Re-visiting “The Great Escape”

Several actors from the 1963 film "The Great Escape". In top row from left are Richard Attenborough; Steve McQueen and James Coburn; while in bottom row from left are James Garner; Charles Bronson; and David McCallum.

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Everybody talks about that climactic motorcycle chase on the Swiss border. But for me, the best scene in “The Great Escape” is when the prisoners of war figure out how to get rid of all that dirt produced as they were digging three long tunnels to freedom.

It symbolized the ingenuity, determination, and drive of Allied prisoners of war to escape from their German captors.

There is so much more to “The Great Escape” though. I was able to re-visit it all when I tripped over the movie, being shown on PBS this past Saturday night commercial-free.

It was way back in the ‘80s, on a Sunday afternoon, when the same thing happened.

I was flipping channels and “The Great Escape” was just starting.

War effort
The first thing I recall is Hilts, the character played by Steve McQueen, who had been caught trying to escape. He was sentenced to 30 days in the cooler, and passed the time by throwing a baseball against the wall and catching it over and over and over.

The next thing was seeing Roger Bartlett, played by Richard Attenborough, being sent to the camp. He had masterminded escapes and was such a thorn in the side of the Germans, he was essentially told if he tried to escape again, he would be shot.

However, his mission, as was the mission of all prisoners of war, was not only to escape. It was also to disrupt the German war effort as much as possible.

Consequently, Roger hatches a plot to disrupt the war effort. The prisoners will simultaneously dig three tunnels, code named Tom, Dick, and Harry, which will enable hundreds of prisoners to escape. That will force the Germans to divert a massive amount of resources from the war to recapturing these escaped prisoners.

The prisoners then went to work.

Tunnelling and more
The whole process of digging the tunnels fascinated me. Not only was there digging, but shoring up the tunnels from collapsing as they got longer and longer; forcing air in so the diggers could breathe; and the disposal of the tons of dirt from the tunnels.

While that was going on, there was also all the work that went into helping prisoners once they escaped. That meant forging documents and creating the clothes and accessories for them to blend in and pass through Germany back to neutral Switzerland.

“The Great Escape” spent much of the first three-quarters of the movie detailing all of these efforts, as different prisoners had different roles.

The prisoners
One of the things that struck me about “The Great Escape” was how many famous actors were in the movie, and how young they looked.

Steve McQueen played Hilts, an American, who just never stopped trying to escape. Later on, Roger used that to throw the Germans off. He deduced if all escape efforts stopped, the Germans might suspect something big was up. Later, he also convinces Hilts to map out the area beyond the prison camp and get captured on purpose to provide the necessary intelligence. Hilts reluctantly agrees.

Charles Bronson is brilliant as Danny Welinski, a Polish pilot in the Royal Air Force, who is a master digger. In fact, when they start digging, he draws “17” on the concrete before they start chiseling. It represents the 17th tunnel he will be digging. We soon discover how courageous he truly is because, as much as he digs, he battles claustrophobia.

James Garner, one of my favourite actors, played Hendley, a master scrounger. Whenever, the prisoners needed something, Hendley somehow found a way to get it – usually by bribing the guards. The best example was when a camera was needed to forge identity documents. The prisoners donated all the chocolate, cookies and treats they received in care packages, and Hendley got them a camera by bribing a guard.

Donald Pleasance, played Colin Blythe, who was a master forger. He led the efforts to manufacture all the necessary documents needed for the escapees to make their way through Germany undetected. Sadly, he was going blind rather quickly. He and Hendley were good friends. When Rogers deduces Colin is going blind, and tells him he cannot go out with the rest of the prisoners, Hendley vouches for Colin, and will take responsibility for him.

James Coburn, plays Sedgwick, an Australian who makes the tools for escape. Unfortunately, Coburn did the worst Australian accent.

David McCallum, suave and dignified as always, played Eric Ashley-Pitt, whose major contribution was finding a way to dispose of the dirt produced by the tunneling. He creates a system of bags that go inside a prisoner’s pants. There are strings in the pockets so, when these bags are filled with dirt, the prisoner pulls them as he is walking in the yard. The dirt slowly, imperceptibly runs down the prisoner’s legs, and is kicked in with the topsoil as he walks.

Richard Attenborough, best known as a director, goes in front of the camera to play Roger Bartlett, the mastermind of the operation.

The escape
After some setbacks, including “Tom” being discovered, a date is set for the escape. When Hilts emerges from the tunnel, he discovers they are about 30 feet short. Instead of being in the trees beyond the camp, they emerge in the open space between the fence and the trees. This hampers the escape effort. Ultimately, it leads to detection, but a lot of prisoners do get out.

Roger is captured and seemingly will be returned to the camp. As he talks to other re-captured prisoners, he says the whole effort was a success, because the Germans were forced to divert resources to find the prisoners. Suddenly, the truck stops, the prisoners are all told to get out to stretch their legs. A machine gun is set up, and they are all shot. Just as the Germans warned Roger would happen if he tried to escape again.

It is quite sobering.

Eric Ashley-Pitt is at a train station, and sees a guard from the camp who will surely recognize the prisoners in disguise at the station. He shoots the guard and is gunned down as he tries to flee afterwards.

As promised, Hendley looks after Colin. They commandeer a plane and it looks as if Hendley will fly them to freedom. Then the plane suffers mechanical difficulties and Hendley is forced to crash land. The Germans see this and, as they approach, Colin stumbles into the open and is shot. As Colin lies dying, and Hendley surrenders, Colin tells him he should have stayed behind. Hendley is later returned to the camp.

Sedgwick inadvertently stumbles into an ambush by the French Resistance of some German officers on a restaurant patio. Once the Germans are cut down by gunfire, they take the escaped Australian with them to freedom.

Danny also escapes. He, and another prisoner who helped him overcome his claustrophobia, find a boat and row their way to freedom.

Hilts is also re-captured, in that iconic motorcycle chase. The movie ends with him going back into the cooler, getting his ball and glove, and passing the time throwing the ball against the wall.

The book
I only saw “The Great Escape” that one time back in the '80s. In a time before streaming and on-demand services, there were not a lot of ways to watch an old movie.

I contented myself with finding the books of movies I liked. Often, they were novelizations of the scripts.

That was not the case with “The Great Escape”. I actually acquired two copies of the actual book the movie was based on, written by Paul Brickhill. One, I am pretty sure I ordered through scholastic books. The other was in the shelf of my class room for German 10. After some convincing, I got the teacher to let me take it.

I read the book, and it is much different than the movie, as is always the case. In particular, it goes into detail on what happens to the prisoners after they escape, and it is different. For example, Hendley ends up not back in the same camp, but in a concentration camp.

Parting thoughts
When I stumbled on “The Great Escape” on that Sunday afternoon in the ‘80s, at first it reminded me of the comedy “Hogan’s Heroes”, which was also set in a German prisoner-of-war camp.

It had the same look, because they were made at roughly the same time.

However, “The Great Escape” was anything but funny as the movie progressed.

It was a great, sprawling movie, that has drawn some criticism for not being true to the original book.

I appreciate that but, as the years pass, and any memory of the Second World War seems to be disappearing, a movie that shines a lot on that part of our history is important.

Given I am embarking on writing my own family history, with a large part of it set in this same period, I am glad I stumbled on this movie.

I am glad I re-visited “The Great Escape”.