THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)

For Baby Boomers, this is THE WWII prisoner-of-war action/adventure.  And, with its sharp mid-point pivot from comic comradery to sacrifice & atrocities (even with its famous tag-end uplift), something of a coming-of-age epiphany for a generation.  Its near three hours so well structured & paced by director John Sturges, working at the peak of his craft, you hardly feel it.*  Fun to see so many rising players being born or solidifying personalities.  Note our Italian poster plumping for Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson & James Coburn, in spite of billing order.*  Not that second-billed James Garner ain’t worthy, incongruously debonair in his clean white turtleneck among the drab captives.  The cool quotient in this film off the charts.  Yet what a lot of short actors among the Brits!  Most 5'5" or 5'6", Gordon Jackson a tower at 5'9".  McQueen & Bronson about the same; Garner & Coburn the only two topping 6'.  The story beats of the dig and escape by now so familiar, thru this and dozens of imitators, its continued freshness a surprise.  And if it’s more a great Pop experience than a great film, P.O.W. escape pics from Renoir, Bresson & Lean dwarf it, Sturges smart enough to grab a couple of things from Lean’s BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI/’55: James Donald as sobersided survivor as well as the use of a counter-intuitive jaunty theme to start us off.  There, the ‘Colonel Bogie’ March, here Elmer Bernstein’s upbeat earworm which he uses as leitmotif.  As to the many complaints about three or four Americans taking on roles carried out in real life by Brits, there’s films a’plenty to cover that slight.  Try THE PASSWORD IS COURAGE with Dirk Bogarde pulling triple duty in roles played here by Richard Attenborough, Steve McQueen & James Coburn. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-password-is-courage-1962.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Though apparently not distributed as a Road Show engagement (few saw commercial potential in the film), it certainly has the appearance of being designed for one.  Note the fade-to-black at about 1'31" which would have been used in many countries that divide all their films into two acts.  Stateside it was likely used by Drive-Ins for a concession break.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Bronson & Coburn got rare roles worthy of their much underestimated talent in Walter Hill’s debut as writer/director, HARD TIMES/’75.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/hard-times-1975.html