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The Great Escape Overview:

The Great Escape (1963) was a Adventure - Drama Film directed by John Sturges and produced by James Clavell and John Sturges.

Academy Awards 1963 --- Ceremony Number 36 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Film EditingFerris WebsterNominated
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The Great Escape BlogHub Articles:

Cinemallennials: The Great Escape (1963)

By Dave Lewis on Jun 16, 2021 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Cinemallennials: The Great Escape (1963) For those of you who are unfamiliar with Cinemallennials, it is a bi-weekly podcast in which I, and another millennial, watch a classic film that we’ve never seen before, and discuss its significance and relevance in today’s world. In toda... Read full article

The Great Escape (1963)

By Beatrice on Jan 5, 2018 From Flickers in Time

The Great Escape Directed by John Sturges Written by James Clavell and W.R. Burnett from a book by Paul Brickhill 1963/USA The Mirisch Company Repeat viewing/Netflixrental One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die I’ve loved this movie since I was a kid. The German Luftwaffe gets the b... Read full article

The Great Escape (1963, John Sturges)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 21, 2014 From The Stop Button

While The Great Escape runs nearly three hours, director Sturges and screenwriters James Clavell and W.R. Burnett never let it feel too long. Part of the quick pace comes from the first half hour being told in something like real time and another big part of it is the aftermath of the escape taking ... Read full article

The Great Escape (1963)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Apr 25, 2014 From 4 Star Films

Based on true events, this film describes the heroic exploits of POWs in a German Stalag during World War II. With extreme heart and teamwork the men take upon the task of making a massive escape. Led by Richard Attenbourough, Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Charles Bronson to name a few, they be... Read full article

The Great Escape (1963)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Apr 25, 2014 From 4 Star Films

Based on true events, this film describes the heroic exploits of POWs in a German Stalag during World War II. With extreme heart and teamwork the men take upon the task of making a massive escape. Led by Richard Attenbourough, Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Charles Bronson to name a few, they be... Read full article

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The Great Escape Quotes:

No Quote for this film.
The Great Escape Facts
Steve McQueen's character Hilts was based on amalgamation of several characters, including Major Dave Jones, a flight commander during Doolittle's Raid who made it to Europe and was shot down and captured and Colonel Jerry Sage, who was an OSS agent in the North African desert when he was captured. Col. Sage was able to don a flight jacket and pass as a flier otherwise he would have been executed as a spy. Another inspiration was probably Sqn Ldr Eric Foster who escaped no less than seven times from German prisoner-of-war camps.
Paul Brickhill, who wrote the book from which the film is based, was piloting a Spitfire aircraft that was shot down over Tunisia in March 1943. He was taken to Stalag Luft III in Germany, where he assisted in the escape preparations.
During idle periods while 'The Great Escape' was in production, all cast and crew members - from stars 'Steve McQueen' and James Garner to production assistants and obscure food service workers - were asked to take thin, five-inch strings of black rubber and knot them around other thin strings of black rubber of enormous length. The finished results of all this knotting were the coils and fences of barbed wire seen throughout the film.
Hilts (Steve McQueen) strings a wire across the road to obtain a motorcycle. McQueen himself played the German motorcyclist who hits the wire.
Charles Bronson, who portrays the chief tunneler, brought his own expertise and experiences to the set: he had been a coal miner before turning to acting and gave director John Sturges advice on how to move the earth. As a result of his work in the coal mines, Bronson suffered from claustrophobia just as his character had.
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