truly, this is a just barely middle of the road visual presentation. The audio has been remixed to 5.1 but the dialogue remains hollow and strident sounding. The music has a better spread but it too seems to lack in tonal bass.
EXTRAS: Some very fine short featurettes narrated by Burt Reynolds that (for the life of me) I can't figure out, why they weren't woven into one comprehensive documentary. There's also another 60 min. documentary that was previously available on the non-anamorphic DVD release. Some theatrical trailers, a stills gallery and an audio commentary round out the extras.
BOTTOM LINE: "The Great Escape" is a genuine classic and it comes highly recommended. But the transfer remains something of a disappointment, although it is a marked improvement over the original DVD release.

I have rented this film several times. Unfortunately the rental companies such as Netflix don't always have this great latest edition. There will never be another film such as The Great Escape. It would be a mistake to even try. Actually shot in Germany with an international cast. A cast of stars such as never have been seen in one motion picture. Especially of interest to me was the extras. Many of the cast members have passed away since this edition was put out That there words are on this DVD is a much appreciated plus..

Almost as interesting as the film is the commentary and exras. Being a long time fan of David MCCallum (now on CBS network NCIS), I was especially interested in his comments. Absolutely fascinating.

Maybe the motor cycle scene was put in for entertainment purposes. Wasn't it a great moment! Did you know Steve McQueen played his own part and several of the Nazi's on motorcycles.

Finally the Great Escape is based on a true story. This will tell you the reality from the fiction.

This is the edition to buy! They shouldn't remake it. They couldn't possibly make one as great as this!

"The Great Escape" is director John Sturges' brilliant film presentation of the absorbing Paul Brickhill Book. John Sturges effectively retells the story from the script by James Clavell and W.R. Burnett, which is a condensation of events and people taken from the book. The film deals with the lives and efforts of the Allied POW's to escape from a German prison camp. We do not see John Sturges take any side in this film. Only near the end of the film does he begin to make a political statement on Nazism and its effect on traditional German military ethics and the lives of the captured Allies. Sturges' focus is more on the men caught in war and its effects on them. We see the men rely on dormant qualities they never knew existed until they put on a uniform and were captured and held in foreign territory. We see men going to extreme lengths to escape because of their inborn right to be free. This is represented by Steve McQueen's character Hilts otherwise known as the "Cooler King," Charles Bronson as Danny and Angus Lennie as Ives the "The Mole." We see other men going to equal lengths to escape and cause havoc behind enemy lines by diverting German troops from the front to recapture them. This is the main purpose of the escape and Richard Attenborough as the "Big X" orchestrates the overall plan. He calls upon every expertise of the prisoners to reach this one goal. He calls upon tailors, forgers, scroungers, tinkers, and engineers, just about anyone capable of getting the job done. These are portrayed by James Garner, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, David McCallum, John Leyton, Gordon Jackson, Tom Adams, Nigel Stock and others.

For years this was considered a great World War II action adventure film, but John Sturges' reaches far above that mundane distinction. His style and ease of direction glosses over his own profound statements that he makes in this film. For example, James Garner cleverly befriends a German guard for the sole purpose of stealing his wallet so he can extort a 35-mm. camera and film from the guard. On the surface the audience is very amused at Garner's sly tactics, after all the Germans are the bad guys. However, subconsciously Sturges gave us enough personal information about the guard that we almost feel sympathy for him. This is reinforced by Sturges' choice of James Garner, one of the most likable actors in Hollywood, to perpetrate the deception on the unknowing guard. How can a nice guy like James Garner do this? As it works out Sturges lets the guard redeem himself. It is this guard that discovers the first tunnel when he spills some coffee on the floor and it disappears through the cracks. Now you the viewer are faced with a moral dilemma. Do I still feel sympathy for the guard? Do I still think that James Garner is a scoundrel? Or do I think that in war I have to do what is necessary? Garner's character did what he had to do and so did the guard.

Editor Ferris Webster did an excellent job of putting this complex story together giving it coherence and drive yet never sacrificing any of the wonderful characterizations that is the backbone of this film. Daniel Fapp's cinematography brilliantly gives us a feeling of claustrophobia while in the prison camp. Once the escape begins he gives us panoramas of landscapes which have a dual symbolism. On one emotional hand we are free and the far-off horizons elusively symbolize that freedom. On the other rational hand we know that we are still not free and the vastness of those landscapes only strengthens the reality that ultimate escape and freedom is improbable for the majority of the escapees. Composer Elmer Bernstein also has more to say than meets the ear. This film contains one of his two most recognizable themes in cinema history (The Magnificent Seven being the other) but that is an understatement. His main title theme is as much a tribute to the prisoners in this story as it is to all men who must overcome the odds through their own perseverance and unwillingness to bend to defeat to whatever noble end they strive for. Bernstein's complex score complements the theme by giving us passages and statements on the diversity of the individuals as well as their singular overall objective. Once "on the road" the music reaches exhilarating proportions unlike that of traditional action Hollywood scoring. Bernstein wants to put the audience through the same suspense and anticipation that the escapees feel and then unleashes our pent up emotions in a crescendo of rousing orchestrations that has us cheering them on. This was the same brilliant technique he employed in "The Magnificent Seven." I don't think many people give Elmer Berstein the credit for being the musical innovator that he was back in that period in his career.

Okay....All the extras are great...and there are MANY featurettes and interviews to keep you busy for hours....BUT..the main point I want to make is for all of you who don't care about extras and figure you already have this on DVD....you don't...
this transfer is AMAZING!!! it is a real HIGH DEFINITION transfer and STUNNING is what they say on the case and its true! Many DVDs say digitally transfered....and often that just means they pulled it from a previously issued laserdisc via digital output...you have never seen this movie this pristine....EVER!

"The Great Escape" (1963) was a huge box office success in its times. No surprise! It is a very good film. Director John Sturges has composed one of his best with this movie. He also authored "The Magnificent 7" (1960) (great westerner) and "The Eagle has Landed" (1976).

The story is based (loosely) on real facts. A massive escape from a POW encampment is planned & accomplished. The main objective of this "disappearing act" was to draw as many as possible German soldiers from the frontline. To perform such a feat, a great number of "specialists" were needed: tunnelers, forgers, tailors, carpenters and above all secrecy. The movie narrates every step from the beginning to the escape and afterwards.

A great bunch of first class movie stars is reunited. Steve McQueen as Capt. Hilts is the best remembered of all due to his impressive motorcycle raid. With him, other co-stars perform to par: Charles Bronson as Flight Lt. Velinski, James Gardner as Flight Lt. Hendley, Donald Pleasance as Flight Lt. Blythe and Richard Attenborough as Squadron Leader Hendley.

Fast paced and gripping gives no respite to the audience. If you are interested in WWII history or war movies you can't miss this one!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Lets start with the facts-I LOVE THIS MOVIE

When a friend gave me a gift of the 2 disk DVD set. I was taken aback. I already had the single disk DVD of Escape. however, after view the new 2 disk set, I realized this collection is 1000 parts better.

On the special features side, there was a four part documentary from the History Channel narrated by Burt Reynolds. and well as five other documentaries giving better insight inro the real events of the Great Escape. History Buffs will love the second disk as I did

There on NO new addition special footage (cutting room floor stuff) in the DVD of the Great Escape. However there is a new high def transfer. There is a NEW audio commentary track with Director John Sturges, actors James Garner, David McCallum,the late James Colburn and others giving great inside information into the filming of this classic. And for those trivia buffs there is a pop up screen trivia track

So is the new version worth getting? Well since I love this action film already..and the special features disk just add the mythos of the movie and the events--my answer is YES

Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

This review refers to the MGM DVD edition of "The Great Escape"...

It's not just the escape that's great about this film, everything about it is great. The actors portraying the real life characters, director John Sturges recreating meticulously the atmosphere, location and attitudes of the WWII POW's, the script by James Clavell and W.R. Burnett, the photography and probably most of all the musical score. Elmer Bernstein created a score that is a huge part of this film as it adds to the feeling of the events and one that will stay with you and you will always associate with this film.

Allied POWs had one duty during their stay as captives. It was to try to escape. This was an important responsibilty, as it would keep numerous German soldiers hunting them down and off the battlefield. Many prisoners were real good at their job, and a special prison camp was built just to house these professional escapees. "Stalag Luft III" would be the most heavily guarded camp and "There will be no escape!" But no amount of guards and wire could diminish the spirit of these prisoners. Together they plan and execute the most intricate, daring and largest escape yet. The real life soldiers who attempted this escape did exactly as planned. They kept the guards and soldiers busy, and it cost many of them their lives, as the Germans were so exasperated with them, that they executed 50 who were caught. But some did survive to tell this tale.

Steve McQueen leads this exciting cast as one of three Americans involved. He is Hilts, "The Cooler King", nicknamed this because he made several daring attempts of escape on his own and was always caught and spent much of his prison time in "The Cooler". But his escapades actually were a big help to the operation as it kept the guards busily looking for him while the others planned and prepared an escape for 250 men. Some of the colorful and daring real life heroes of this story you'll meet are "The Scrounger", played by James Garner who brings his wonderful charms to the screen, as he secures the team with any neccessary items that they may need. Where does he get all the goodies? "Well..let's just say they're on loan." Donald Pleasence is the mild mannered "Forger". Naturally he is real handy for all ID's they will need once the escape is made. "The Tunnel King" is played brillantly by Charles Bronson.He is the expert in digging tunnels, but also has a bit of a problem with being confined. The great Richard Attenborough is just that..great, as he portrays "Big X", the mastermind of the plan.Also adding their talents are James Coburn, David McCallum, James Donald and Hannes Messemer as "The Kommandant."

It's beautifully filmed in widescreen. It has many poignant moments as well as great action and tense drama, and even a little humor(Supplied by those crazy Americans). An amazing motorcycle chase scene with Steve McQueen(of course), is one of the highlights. A great film that gives us a great look at these historical moments of WWII. It is based on book by Paul Bruckhill, one of the actual members of the escape team. The film is 5 stars on it's own.

The DVD is a pretty good transfer in general. As mentioned above it is in widescreen, and has a nice picture overall. It's not as clear and sharp as others of the same era, but a nice view, with good color. The sound however, needs a little work(my only reason for 4 stars for this package). Although it is in Dolby Digital,and the dialouge is nice and clear, it doesn't seem to be in any kind of surround sound. With all the great action and music this is a must for this DVD transfer. Still, very much worth the view and even owning this DVD until something better comes along. The DVD includes a Documentary on the "Making of The Great Escape", that contains information provided by many involved with the film, including one of the actual survivors who worked on the set, making sure that everything "Felt" right. It comes with an informative booklet and may be viewed in French and has subtitles in English, French and Spanish.

I would reccommend it to anyone who enjoys a great war story. This one is right up there with such classics as "Stalag 17". At a running time of nearly 3 hours, you will actually be wishing there was even more. Oh and by the way Director John Sturges and Composer Elmer Bernstien had previously collaborated on "The Magnificent Seven". So if you haven't seen this one yet, you know your in for some great stuff!

Enjoy...Laurie

also recommended:
A Bridge Too Far
Saving Private Ryan/Amistad
Best Picture Collection - Epic Dramas (Casablanca/Gone With the Wind/Ben-Hur)