File:The_Great_Escape_(film)_poster.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
OverviewAI-generated
The Great Escape is a 1963 American war, drama, adventure, and thriller film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay was written by James Clavell, W. R. Burnett, and Walter Newman, with music composed by Elmer Bernstein. The cast includes Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, and James Donald. Produced by The Mirisch Company and distributed by United Artists, the film is set in Germany during World War II and focuses on a prisoner-of-war camp and flight.
The film has a runtime of 165 minutes according to some records, while other sources list it as 172 or 173 minutes. It was released in 1963 with dates ranging from June 20 to July 4. The production had a budget of $4,000,000 and generated $11,700,000 in revenue. The film received a Metascore of 86 and an IMDb rating of 8.2. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing and received the National Board of Review Top Ten Films award.
Synthesized by Vinony from 47 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, OMDb, IMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 445 inbound references to The Great Escape, and connects out to Time, myopia and prisoner of war.
It sits within the topics 1960s adventure drama films, 1960s prison films and 1960s war adventure films.
Vinony links it to 44 Wikipedia language editions.
Film · TMDB
7.9The 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.
Cast
- Steve McQueen as Hilts 'The Cooler King'
- James Garner as Hendley 'The Scrounger'
- Richard Attenborough as Bartlett 'Big X'
- James Donald as Ramsey 'The SBO'
- Charles Bronson as Danny 'Tunnel King'
- Donald Pleasence as Blythe 'The Forger'
Themes
- prison
- uniform
- swastika
- prisoner
- based on novel or book
- nazi
- escape
- optimism
- freedom
- machinegun
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Ratings
IMDb
8.2/10
276,075 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
94%
Metacritic
86/100
- Year
- 1963
- Runtime
- 172 min
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- Approved
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 12 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- John Sturges
- Screenplay by
- James Clavell W. R. Burnett
- Based on
- The Great Escape , 1950 book, by Paul Brickhill
- Produced by
- John Sturges
- Starring
- Steve McQueen James Garner Richard Attenborough James Donald Charles Bronson Donald Pleasence James Coburn
- Cinematography
- Daniel L. Fapp
- Edited by
- Ferris Webster
- Music by
- Elmer Bernstein
- Production company
- The Mirisch Company
- Distributed by
- United Artists
- Release dates
- June 20, 1963 ( 1963-06-20 ) (London) July 4, 1963 ( 1963-07-04 ) (United States)
- Running time
- 172 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Languages
- English German French Russian
- Budget
- $3.8 million
- Box office
- $11.7 million
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- historical film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Main subject
- prisoner-of-war camp
- Director
- John Sturges
- Screenwriter
- Walter Newman
- Cast member
- William Russell
- Composer
- Elmer Bernstein
- Producer
- John Sturges
- Production company
- The Mirisch Company
- Cinematographer
- Daniel L. Fapp
- Narrative location
- Germany
- Duration
- 165
- FilmAffinity ID
- 537233
- Distribution format
- video on demand
Show 11 more facts
- publication date
- 1963-07-04
- film editor
- Ferris Webster
- title
- The Great Escape
- nominated for
- Academy Award for Best Film Editing
- distributed by
- Netflix
- Commons category
- The Great Escape (film)
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- set in environment
- aircraft
- review score
- 94%
- capital cost
- 3800000
- box office
- 11744471
Sources (15)
via Wikidata · CC0
~32 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Great Escape is a 1963 American epic war adventure film starring Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough and featuring James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, John Leyton and Angus Lennie. It was filmed in Panavision, and its musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. Adapted from Paul Brickhill's 1950 non-fiction book of the same name, the film depicts a heavily fictionalized version of the mass escape by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from German POW camp Stalag Luft III in World War II. The film made numerous compromises for its commercial appeal, including its portrayal of American involvement in the escape.
The Great Escape was made by The Mirisch Company, released by United Artists, and produced and directed by John Sturges. The film had its Royal World Premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London's West End on 20 June 1963. The Great Escape received critical acclaim and emerged as one of the highest-grossing films of the year, winning McQueen the award for Best Actor at the Moscow International Film Festival, and in later years has gained a cult following. The film is also noted for its motorcycle chase and jump scene, which is considered one of the best stunts ever performed.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Great Escape” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.