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The Great Escape

1963 2h 53m
Adventure Drama War
MOVIEVIBE Rating
7.9/10
2,935 reviews
Your Rating
The Great Escape

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.

"Put a fence in front of these men... and they'll climb it!"

Top Billed Cast

Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Hilts 'The Cooler King'
James Garner
James Garner
Hendley 'The Scrounger'
Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Bartlett 'Big X'
James Donald
James Donald
Ramsey 'The SBO'
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Danny 'Tunnel King'
Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Blythe 'The Forger'
James Coburn
James Coburn
Sedgwick 'Manufacturer'
Hannes Messemer
Hannes Messemer
Von Luger 'The Kommandant'

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

J John Chard Verified TMDB Critic
2019-09-02

Not just great, simply magnificent more like!

"Wait a minute, you aren't seriously suggesting that if I get thru the wire and case everything out there, and don't get picked up, to turn myself in and get thrown in the cooler for a couple of months so you can get the information you need"

Smart, witty and directed with adroit hands by John Sturges, The Great Escape is standing the test of time as a joyous multi cast family favourite. Based on the real accounts of allied soldiers escaping en mass from a German POW camp back in 1942, the film is involving from start to finish, due in the ma...

G GenerationofSwine Verified TMDB Critic
2023-01-10

I can't watch this any more. It's a fun movie, one that my dad made me watch as a kid. One that I loved...

.... and then Eddie Izzard killed it for me. Now whenever I try to watch it all I do is think about his stand-up bit. I think it was from his "Dressed to Kill," maybe "Circle," but whichever it was, that is how you know you're hysterical, when you forever utterly ruin a classic movie because your routine surpasses the film you're making fun of.

Anyway, Izzard had a point, so it's fair I can't not think of him whenever I watch it. He turned Steve McQueen's character into a joke and I...

C CinemaSerf Verified TMDB Critic
2024-06-01

Got to be the definition of an all star (albeit all male) cast in this gripping demonstration of just how inventive and ingenious people can be when incarcerated and facing a bleak (if any) future. Each character in this WWII POW drama brings something different to this ensemble of style and imagination. Richard Attenborough stars as the proverbial pain in the ass to his Nazi guards having repeatedly escaped before, and he puts together his "X" organisation to work every scheme imaginable to get people out of this supposedly escape proof "Super-Stalag ". Steve McQueen forms an unlikely allianc...