FILM · 1963 · USA
The Great Escape
- Directed by
- John Sturges
- Runtime
- 173 min
- Studio
- The Mirisch Company, United Artists
348 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.
348 Interesting Facts About The Great Escape
Interesting Facts (29)
- #001
The real camp can be visited today in Sagan, Poland, where it is now mostly an archaeological ruin. A replica of the camp stands forty kilometres (twenty-five miles) to the south, where visitors can enter a model of the "Harry" tunnel. In the film, the real names of the tunnels were mixed up.
- #002
- #003
Charles Bronson, who played the chief tunneller, brought his own expertise and experience to the set. He had been a coal miner before turning to acting and advised director John Sturges on how to move the earth. As a result of his work in coal mines, Bronson suffered from claustrophobia, just like his character.
- #004
During the thrilling motorcycle chase, director John Sturges allowed Steve McQueen to ride as one of the German soldiers chasing him (in disguise), so that in the final sequence, through the magic of editing, he is actually chasing himself. McQueen played the German motorcyclist who hits the wire.
- #005
- #006
One day the police in the German town where this film was shot set up a speed trap near the set. Several cast and crew members, including Steve McQueen, were caught. The police chief told McQueen, "Mr. McQueen, we caught several of your comrades on the road today, but you won the prize (for the highest speed)." McQueen was arrested and briefly jailed.
- #007
Some of the actors were real prisoners of war during World War II. Donald Pleasence was held at the German camp Stalag Luft I, Hannes Messemer in a Russian camp, and Til Kiwe and Hans Reiser were prisoners of the Americans. Pleasence said the film set represented a prisoner-of-war camp very accurately.
- #008
Donald Pleasence was a downed aircrew member of the Royal Air Force during World War II; he became a prisoner of war and was tortured by the Germans. When he gently offered advice to director John Sturges, he was politely told to keep his "opinions" to himself. Later, when another actor on the set informed Sturges that Pleasence had been imprisoned in a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, Sturges asked him for technical advice and contributions on historical accuracy from that point on.
- #009
The individual events in this film are mostly accurate but have been rearranged in terms of both timing and the people involved. (An opening note confirms this.) For example, of the seventy-six men who escaped, three made it to safety and fifty were killed in reprisal, but the murders took place in small groups, not all at once. (After the war, fourteen Germans were executed for their roles in these killings.)
- #010
- #011
Roger Bartlett (played by Richard Attenborough) was modelled on the British officer Roger Bushell, who took part in the real escape and was executed for his role in it, as Bartlett is here. Sir Richard Attenborough's scar around his eye is a tribute to Bushell, who was scarred in a skiing accident.
- #012
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- #016
Some aspects of the escape remained secret during production and were not revealed until much later. It is well documented that chocolate, coffee and cigarettes were included in Red Cross parcels and used to bribe the Nazi guards. Other materials useful for the escape had to be kept secret and were not included in the book or the screenplay. The fact that the prisoners also built a fourth tunnel named "George" only came to light years later.
- #017
The scene in which Hilts removes the bed boards for use in the tunnel and Cavendish, not noticing that too many boards have been taken, drops down through the bunks recalls a real incident at Stalag Luft III as described in Paul Brickhill's book. Roger Bushell (the real-life prisoner played by Sir Richard Attenborough as Roger Bartlett) wanted to set an example during the effort to collect as many bed boards as possible, donated all of his own and persuaded his bunkmate to do the same. A rope system was set up to hold the mattresses in place, but on the first attempt the wires snapped and Roger fell through the bed onto his bunkmate.
- #018
Group Captain Ramsey is largely based on the real Senior British Officer Herbert Massey. Massey was wounded when he was shot down and walked with a pronounced limp, which kept him from taking part in the escape attempt. James Donald walks with a limp and uses a cane in the film in Massey's honour.
- #019
Sir Richard Attenborough said years later that working with Steve McQueen on this film was one of the most difficult challenges he had ever faced and that their relationship on set was not peaceful. McQueen was not quarrelsome, but if things were not going the way he wanted or believed they should, he did not hesitate to tell anyone.
- #020
United Artists wanted to shorten the film to increase daily ticket sales. John Sturges was furious. However, UA demanded a high interest rate on the portion exceeding one million dollars. Sturges and UA executive Harold Mirisch then went to Pacific National Bank to obtain credit. The bank's board agreed on the condition that they could see the film first. They did and loved it, but could not understand how the men obtained civilian clothes before escaping. The answer to that question was in the scene UA wanted to cut from the edit. So the scene was kept in order to satisfy the bank executives and secure the loan.
- #021
The medal worn around Colonel von Luger's neck is the Pour le Mérite, also known as the Blue Max. Originally a Prussian military honour, it was awarded during the First World War automatically to fighter pilots who shot down eight aircraft (later raised to sixteen). The Nazis replaced it with the Knight's Cross, but officers who had received it before the Third Reich could still wear it.
- #022
- #023
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- #025
Danny, the tunnel king, is shown to be claustrophobic. Paul Brickhill, who wrote the book on which the film is based, was also claustrophobic. He had initially been allocated an early place in the escape, but when his condition became known he dropped to the bottom of the list, which he believes probably saved his life.
- #026
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- #029
Production Story (155)
- #030
During idle periods while this film was in production, everyone from Steve McQueen and James Garner to production assistants and anonymous food-service workers was asked to take thin, five-inch black rubber cords and tie them around other very long, thin black rubber cords. The final result of all this knotting was the coils and fences of barbed wire seen throughout the film.
- #031
- #032
- #033
Charles Bronson, playing the chief tunnel digger, put his own expertise to use on set. Before becoming an actor he had been a coal miner, and he advised director John Sturges on how to move the earth. As a result of his work in coal mines, Bronson suffered from claustrophobia, just like the character he played.
- #034
- #035
- #036
- #037
One day, police in the German town where the film was being shot set up a speed trap near the set. Many cast and crew members, including Steve McQueen, were caught. The police chief told McQueen, 'Herr McQueen, today we caught several of your comrades, but you won the prize (for the highest speed).' McQueen was arrested and briefly jailed.
- #038
Many of the actors had been actual prisoners of war during World War II. Donald Pleasence had been held at the German camp Stalag Luft I, Hannes Messemer in a Russian camp, and Til Kiwe and Hans Reiser in American hands. Pleasence said the set was a very accurate representation of a prisoner-of-war camp.
- #039
- #040
Donald Pleasence had been aircrew in the Royal Air Force during World War II; his plane was shot down, he became a prisoner of war and was tortured by the Germans. When he politely offered advice to director John Sturges, he was told to keep his 'ideas' to himself. Later, when another actor on set told Sturges that Pleasence had been held in a German prisoner-of-war camp, Sturges sought his input on technical advice and historical accuracy from that moment on.
- #041
During downtime in the production, everyone from Steve McQueen and James Garner to production assistants and ordinary catering staff were asked to take thin, five-inch strips of black rubber and knot them around other thin black rubber strips of great length. The end result of all this knotting was the coils of barbed wire and fences seen throughout the film.
- #042
The individual events in the film are mostly real, but they have been rearranged in terms of both timing and the people involved. (A note at the beginning acknowledges this.) For example, of the seventy-six men who escaped, three made it to freedom and fifty were killed in reprisal, but the murders did not all happen at once; they took place in small groups. (Fourteen Germans were executed after the war for their roles in these killings.)
- #043
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- #051
- #052
Some details of the escape were kept secret during the production and came to light years later. It is well documented that chocolate, coffee and cigarettes from Red Cross parcels were used to bribe Nazi guards. However, the source of other materials did not appear in the book or the screenplay. Another fact learned years later was that the prisoners dug a fourth tunnel named 'George'.
- #053
Although Steve McQueen performed most of the motorcycle scenes himself, the breathtaking five-metre jump over the fence was carried out by his friend Bud Ekins. Ekins was running a motorcycle shop in Los Angeles at the time, and this stunt marked the start of a new career for him; he later doubled for McQueen in productions such as Bullitt (1968) and CHiPs (1977).
- #054
Hilts removing the bunk boards for the tunnel, and Cavendish falling from the bunk without noticing that too many boards had been taken away, is based on a real incident at Stalag Luft III. As recounted in Paul Brickhill's book, Roger Bushell (portrayed in the film as Roger Bartlett) donated all his boards to set an example and persuaded his bunkmate to do the same. A rope system was set up to hold the beds in place, but the ropes snapped and Bushell fell onto his friend.
- #055
The character Group Captain Ramsey is largely inspired by the real Senior British Officer Herbert Massey. Massey had been injured when he was shot down and walked with a pronounced limp, which is why he could not take part in an escape attempt. In the film, James Donald walks with a limp and uses a cane in Massey's honour.
- #056
- #057
The Pour le Mérite medal worn around Colonel von Luger's neck, known as the Blue Max, was originally a Prussian military decoration. In the First World War it was automatically awarded to fighter pilots who shot down eight aircraft (later raised to sixteen). The Nazis replaced the medal with the Knight's Cross, but officers who had received it before the Third Reich could still wear it.
- #058
United Artists wanted to shorten the film to increase daily ticket sales. John Sturges was furious about this. However, when UA demanded high interest on a one-million-dollar budget overrun, Sturges and executive Harold Mirisch sought a loan from Pacific National Bank. The bank's management agreed on the condition that they see the film in advance. They liked it, but could not understand how the prisoners obtained civilian clothes before the escape. The answer lay in the scene UA wanted to cut from the edit. So, to satisfy the bank executives and secure the loan, the scene was kept.
- #059
- #060
- #061
While pouring drinks during the 4 July celebrations, Hilts (Steve McQueen) is thrown by Goff's (Jud Taylor) improvised line. As Hilts drinks, Goff says, 'No taxation without representation.' McQueen breaks character, gives him a look and mutters, 'What?' Director John Sturges must have given the 'keep going' signal and the scene continues. It is clearly an improvisation.
- #062
- #063
Danny, the tunnel king, is shown to suffer from claustrophobia. Paul Brickhill, who wrote the book the film is based on, was also claustrophobic. He was initially given an early place in the escape, but once his condition was known he was moved to the bottom of the list, which he says probably saved his life.
- #064
- #065
- #066
- #067
The film was shot entirely in Europe, with a camp resembling Stalag Luft III built near Munich. The exterior shots of the escape scenes were filmed in the Rhineland and near the North Sea, while Steve McQueen's motorcycle scenes were shot in Füssen (on the Austrian border) and in the Alps. All interior scenes were shot at Bavaria Studio in Munich.
- #068
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- #073
Wing Commander Harry Day, one of the architects of the real 'great escape', does not appear directly in the film, but Paul Brickhill's book tells his story. Before the great escape he had taken part in at least four mass escapes and two solo attempts, and had twice escaped the camp and been recaptured. He was among the first out of the tunnel but was caught in Stettin. Spared execution, he was sent with three escapees to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where they dug another tunnel and escaped with one more British officer. They are believed to be the only people to have successfully escaped from that camp. All were recaptured and remained in solitary confinement until the end of the war. Day escaped and reached the Allied lines, securing the safe release of the other hostages.
- #074
- #075
When Bavaria Studios' backlot proved too small, the production team obtained permission from the German government to shoot in the national forest adjoining the studio. After filming ended, they replanted roughly two thousand damaged pine saplings, restoring the forest to its former state.
- #076
Hilts (Steve McQueen) is a composite of several real people: Major Dave Jones, who commanded a squadron on the Doolittle Raid and was shot down and captured in Europe; O.S.S. agent Colonel Jerry Sage, captured in North Africa (he escaped execution by wearing a flight jacket and posing as a pilot); and Squadron Leader Eric Foster, who escaped seven times.
- #077
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- #081
The North camp of Stalag Luft III, where the real escape took place, opened at the end of March 1943. The prisoners had been transferred from other camps. The escape took place on the night of 24/25 March 1944; the last executions are believed to have been carried out on 12 April 1944. The film's timeframe spans a little over a year.
- #082
The Independence Day moonshine scene in the film is thought to be based on the British setting up a distillery for their 1943 Christmas celebrations. Royal Marine pilot Captain Guy Griffiths at Stalag Luft III produced forged documents and drew a comic illustration that survives today. Since Easter 2010, this drawing has been on display at the Royal Marines Museum.
- #083
The German characters were cast from Munich-based actors, including Hannes Messemer and Til Kiwe. Both had experience as prisoners of war: Messemer was captured by the Soviets on the Eastern Front and walked to the German border after escaping; Frick (Kiwe) had made seventeen escape attempts from an American camp in Arizona.
- #084
The real tunnel 'Tom' was discovered in August 1943 (not 4 July as in the film). Because it was known the Americans would soon be moved to the South camp, efforts were made to finish it in haste. 'Harry' was completed more slowly over the winter; 'Dick' was used to store contraband and hide the soil from 'Harry'. The night the tunnel was to be used was the next moonless night, even though the weather and ground conditions were not ideal (it was very cold and snowy); it was thought that if they waited for better conditions the tunnel would not hold up for another month.
- #085
MacDonald (Intelligence) is based on George Harsh, a close friend of the real 'Tunnel King' Wally Floody. Harsh was a fascinating character who came from the American South and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. In the 1920s he had committed murder and been sentenced to life imprisonment. As a medical student he saved the life of a dying inmate by performing an appendectomy on him; the Governor of Georgia pardoned him. After the war he struggled with the guilt of his youthful crime and found it hard to adjust to life after fifteen years of captivity (twelve years on a chain gang, three years as a prisoner of war). On Christmas Eve 1974 he shot himself but survived; a stroke shortly afterwards left him partially paralysed. Wally Floody and his wife took him into their home in Toronto; he eventually chose to move into the Veterans' Wing of Sunnybrook Medical Centre. He died in January 1980.
- #086
Early in production, United Artists asked John Sturges for female roles. It was even suggested that the dying Ashley-Pitt should lie in the lap of a beautiful girl wearing a low-cut blouse; the studio wanted to hold a 'Miss Prisoner of War Camp' contest in Munich. Sturges refused. The only women in the film are those seen in the background as Gordon Jackson and Richard Attenborough make their way through the town; none of them has any dialogue.
- #087
- #088
The director shows through subtle details that not all German soldiers were Nazis: Werner, nicknamed 'Ferret', openly criticises Nazi practices but says he cannot complain; Colonel Von Luger wears a medal dating from before the Nazi regime, treats Gestapo orders as mere recommendations, and cannot look Ramsey in the eye as he tells him of the deaths of 50 men. He also releases Hilts and Ives from confinement after 15 days (for good behaviour) and does not stop the 4 July celebrations (which leads to the discovery of tunnel Tom).
- #089
When Steve McQueen watched the raw footage from the shoot, he felt his role was far too subdued. Resenting that his character disappears for nearly thirty minutes in the middle of the film, McQueen demanded a rewrite and left the set. Director John Sturges admitted the gap was a problem, but said the production was already behind schedule because of heavy rain, so he could not spare time for a rewrite. James Garner and James Coburn met to clarify McQueen's complaints. According to Garner, McQueen wanted to be a hero but avoided obvious acts of heroism that would clash with his character's cool, sardonic manner. McQueen also never liked his character accepting a spell in the cooler or the famous baseball scene. Sturges considered cutting the character entirely, but United Artists, stating that McQueen was indispensable to the film's success, set aside extra budget to hire writer Ivan J. Moffitt to meet the star's demands. McQueen returned to work.
- #090
- #091
- #092
The film was shot in a forest in Germany. Several trees were bulldozed to make room for the camp set. Director John Sturges had to present his plans to the West German Interior Minister and obtain permission by committing to plant two saplings for every tree cut down at the end of production.
- #093
Of the twenty-three recaptured prisoners of war who in reality escaped execution, seventeen were sent back to the camp, four to Sachsenhausen concentration camp and two to Colditz Castle. Only fifteen, however, returned to the camp; four went to Sachsenhausen, and one was sent to Stalag Luft I after a long imprisonment in Czechoslovakia. The sixth was among those selected for execution, entered a prisoner's place and ended up in a concentration camp, later joining the other four at Sachsenhausen.
- #094
- #095
The German National Railway Bureau cooperated with the production, supplying trains and logistics for the train escape scenes. Large arc lamps were installed in the passenger cars to light the interiors. On a flatcar, a large Chapman crane was set up to film two stuntmen resembling James Garner's and Donald Pleasence's characters jumping from the moving train. The Bureau assigned a special radio operator to warn the train engineer of possible traffic on the main line. The shooting schedule was squeezed in between real services on the rails. The Bureau gave the production certain times and lengths of track until a passenger train was due to arrive; the film train then had to move onto a siding until the other passed.
- #096
Director John Sturges's assistant Robert E. Relyea was an amateur pilot and offered to fly the plane in the scene where Hendley and Blythe hijack an aircraft for their escape. In one shot, the plane had to simulate losing power and descending over a line of trees. According to Relyea, when a farmer in his field saw the plane with Nazi markings swooping over his head, he threw his rake at it. On another occasion Relyea was arrested because he had to land the plane in a field belonging to a German aviation official. He also flew the plane in the crash scene, knocked himself out and was taken to hospital; when he woke up he felt a sharp pain in his back.
- #097
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- #099
James Garner and John Leyton, who had some time off from the production, were caught up in the Schwabing riots on Leopold Strasse while visiting Munich. Police clashed with university students, and Garner said that at one point he was 'pushed and shoved' and taken into custody by a police officer who took his wallet and passport. In the end the officer returned his belongings and released Garner. Garner later said negative things about the police in the press, adding that 'this wouldn't happen in America.' He had to apologize to avoid being deported.
- #100
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- #105
The motorcycle ridden by Hilts (Steve McQueen) is a cosmetically modified Triumph TR6 Trophy. His stunt double, Bud Ekins, was a Triumph dealer. Triumph was McQueen's favorite motorcycle brand. The motorcycle-sidecar combination that crashes into the ditch also turns out to be a Triumph motorcycle. These British motorcycle models did not exist during World War II, and their appearance is anachronistic.
- #106
After two months of shooting at the camp, the production moved to the town of Fussen on the Austrian border for the post-escape scenes. Because his budget was already running low, director John Sturges abandoned his plan to shoot in several locations. Fussen had all the elements he needed to simulate the various places the escapees run through, including the nearby meadows for the motorcycle sequence.
- #107
The newspaper that Ashley-Pitt (David McCallum) reads on the train is the 'Völkischer Beobachter', a real newspaper produced by the National Socialist German Workers' Party for twenty-five years. It served as a propaganda tool for the Nazis and helped Adolf Hitler come to power. Its highest circulation was around 1.4 million. The headline of the issue seen in the film can be roughly translated as 'Soviets suffer high, bloody losses day by day'. Given that the escape takes place in the summer of 1944, this too can be seen as propaganda. After D-Day, the Nazis had transferred hundreds of thousands of soldiers to Normandy to halt the Allied advance, which allowed the Soviets to launch Operation Bagration on 22 June and pushed the Nazis back into Poland by the beginning of 13 July, triggering the Warsaw uprising. In total, the Soviet advance caused the Germans to lose approximately six hundred seventy thousand dead, missing, wounded and sick, including one hundred sixty thousand prisoners. Although the date of the escape is not clear, given the green pastures the escapees encounter around the Alps, it can be concluded that the newspaper portrayed the fighting in the east favorably.
- #108
- #109
The American Ray Rahner, who helped build the tunnel used in the real escape on which the film is based, was transferred to another camp shortly before the escape. Rahner, who discovered his entertainment talent while a prisoner, began broadcasting after the war under the name Ray Rayner and, from 1958, was a fixture of Chicago children's television for more than 20 years. Ray Rayner and Friends, which he hosted on WGN-TV between 1964 and 1980, was one of the region's most popular children's programs.
- #110
- #111
Before the great escape, another mass escape attempt took place at the same camp in June 1943. In this attempt, also run by the X Organization, 26 prisoners escaped under the escort of fake guards while being taken to another building on the pretext of delousing. All of them got away but were recaptured; several later took part in the great escape. Two prisoners of war, Lorne Welch and Walter Morison, tried to steal an aircraft but were caught before they could start the engine.
- #112
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- #114
James Coburn did not have an Australian accent, so the film emphasized his character's nationality in other ways. For example, in the workshop scene, Roger asks Sedgewick, 'Bluey, where's the air pump?' 'Bluey' was an affectionate nickname for redheads in Australian slang in the first half of the 20th century. This subtle detail went unnoticed by wide audiences, and many lists credit Sedgewick as 'Louis'.
- #115
The character Von Luger was based on the real commandant Friedrich von Lindeiner-Wildau. Like Von Luger, he was a colonel, a staff officer and a holder of the Pour le Merite (Blue Max) medal. However, while the pictures in von Luger's office are of World War I flying units, von Lindeiner-Wildau earned his medal in East Africa in 1905-1907 and was an infantry officer in World War I. He retired in 1919 and joined the Luftwaffe in 1937 at the invitation of Hermann Göring.
- #116
- #117
The real camp commandant, von Lindeiner-Wildau, was not executed after the escape, contrary to the film. When the Gestapo investigation revealed nothing new, he was removed from his post and faced the threat of a military court. He feigned mental illness to avoid prison. In February 1945, while serving as second-in-command of an infantry unit defending Sagan, he was wounded in the Russian advance and then surrendered to the British. He donated materials and stone for the memorial to the 50 men who died in the escape. He served two years in the London Cage and testified in the investigation into the Stalag Luft III murders. Former prisoners stated that he complied with the Geneva Conventions and was respected. He returned to his country in 1947 and died in 1963, two months before the film's release, at the age of 82.
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- #127
The entire responsibility for the escape failing with more than 76 prisoners rests with Cavendish. Had his measurements been correct, the tunnel would not have been 20 feet short. Cavendish was also the one who fell while coming out of the tunnel and drew the attention of the German guards.
- #128
Six different languages are heard in the film: English, German, French, Russian, one word of Spanish, and the two-word Latin phrase 'Lanius Nubicus' that Blythe says in the forgery scene. In addition, the song 'Wha Hae the 42nd', which Ives and MacDonald sing in the 4th of July scene just before 'Tom' is discovered, carries a slight Scottish dialect.
- #129
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Adolf Hitler had ordered that all of the captured 'Great Escape' prisoners (73 officers) be shot. Hermann Göring (who warned that such a massacre could lead the Allies to retaliate against German prisoners of war), Heinrich Himmler and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel dissuaded him from this decision. However, Hitler insisted that 'more than half' be executed; Himmler set the final number at fifty, and the Gestapo carried out these extrajudicial killings.
- #132
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James Garner was only two years older than Steve McQueen but was influenced by Steve's youthful style and rebellious attitude. In his private life Garner took up auto racing and began wearing turtleneck sweaters like his character Hendley in the film. Like Steve, he asked director John Sturges to add more dynamism to his role. McQueen took this not as a compliment but as Garner being favored, became paranoid, caused problems off set and refused to shoot scenes. His manager had to fly to Germany twice to calm him down; this sulking ultimately won him the motorcycle scenes that were not in the original script and his leap to stardom.
- #134
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The film says little about Roger's previous escape attempts; it only notes that he was known to the Germans as a high escape risk. In reality, the real Roger Bushell had been involved in a major escape at another camp, had escaped from a transport train with a Czech pilot and reached Prague, and had made contact with the Czech underground. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, he was caught in an SS raid and taken to Stalag Luft III; the film's depiction of the SS wanting to learn 'who helped him across the border' was historically connected to the Czech border and resistance.
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Most of the cast and crew were real war veterans; some were prisoners of war. Director John Sturges and composer Elmer Bernstein served in the United States Army Air Forces, while writer Paul Brickhill was a fighter pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force, shot down over Tunisia and sent to Stalag Luft III; he helped organize the 'Great Escape' but did not take part in the escape itself because of his claustrophobia. Screenwriter James Clavell was a captain in the British Army and spent three years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Java. Technical adviser Wally Floody was a Spitfire pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, shot down and imprisoned at Stalag Luft III; a pre-war mine tunnel engineer, he designed and built the three tunnels named 'Tom', 'Dick' and 'Harry' and earned the nickname 'Tunnel King Wally'. Executive producer Walter Mirisch was rejected by the Navy because of a heart murmur but served by writing technical articles at a bomber factory in Burbank. Steve McQueen served in the Merchant Marine and the Marine Corps; during an Arctic exercise he rescued five Marines when a tank broke through the ice and fell into the sea, and he was assigned to the honor guard protecting Truman's presidential yacht. Charles Bronson flew 25 missions as an air gunner on a B-29 and received the Purple Heart. James Garner served in the Merchant Marine and saw combat in Korea as a rifleman, receiving two Purple Hearts. Richard Attenborough filmed sorties over Europe from the rear gunner's seat in the RAF Film Production Unit. Donald Pleasence was shot down in a Lancaster bomber and held prisoner at Stalag Luft I; he staged plays for the other prisoners. James Donald wrote decrypted enemy messages in British Army Intelligence. Nigel Stock served in the London Irish Rifles and the Assam Regiment. Among the German actors, Til Kiwe was a paratrooper in the Afrika Korps and attempted escapes while a prisoner at a camp in Colorado. Robert Graf was wounded on the Eastern Front in the Wehrmacht. Hannes Messemer was taken prisoner by the Soviets and escaped on foot to Germany. James Coburn served in Korea. Lawrence Montaigne was in the Marine Corps. William Russell was in the RAF; David McCallum, Angus Lennie, Tom Adams, John Leyton and Arthur Atkinson were soldiers in the British Army; Atkinson also saw combat in Angola in the French Foreign Legion.
- #139
An urban legend claims that Harrison Ford was an uncredited extra in this film. That would place it four years before Ford's first recorded appearance. The rumor stems from the scene in which Bartlett and MacDonald sit down opposite two German officers on a train and a Gestapo agent asks for their travel documents. When the camera angle changes, we see in the foreground a young Nazi in a brown shirt, tie and a swastika armband on his left arm, who bears a striking resemblance to a young Harrison Ford. But two facts show that this is almost certainly not Ford: the film was shot entirely in southern Germany, so the extra was a local; and the person in question has a Kirk Douglas-style dimpled chin, which Ford does not.
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Richard Attenborough took his role in this film after Richard Harris dropped out. After establishing himself as a director, Attenborough, who only returned to acting with Jurassic Park (1993), said he would act again only if he were allowed to replace Harris, this time for the role of Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. He was turned down, but his grandson Tom Attenborough voiced Harry in the films' video games. Also appearing in the film was William Russell's son, Alfred Enoch.
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Most of the German characters speak English, while a few of the prisoners know German. One of them is Hilts. Hilts is caught trying to retrieve his baseball from the edge of the fence. The commandant asks him what he is doing there. Hilts says he wants to get out of the camp. The commandant orders his men in German to search Hilts. Hilts understands what is said and hands the commandant his wire cutters. The commandant says, 'You speak German.' Hilts replies, 'Jawohl, Herr Oberst.'
- #150
The German airfield where James Garner and Donald Pleasence steal a plane is Landsberg Air Base (Fliegerhorst Penzing), located a few miles east of Landsberg am Lech, Germany. After serving briefly as an American base between 1945 and 1957, it was handed over to the German Air Force (GAF). The base was used to train pilots of the newly formed GAF, employing the Harvard Mark IV, a version of the North American T-6 'Texan' manufactured by Canadian Car and Foundry. So technically, the T-6s in the film were actually Harvard Mark IVs. The shelter where Garner and Pleasence hide before stealing the German plane was a grass-covered concrete revetment built from 1957 onward for the Fouga Magister jet trainers used by the GAF. These shelters not only protected the aircraft but also muffled the sound of the high-pitched jet engines.
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At the 02:29:12 mark of the 1998 DVD release, as Hendley and Blythe fly over a lake toward Switzerland, the towers of Neuschwanstein Castle, built as a retreat by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, can be seen in the background. After Ludwig's death in 1886, the castle was immediately opened to the public and is visited by more than 1.6 million tourists a year, sometimes as many as 6,000 a day. The castle has appeared in many films, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), and inspired Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and Cinderella Castle at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
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Stalag Luft III was the site of two famous escape attempts, both of which were filmed. The first, in 1943, a year after the camp was established by the Luftwaffe for captured aircrew, involved the Wooden Horse gymnastics equipment; the second, the following year, formed the basis of the Great Escape. A year later the camp was liberated by Russian forces.
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The order to execute the fifty recaptured prisoners came personally from Adolf Hitler. These reprisal killings, carried out without any judicial process, violated the provisions of the 1929 Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Had Hitler been captured and tried on the strength of this order alone, quite apart from the scale of other Nazi atrocities, he would have been found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death.
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Referring to the SS's decision to imprison him with so many escapees, Bartlett says, 'There is a madness in their methods.' This is an inversion of 'Though this be madness, yet there is method in't' from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Sir Richard Attenborough appeared in Hamlet (1996). According to many scholars, the line is spoken by Polonius, who was inspired by Sir William Cecil; Attenborough played Cecil in Elizabeth (1998).
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Karl-Otto Alberty appears in two different roles in The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988). In both roles, he is opposite Natalie Jastrow, played by Ali MacGraw in the first miniseries and by Jane Seymour in the second. MacGraw was married to Steve McQueen at the time; Seymour was married to Sir Richard Attenborough's son, Michael Attenborough.
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Behind the Scenes (84)
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While Hilts (Steve McQueen) is celebrating the Fourth of July and pouring alcohol, he is brushed off by Goff (Jud Taylor) with an improvised line. Goff says "No taxation without representation" as Hilts drinks, and McQueen breaks character and gives him a look (and mouths, "What?"). Director John Sturges must have signalled to "just go with it" and the scene continued. But it is clearly an improvisation.
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In the German town where filming took place, the police set up a speed trap near the set. Many actors and crew members, including Steve McQueen, were caught. The police chief told McQueen, 'Herr McQueen, today we caught a few of your friends, but you won the prize.' McQueen spent a short time in jail.
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Although Steve McQueen did his own motorcycle riding, the five-metre fence jump was done by his friend Bud Ekins. At the time Ekins ran a motorcycle shop in Los Angeles; it marked the start of a new career for him. He later doubled for McQueen in Bullitt (1968) and performed most of the motorcycle riding in CHiPs (1977).
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In the Fourth of July celebration and liquor-spilling scene, Hilts (Steve McQueen) is caught off guard by Goff's (Jud Taylor) improvisation. When Goff says 'No taxation without representation,' McQueen breaks character and mutters 'What?' Director John Sturges must have given the 'keep going' signal, and the scene continued.
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The film was shot entirely in Europe, with a camp resembling Stalag Luft III built near Munich. The exterior escape scenes were shot in the Rhineland and near the North Sea, McQueen's motorcycle scenes in Füssen (on the Austrian border) and in the Alps. Interiors were filmed at Bavaria Studio in Munich.
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For the train scenes, a railway engine was rented and two prisoner wagons were bought and modified for camera equipment. Filming took place on the single-track line between Munich and Hamburg; a railway representative advised on when to pull aside to avoid collisions with scheduled trains.
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The German National Railway Administration provided trains and logistics for the train escape scenes. Arc lamps were mounted on the passenger cars; a Chapman crane was set up on a flatcar to film James Garner's and Donald Pleasence's stunt doubles jumping from the moving train. The administration assigned a special radio operator to warn the engineer about traffic on the main line. Filming was squeezed in between real services; work continued until a passenger train arrived, then the film train was pulled onto a siding.
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Director John Sturges's assistant Robert E. Relyea was an amateur pilot and offered to fly the plane in the aircraft escape scene. While simulating the plane losing power and descending in one sequence, a farmer in his field threw a rake at the aircraft bearing the Nazi emblem. On another occasion, he had to land the plane in a German aviation official's field and was arrested. In the crash scene, he flew the plane and knocked himself unconscious, and was taken to hospital.
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James Garner and John Leyton, on a day off, happened upon the Schwabing Riots on Leopold Strasse in Munich. Garner recounted being jostled in the clash between police and university students and being detained by a police officer, who confiscated his wallet and passport. The officer returned his belongings and released him, but when Garner criticised the police in the press, he had to apologise to avoid being deported.
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The motorcycle ridden by Steve McQueen was a cosmetically modified Triumph TR6 Trophy; stuntman Bud Ekins was a Triumph dealer. The motorcycle-sidecar combination that falls into the ditch was also a Triumph. These British models did not exist during World War II, meaning they are anachronistic.
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After two months of shooting at the camp, the crew moved to Füssen on the Austrian border for the post-escape scenes. Director John Sturges scaled back the shooting schedule because his money was running out; Füssen met all the needs, including the meadows required for the motorcycle sequence.
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Six different languages are spoken in the film: English, German, French, Russian, one word of Spanish, and the two Latin words 'Lanius Nubicus' spoken by Blythe in the forgery scene. There is also the Scottish dialect song 'Wha Hae the 42nd' sung by Ives and MacDonald in the July 4 scene.
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The German airfield where Garner and Pleasence hijack the plane was Landsberg Air Base (Fliegerhorst Penzing), a few miles east of Landsberg am Lech. It was briefly used as an American base between 1945 and 1957, then transferred to the German Air Force. The base used the Harvard Mark IV (a version of the T-6) manufactured by Canadian Car and Foundry. The shelter where Garner and Pleasence hide was a grass-covered concrete revetment built from 1957 for the Fouga Magister jet trainer aircraft used by the GAF.
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At the 02:29:12 mark of the 1998 DVD release, the towers of Neuschwanstein Castle are visible in the background as Hendley and Blythe fly over a lake toward Switzerland. The castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, opened to the public after his death in 1886, and attracts more than 1.6 million tourists a year.
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The individual events in the film are mostly real, but they were rearranged in terms of timing and the people involved (a note at the beginning acknowledges this). For example, of the seventy-six men who escaped, three got away and fifty were killed in reprisal; however, the murders were carried out in small groups, not all at once. After the war, fourteen Germans were executed for their roles in these killings.
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Some aspects of the escape remained secret during the production and were revealed only much later. The use of chocolate, coffee and cigarettes from Red Cross parcels to bribe Nazi guards is well documented. Other materials were kept secret and were not included in the book or the screenplay. Another fact that emerged years later was that the prisoners built a fourth tunnel named "George."
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Hilts removing the bed boards for the tunnel and Cavendish falling from the bunk recall a real event described in Paul Brickhill's book. Roger Bushell (portrayed in the film as Roger Bartlett) donated all his boards to set an example and persuaded his bunkmate to do the same. A rope system was set up to hold the beds in place, but the ropes broke and Bushell fell on his friend.
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United Artists wanted to shorten the film to increase daily ticket sales. John Sturges was furious. When UA demanded heavy interest on a million-dollar overrun, Sturges and executive Harold Mirisch sought a loan from Pacific National Bank. The bank's management agreed on the condition that they see the film in advance. They liked it but could not understand how the escapees obtained civilian clothes. The answer lay in the scene UA wanted to cut from the edit. So the sequence was preserved to satisfy the bank executives and secure the loan.
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Wing Commander Harry Day, one of the architects of the real "great escape," is not portrayed directly in the film. Brickhill's book tells his story. Before the escape, Day had made at least four mass escape attempts and two solo attempts, escaping from the camp twice and being recaptured both times. He was among the first to come out of the tunnel but was caught in Stettin. He escaped execution and was sent with three escapees to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There they dug another tunnel and escaped with one more British officer. They are believed to be the only survivors of an escape from that camp. They were all recaptured and held in solitary confinement until they were used as hostages at the end of the war. He survived his captors, reached the Allied lines and was instrumental in the safe release of the other hostages.
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Stalag Luft III North Camp, where the real escape took place, opened in late March 1943. The prisoners were transferred from other camps. The escape took place on the night of March 24/25, 1944, and the final executions are thought to have been carried out on April 12, 1944. The film's timeframe is therefore a little over a year.
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The scene in the film in which the Americans celebrate Independence Day by making liquor is thought to be based on the British setting up an alcohol distillery for Christmas Day 1943. Captain Guy Griffiths, who produced forged documents at Stalag Luft III, made a humorous illustration that survives to this day. From Easter 2010 onward, this picture formed the basis of a special exhibition on "Griff" at the Royal Marines Museum.
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The real tunnel "Tom" was discovered in August 1943 (not on July 4, as in the film). This tunnel was being rushed to completion for use by the Americans who had contributed to its construction, since it was known that all the Americans would soon be transferred to a new camp in the south. The tunnel "Harry" was completed more slowly over the winter, and "Dick" was used to store contraband and hide the excavated soil. There was a final rush to use the tunnel, because the winter had damaged the woodwork, especially the entrance hatch, and the prisoners feared it would be noticed. The night chosen had far-from-ideal weather and ground conditions (it was very cold and covered in snow), but it was the next moonless night. It was thought that if they decided to wait for better conditions, the tunnel would not remain intact or undiscovered for another month.
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Early in the production, John Sturges began receiving notes from United Artists requesting female roles. One even suggested that the dying Ashley-Pitt be placed in the lap of a beautiful girl wearing a low-cut blouse. The studio wanted to cast the role by holding a "Mrs. Prisoner of War Camp" contest in Munich. Sturges refused. The only women in the film are those seen in the background as Gordon Jackson and Richard Attenborough walk through the town, and none of them have any dialogue.
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Adolf Hitler's first order regarding the captured 'Great Escape' prisoners was even more extreme: he wanted all 73 officers shot. Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel dissuaded him, warning that such a massacre could lead to harsh Allied reprisals against German prisoners of war. Despite the arguments, Hitler insisted that 'more than half' be executed. In the end Himmler set the final number at fifty, and the Gestapo carried out these extrajudicial killings on the Führer's orders.
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The film says little about Roger's previous escape attempts; it only notes that the Germans knew him as a high escape risk. In reality, Roger Bushell had been involved in a major escape at another camp, then escaped from a transport train with a Czech pilot and made his way to Prague, where he made contact with the Czech underground. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, he was caught in an SS raid and sent to Stalag Luft III. The film states that the SS wanted to know 'who helped him across the border'; historically this was the Czech border, because the SS wanted information about the Czech resistance.
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Many members of the cast and crew were real military veterans, some of them prisoners of war; most had served in World War II. Director and producer John Sturges and composer Elmer Bernstein served in the United States Army Air Forces, while author Paul Brickhill was a fighter pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force, shot down over Tunisia. Brickhill was sent to Stalag Luft III and helped organize the 'Great Escape,' though his claustrophobia kept him from taking part in the escape itself. Screenwriter and producer James Clavell was a captain in the British Army and spent three years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Java. The film's technical adviser, Wally Floody, was a Spitfire pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, was shot down and was imprisoned at Stalag Luft III. Floody, a mine tunnel engineer before the war, designed and built the three tunnels named 'Tom,' 'Dick' and 'Harry,' earning him the nickname 'Wally the Tunnel King.' Executive producer Walter Mirisch, rejected for military service because of a heart murmur, contributed to the war effort by writing technical articles at a factory in Burbank that produced bombers. Steve McQueen served in the Merchant Marine late in World War II and then in the Marine Corps; he saved the lives of five Marines during an Arctic exercise and was later assigned to the honor guard protecting Truman's presidential yacht. Charles Bronson flew 25 missions as an aerial gunner on a B-29 in the United States Army Air Forces and received a Purple Heart for his wounds. James Garner served in the Merchant Marine, then joined the California Army National Guard, saw combat as a rifleman in Korea and received two Purple Hearts. Richard Attenborough served in the RAF Film Production Unit, flying several sorties over Europe to film bombing results. Donald Pleasence was on the crew of an Avro Lancaster when he was shot down over France, captured and imprisoned at Stalag Luft I, where he staged plays for the other prisoners. James Donald wrote decrypted enemy messages in British Army Intelligence. Nigel Stock served in the London Irish Rifles and the Assam Regiment. Among the German actors, Til Kiwe was a paratrooper in the Afrika Korps, was captured and made several escape attempts at a camp in Colorado. Robert Graf was drafted into the Wehrmacht, was wounded on the Eastern Front and was assigned to war production duties in Munich. Heinz Weiss and Hannes Messemer served in the German Army; Messemer was taken prisoner by the Soviets but escaped on foot to Germany. James Coburn served in Korea. Lawrence Montaigne was in the Marine Corps. William Russell was in the Royal Air Force, while David McCallum, Angus Lennie, Tom Adams, John Leyton and Arthur Atkinson were soldiers in the British Army; Atkinson also served in the French Foreign Legion and fought in Angola.
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Stalag Luft III was the site of two famous escape attempts, both of which were adapted into films: the first, in 1943, centered on the wooden horse gymnastics apparatus; the second, the following year, became the basis for The Great Escape. A year later the camp was liberated by Russian forces.
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Characters & Cast (47)
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Charles Bronson, who led the tunnel-digging operation, had worked in a coal mine before taking up acting. Thanks to that experience, he advised director John Sturges on how the earth should be moved. But because of his mining work, Bronson was claustrophobic, just like the character he played.
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Some of the actors in the film had actually been prisoners of war during World War II. Donald Pleasence had been held at Stalag Luft I in Germany; Hannes Messemer in a Russian camp; and Til Kiwe and Hans Reiser in American hands. Pleasence said the set captured a POW camp very realistically.
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Donald Pleasence was an airman in the Royal Air Force during World War II; when his plane was shot down he was taken prisoner and tortured by the Germans. On set, when he politely offered suggestions to director John Sturges, he was told to keep his ideas to himself. But when another actor told Sturges that Pleasence had been held in a German POW camp during the war, Sturges asked him to serve as a technical adviser on historical accuracy.
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The character Roger Bartlett was inspired by the British officer Roger Bushell, who took part in the real escape and, like Bartlett, was executed for his role in it. The scars around Sir Richard Attenborough's eyes are a tribute to Bushell, who suffered similar injuries in a skiing accident.
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The character Colonel Ramsey was largely inspired by the real Senior British Officer Herbert Massey. Massey had been injured when his plane was shot down and walked with a pronounced limp, so he could not take part in the escape attempt. In the film, James Donald walks with a limp and uses a cane in Massey's memory.
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Years later, Sir Richard Attenborough said that working with Steve McQueen on this film was one of the most difficult challenges he had faced and that their relationship on set was far from peaceful. McQueen was not quarrelsome, but if things did not go his way or were not as he believed they should be, he did not hesitate to let everyone know.
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The character Hilts (Steve McQueen) was assembled from several people, including Major Dave Jones, who was a squadron commander in the Doolittle Raid, crossed into Europe and was shot down and taken prisoner, and Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Sage, an O.S.S. agent captured in the North African desert. Lieutenant Colonel Sage had escaped execution as a spy by wearing a flight jacket and posing as a pilot. Another inspiration was Squadron Leader Eric Foster, who escaped seven times from German POW camps.
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The German characters were played by actors from Munich, including Hannes Messemer and Til Kiwe. Both had their own POW experiences. Messemer had been taken prisoner by the Soviet Army on the Eastern Front, escaped and walked hundreds of kilometers to the German border. Frick had been held in an American POW camp in Arizona and had tried to escape seventeen times.
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The intelligence officer MacDonald was based on George Harsh, a very good friend of the real Tunnel King, Wally Floody. They had been transferred to Belaria before the escape. Harsh was a fascinating character from the American South who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as a tail gunner. In the 1920s he had committed murder and been sentenced to life in prison. A medical student, Harsh saved the life of a dying inmate by performing an appendectomy on him. The Governor of Georgia pardoned him and set him free. After the war, he struggled with personal problems from the guilt of the crime he had committed in his youth. After fifteen years of captivity (twelve years on a Georgia chain gang, followed by three years as a prisoner of war), he found it hard to adjust to life. On Christmas Eve 1974 he shot himself but survived. A stroke shortly afterward left him partially paralyzed. Wally Floody and his wife then took him into their home in Toronto and cared for him. In the end, at his own request, he settled into the Veterans' Ward of Sunnybrook Medical Centre. He died in January 1980.
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After watching the footage, Steve McQueen decided his role was small and underdeveloped. He was particularly upset that his character all but disappeared for about thirty minutes in the middle of the film, and he demanded a rewrite and left the set. John Sturges admitted the half-hour gap was probably a problem, but the production was already behind schedule because of heavy rain, and he felt he could not spare the time for a rewrite and rescheduling. James Garner said that he and James Coburn got together to pin down McQueen's specific complaints. Garner later noted that McQueen wanted to be the hero but did not want to do anything overtly heroic that would clash with his character's cool, sardonic manner. At the same time, McQueen had never liked his character's calm acceptance of a cell sentence or the famous baseball glove and ball scene. Sturges considered writing the character out of the story entirely, but United Artists informed him that McQueen was indispensable to the film's success and that they would cover the cost of hiring an additional writer, Ivan J. Moffitt, to meet the star's demands. McQueen returned to work.
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James Coburn did not have an Australian accent; the film resorted to other methods to emphasise his character's nationality. For example, Roger impatiently says to Sedgewick as he enters the workshop, 'Bluey, where's the air pump?' 'Bluey' was an affectionate nickname for redheads in Australian slang in the first half of the 20th century. But this detail was too subtle for general audiences; that is why many lists give Sedgewick's name as 'Louis'.
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The character of Von Luger was inspired by Friedrich von Lindeiner-Wildau. The real commandant was also a colonel, a general staff officer and a holder of the 'Blue Max' medal. However, while von Luger's office is hung with pictures of World War I flying units, von Lindeiner-Wildau had earned his medal in East Africa in 1905-1907 and had served as an infantry officer. He retired in 1919 and joined the Luftwaffe in 1937 at Göring's invitation.
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James Garner was only two years older than Steve McQueen, but he was influenced by Steve's youthful style and rebellious attitude. Garner took up motor racing in his private life and began wearing turtleneck sweaters even as Hendley. Just like Steve, he lobbied director John Sturges to add more dynamism to his role. Rather than flattering his pride, this made McQueen suspect that Sturges favoured Garner, and he behaved off set in ways that went so far as refusing to shoot scenes. His agent had to fly to Germany twice to calm him down; yet this sulking ultimately won him the motorcycle scenes that were not in the original script and his leap to stardom.
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There is an urban legend that Harrison Ford appears in this film as an uncredited, non-speaking extra. The scene cited as the source is the one in which Bartlett and MacDonald board the train, sit down opposite two German officers, and a Gestapo officer asks for their travel documents. When the camera angle changes, we see in the foreground a young Nazi in a brown shirt, tie and swastika armband on his left arm. This young man really does bear a striking resemblance to a young Harrison Ford (Ford would have been 19-20 at the time). But there are two facts showing that this is not Ford: since the film was shot entirely in southern Germany, the extra is far more likely to be a local; and on closer inspection the person in question has a Kirk Douglas-style dimpled chin, which Ford does not have.
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Richard Attenborough took his role in this film after Richard Harris withdrew from the project. Attenborough, who returned to acting with Jurassic Park (1993) after proving himself as a director, said he would only take a role from then on if he was allowed to replace Harris; this time he was being considered for the role of Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. He was not chosen, but his grandson Tom Attenborough voiced Harry in the films' video games. William Russell's son Alfred Enoch also appeared in the film.
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Most of the German characters speak English, while a few of the prisoners know German. One of them is Hilts. Hilts is caught trying to retrieve a baseball from the edge of the fence. The commandant asks him what he is doing there. Hilts says he wants to get out of the camp. The commandant orders his men in German to search Hilts. Hilts understands what is said and hands the commandant his wire cutters. The commandant says, 'You speak German.' Hilts replies, 'Jawohl, Herr Oberst.'
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Karl-Otto Alberty appears in two different roles in the series The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988). In both productions he is opposite Natalie Jastrow; Ali MacGraw plays this character in the first, Jane Seymour in the second. MacGraw was married to Steve McQueen, and Seymour to Sir Richard Attenborough's son Michael Attenborough.
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Deeper Meaning (31)
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The medal around Colonel von Luger's neck is the Pour le Mérite, or Blue Max. This decoration of Prussian origin was automatically awarded to pilots who shot down eight aircraft in World War I (later raised to sixteen). The Nazis replaced it with the Knight's Cross, but officers who had already received it could continue to wear it.
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The director subtly shows that not all German soldiers were Nazis. Werner openly criticizes Nazi practices; Colonel von Luger wears a pre-Nazi medal, treats Gestapo instructions as recommendations, and is horrified when he reports the deaths of 50 men. He also releases Hilts and Ives from the cooler after 15 days (instead of 20) and does not stop the Fourth of July celebrations.
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Of the 23 recaptured prisoners of war who were not executed, 17 were sent back to the camp, four went to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and two went to Colditz Castle. However, only 15 returned to the camp; one was sent to Stalag Luft I after being held in a Czechoslovak prison, a sixth was placed in the execution line but ended up in a concentration camp and later joined the other four at Sachsenhausen.
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The newspaper Ashley-Pitt reads on the train is the Nazi propaganda sheet 'Völkischer Beobachter.' Its headline means 'The Soviets are suffering high, bloody losses day by day.' Since the escape in the film takes place in the summer of 1944, this propaganda conceals the fact that German troops diverted to Normandy after D-Day were leaving the way open for the Soviet Operation Bagration.
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American Ray Rahner helped build the tunnel used in the real escape. Shortly before the escape he was transferred to another camp. After the war, under the name Ray Rayner, he became one of the leading figures in Chicago children's television; from 1964 to 1980 he hosted the program 'Ray Rayner and Friends.'
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There had been another mass escape attempt at the same camp before the 'great escape.' In June 1943, twenty-six prisoners escaped under the escort of fake guards on the pretext of delousing; all were recaptured. Two prisoners of war, Lorne Welch and Walter Morison, tried to steal an aircraft but could not get the engine started.
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The real camp commandant, Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau, was not executed as the film implies. He was removed from his post after a Gestapo investigation and feigned mental illness. He was wounded in February 1945 and surrendered to the British. After the war he donated to the memorial for the fifty escapees, was held in a British camp, and gave testimony. Former prisoners stated that he complied with the Geneva Conventions. He returned to his country in 1947 and died in 1963, shortly before the film's release.
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Bartlett, referring to the SS's decision to imprison him with so many escapees, says, 'There is madness in their methods.' This is the reverse of 'Though this be madness, yet there is method in't' from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Sir Richard Attenborough appeared in the film Hamlet (1996); Polonius's line was inspired by Sir William Cecil, whom Attenborough portrayed in the film Elizabeth (1998).
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Career & Awards (1)
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Although Steve McQueen did his own motorcycle riding, there was one stunt he did not perform: the five-metre hair-raising jump over the fence. It was done by his friend Bud Ekins, who was running a motorcycle shop in the Los Angeles area when he was hired for the stunt. It marked the start of a new career for Ekins, who later doubled for McQueen in Bullitt (1968) and did most of the motorcycle riding on CHiPs (1977).
Life & Family (1)
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
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- IMDb
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