Rating: 
Summary: The Great Escape: A Great movie with great acting!
Review: Oh man! This was a very good movie!
The acting was superb beyond any words. The plot, wonderful and the thought that went into making this movie was/is incredible. This is the best WW2 movie I have ever seen in my entire life!!! It was very realistically, from what I've read on the real great escape, portrayed. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes WW2 movies. "The Great Escape" gets a five star rating from me, a satisfied movie watcher!
No one will ever be able to make such an interesting, fascinating, action-packed movie like this, ever again!
Rating:
Summary: Cool...
Review: What an absolutely cool movie! This is a timeless classic. Steve McQueen, need I say more...
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Summary: The best POW film ever made.
Review: There has been many POW films made, especially by the British, but this American/West German (?) production is the most memorable. The story simmers on a slow fuse, but John Sturges' direction keeps the pace steady and the action taut. At just under three hours, there is neither a scene wasted nor a lagging moment. The script creates real people in the POW camp, not cardboard stereotypes, and they are all fleshed out by excellent performances, especially from Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Donald Pleasence, and an unrecognisable Charles Bronson. Only the usually excellent James Coburn fails to convince as an Australian. If you like war films, then you will love this. If you love well crafted, well acted movies, then this is also for you.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Escape from boring movies...
Review: I love this movie! It has big stars like McQueen and Bronson, a back drop of Nazi Germany, and adventure of the highest kind where men's lives are at stake every minute. I was amazed to learn that virtually every detail of the prisoners' escape was based on fact. Just the pleasure of watching the ingenuity and creative solutions the men come up with is worth the price of the movie.It's hard to find a movie with so many wonderful characters fighting with such unstoppable determination.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie
Review: This is a great movie, a classic, and worth buying for the home. This is something that can be watched over and over.
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Summary: Your favourite stars in your favourite war movie
Review: This story of a valiant escape attempt by a group of Allied soldiers from a P.O.W. camp is very well known here in England. So well known, in fact that Jasper Carrot once joked that he was the only person foolish enough to have bought it on video', when it's shown at least once a year on television). But in this case, familiarity has not bred contempt. The film is still respected enough by schedulers to guarantee a showing Easter Day or Christmas Day, not bad for a forty-year old film. Many of these Christmas Day viewers must be watching for their second, third or even fourth times. So why does this classic endure when other, similar films seem dated or trite? It isn't necessary for me to list all of the star-studded cast here (check imdb.com for a full roll call), but I wouldn't mind betting that most people have one or two of their favourite actors here, drawn mainly from England, Scotland and America, and from film and television. My favourite must be Gordon Jackson, who this time leaves the stereotyped 'Jock' role to Angus Lennie and instead plays a tough intelligence man. But I bet you have your favourite too. It is a tale of heroism, a fight against the odds. No matter what happens to our chaps, we know that they have the moral high ground and that the Allies 'deserve' to win the war. The ingenuity of the escape plans is a bonus and some of the escape equipment is worthy of the recently filmed first James Bond Film. I recently made a fat lamp from a food tin, butter and a piece of cloth, just to see whether it was bond-style fantasy. It isn't, and the lamp works remarkably well. These gadgets and others were based on reports by genuine escapee Major Pat Reid, which adds a historical feel to the film. The classy music by Elmer Bernstein also contributes to the atmosphere, and is so catchy that people still whistle it at England/Germany football matches. The unsung hero of The Great Escape is director John Sturges. Whilst the stars of this film were household names, Sturges surprisingly remains near-anonymous, despite his success. This is all the more surprising when you consider that this man brought us The Magnificent Seven, The Eagle Has Landed, Ice Station Zebra, The Old Man And The Sea, and Gunfight At The O.K. Corral among many others. Here, the cast he assembled, their performances and the build-up of tension is all exemplary, particularly in the tunnel scenes, where you can almost feel the claustrophobia. ...You need to own a copy of this film so you can watch and re-watch Steve McQueen's motorbike chase, or other favourite parts. Also of interest is a short documentary on the DVD version.
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie- lousy DVD
Review: I would rate this movie 5 stars on its own merit, but for the terrible quality of the DVD. The rating above (3-video, 2-sound) is generous-- rarely have I seen such a grany, pitiful film- like a bad copy of a VHS original. Shame on UA/MGM for doing this beautifully photographed old film such an injustice.
Rating:
Summary: Allied prisoners triumph over their Nazi captors.
Review: An army of Allied POW's captured during WWII attempts to stage a grand breakout from a German POW camp. But these prisoners aren't your typical POW's - rather they've been culled from many other camps across the wartime Reich based on their notoriety as escape artists. In the depths of WWII, with no assurances of an allied triumph that will set them free and led by the greatest breakout of them all (Richard Attenborough), the prisoners join a massive conspiracy aimed at taking as many as 2 - 300 POW's over the fence. The details of the plan are elaborate, involving not only the digging of tunnels, but the forging of documents, map making, altering allied uniforms into civilian looking clothes, the surreptitious elimination of the tunnel soil and the underground economy formed to pay for the effort. (You'll never look at that candy bar the same way again; if you smoke, you might want to hold onto those cigarettes). The underground army is largely Anglo with a few Americans (especially Steve McQueen, but also James Garner). "Escape", much like the plan involved, couldn't possibly work, but by sheer grit and determination, both triumph. Nuanced performances give the camp population an incredibly diverse sound. The script adds further depth in its numerous subplots - the claustrophobia of the chief tunneler (Charles Bronson), the plight of Steve McQueen's "Cooler King" (named for the special cell he's sent to after countless botched escape attempts), the chief forger (Donald Pleasance) who realizes that he's going blind - adds further depth. Though it's a big film (nearly 3 hours!), the humanity of the characters and the deft script will keep you from getting bored. The film's greatest triumph is in its humor - not a funny film, the script manages to achieve a sort of gallows humor mirroring what you expect from heroes in search of a stiff upper lip, and a shortcut out of enemy territory. Wrapping it up is a winning score by Elmer Bernstein, one that ranges between lighthearted and epic. Get this film.
Rating:
Summary: Good Film, Bad Music Score
Review: The Great Escape was a good film. There was action, drama and some comedy relief. The only problem with it though was the music score was a little too uplifting, it needed to be more serious. Also in the film the way the SS officers treated the prisoners was too easy. They were much more physical with them than the movie showed. Other than that it was a good film, I would recommend it to anyones DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT classic film, FLAWED DVD-- stick to the VHS
Review: "The Great Escape" is one of the all time great WW2 films. Compared to such epic 'battle' films as "A Bridge Too Far" or "The Longest Day" it tells a smaller scale story, which allows a more subtle attempt at character portrayals without losing the sense of spirit and energy that characterizes the best war movies of that era. The story, though condensed in time and complexity from Paul Brickhill's original book, is deftly told and holds the viewer throughout what is a fairly long film. We are presented with a no doubt simplified but still engrossing idea of how POW escapes were planned and executed, followed by what almost seems a separate adventure film as 70 men in small groups make their separate ways across wartime Germany to wildly different fates. The two halves are united by a thoroughly appealing group of mismatched characters- one gets the feel of the sort of bundled together bands of strangers who had to form a weird camaraderie in these camps if they were to get through. Some of the great emerging stars of the 1960s are featured, not least Steve McQueen as the irreverent Hiltz. Richard Attenborough does an excellent turn as the mastermind of the escape, just hinting at the exhaustion of a man who'd done this too many times. There are too many to list, but check out the early Charles Bronson as a Polish RAF officer and tunneler.
That said, the DVD is only for those DVDophiles and techie fanatics obsessed with widescreen for its own sake, whose tastes seem to have hijacked the industry. One ought not to be supportive of those companies unwilling to offer the fullscreen choice or to take care in their formatting decisions. The problem is widespread but this film is one of the worst I've seen. What a disappointment! This film features few wide vistas and does not need such a narrow screen presentation, but it offers one so thin on the screen that even at 27 inches of TV one has to squint half the time. Having half the screen black is NOT desirable, especially when augmented by tiny actors! ALL DVDs should have both formats, or at least a better aspect ratio, unless I am the last person in North America without a 16x9 home theatre. It costs the studios NOTHING to make the concession, as evidenced by those discs which do have full-screen or a more balanced aspect. Come on corporate hacks! Make use of all that data storage capacity and widen your customer base as a result. Until that happens, everyone else can stick to the VHS version. It is SUPERB and loses nothing whatsoever in translation. See the film full size and marvel at its story and the zest with which its makers told it.
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