A great moment in a good war movie can stir up emotions up in even the hardest of moviegoers. Think of "The Ride of the Valkyries" in Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now." The ambush of the Acheron in "Master and Commander." The German U-Boat crew singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" in "Das Boot." One of the more joyous scenes (before the Nazis regain the upper hand) in the pantheon involves a Triumph motorcycle, barbed wire, and the "King of Cool."
"The Great Escape" might be considered more of a "war is fun" film than a "war is hell" film. John Sturges' 1963 adaptation of Paul Brickhill's 1950 non-fiction book of the same name chronicles prisoners and their efforts to escape the German Pow camp Stalag Luft III in 1942. The cast is stacked, the story influential, and its climactic motorcycle stunt –- much of which is done by star Steve McQueen,...
"The Great Escape" might be considered more of a "war is fun" film than a "war is hell" film. John Sturges' 1963 adaptation of Paul Brickhill's 1950 non-fiction book of the same name chronicles prisoners and their efforts to escape the German Pow camp Stalag Luft III in 1942. The cast is stacked, the story influential, and its climactic motorcycle stunt –- much of which is done by star Steve McQueen,...
- 11/13/2022
- by Anya Stanley
- Slash Film
The car chase was one of many innovations of the New Hollywood era, where on-location authenticity supplanted studio backlot fakery. Yes, there were car chases in movies before Peter Yates' "Bullitt," but they tended to be laden with process shots featuring actors at the wheel while the image projected behind them veered out of control. Even an A-plus production like Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" settled for soundstage-bound sequences that manufactured the sensation of high-speed vehicular mayhem.
Perhaps they were thrilling to people at the time because they had nothing quite so thrilling as a comparison. In any event, once Yates unleashed his 11-minute, practically shot pursuit through the perilously hilly streets of San Francisco in 1968's "Bullitt," there was no going back. If you weren't filming real cars barrelling at unsafe speeds through city streets or country roads, you were wasting everyone's time.
And it is only right...
Perhaps they were thrilling to people at the time because they had nothing quite so thrilling as a comparison. In any event, once Yates unleashed his 11-minute, practically shot pursuit through the perilously hilly streets of San Francisco in 1968's "Bullitt," there was no going back. If you weren't filming real cars barrelling at unsafe speeds through city streets or country roads, you were wasting everyone's time.
And it is only right...
- 10/23/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
John Sturges' 1963 war epic "The Great Escape," based on true events surrounding a massive prison break from a Polish Nazi P.O.W. camp during World War II, climaxes with one of the more famous stunts in cinema history. After having escaped from the camp, American soldier Captain Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen) boosts a motorcycle and leads his Nazi pursuers on a glorious chase through the German countryside toward the Swiss border. According to cinema lore, and confirmed in Marshall Terrill's 2020 biography "Steve McQueen: In His Own Words," many of the shots in that final chase are of McQueen himself. McQueen was an avid motorcyclist, and was given permission to ride his very own 650 cc Triumph TR6 Trophy on camera for "The Great Escape." Thanks to the magic of editing, McQueen also played one of his own motorcycle-mounted Nazi pursuers in the same sequence.
The chase ends with a triumphant...
The chase ends with a triumphant...
- 8/22/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
In the annals of all-time great movie stunts, Steve McQueen jumping a six-foot barbed-wire barrier on a motorcycle in John Sturges' "The Great Escape" ranks awfully high. The thrilling sequence comes near the end of the film, when McQueen's dogged Captain Virgil Hilts, aka "The Cooler King," is on the run from German soldiers. As they close in from every direction, the stubborn American Pow is forced to gun the bike up a hill and scale the impediment sideways. He deftly manages the first leap, but has his tires shot out before he can attempt the second jump, at which point he would've been home free into Switzerland.
Worshiped as a man's man of an actor, McQueen prided himself on performing his own stunts. He came by his daredevil disposition naturally; his father was a barnstorming pilot, which entailed everything from wild aerial acrobatics to insanely risky stunts like wing walking.
Worshiped as a man's man of an actor, McQueen prided himself on performing his own stunts. He came by his daredevil disposition naturally; his father was a barnstorming pilot, which entailed everything from wild aerial acrobatics to insanely risky stunts like wing walking.
- 8/17/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
I must have at least 7 home video releases of John Sturges’ classic, starting from VHS, but they’ve come up with a good reason to return: a 4K transfer with color and contrast grading that to me better represents the movie. The thrilling, not-too-violent escapades of Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, David McCallum, James Coburn, Charles Bronson & James Donald are no longer timed so that everything looks like a washed-out high noon: both the 4th of July and much of the mad-dash escape scramble are meant to take place near the crack of dawn. In this case ‘Much darker’ is much richer; faces don’t get blown out. And I do see more detail in the enhanced image. So here we go again, happily.
The Great Escape 4K
4K Ultra HD
Kl Studio Classics
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 172 min. / Street Date January 11, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner,...
The Great Escape 4K
4K Ultra HD
Kl Studio Classics
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 172 min. / Street Date January 11, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner,...
- 12/27/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Images from this picture were burned into our Boomer childhood brains … we actually sat still for almost three hours to watch it. John Sturges’ epic show is like a fine-tuned watch — its unbreakable story is populated by ideal characters that become instant heroes, just for acting like normal men that want free of confinement. It’s really about freedom — after two hours in the Pow compound, the fugitives set loose in the wide, green beauty of Germany might as well be escaping into a wonderland of light and space. In its own way this show made our parents’ wartime experience come alive — it’s The picture to interest kids in events of the past.
The Great Escape
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1027
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 172 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 12, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer,...
The Great Escape
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1027
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 172 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 12, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer,...
- 5/2/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
King of the second-unit cinematographers, Rexford Metz is second to none when it comes to getting shots on the ground, in water or high in the sky.
He operated the camera during the famed 10-minute chase sequence in “Bullitt” on the streets of San Francisco in 1968, and it was his coverage of muscle cars — and stuntman Bud Ekins’ motorcycle slide — that viewers could feel on the seat of their pants.
Metz was born in Los Angeles in 1937 to Glen and Mildred Metz. His dad built race car engines, and Metz graduated from Fairfax High School in 1955 with knowledge of two things: fast cars and using his 4×5 Graflex camera to photograph them.
On “Bullitt,” Ekins, who raced motorcycles with Metz, introduced his friend to star Steve McQueen, who got him hired on the film as a background actor. But after Metz shared his passion for cameras with Dp Bill Fraker, the cinematographer helped him change jobs.
He operated the camera during the famed 10-minute chase sequence in “Bullitt” on the streets of San Francisco in 1968, and it was his coverage of muscle cars — and stuntman Bud Ekins’ motorcycle slide — that viewers could feel on the seat of their pants.
Metz was born in Los Angeles in 1937 to Glen and Mildred Metz. His dad built race car engines, and Metz graduated from Fairfax High School in 1955 with knowledge of two things: fast cars and using his 4×5 Graflex camera to photograph them.
On “Bullitt,” Ekins, who raced motorcycles with Metz, introduced his friend to star Steve McQueen, who got him hired on the film as a background actor. But after Metz shared his passion for cameras with Dp Bill Fraker, the cinematographer helped him change jobs.
- 9/27/2019
- by James C. Udel
- Variety Film + TV
Taking a page from Quentin Tarantino’s Instagram post this week imploring Cannes Film Festival audiences to keep the details of his competition film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood secret, Festival Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux did a highly unorthodox thing at the beginning of tonight’s world premiere gala screening. After conferring with Tarantino in the lobby for a few minutes, he came down and jumped onstage to tell the turnaway capacity crowd — in French, of course — to keep spoilers to themselves and not reveal key plot points. That is a very good idea because one of the great joys of this terrific, entertaining, funny, bittersweet, personal, movie-lover’s film is not knowing where it is going. Tarantino once again presents something completely unexpected, mixing together fiction and real events in ways that are meant to be discovered, not ruined. Do yourself a favor and don’t let anyone spoil it for you.
- 5/21/2019
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This January will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Thursday, February 1st
The Great Escape*
Based on the true story of an elaborately coordinated attempt to break out of a Nazi Pow camp, John Sturges’s The Great Escape is one of the most rousing adventure films of all time, anchored by Steve McQueen’s rebellious turn as “Cooler King” Captain Virgil Hilts. Featuring a powerful ensemble that includes Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn, the film pulses with the humor of the prisoners’ camaraderie and the relentless suspense of their plan. Never released on DVD or Blu-ray, this 1993 Criterion laserdisc edition includes a long-unavailable commentary featuring Sturges,...
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Thursday, February 1st
The Great Escape*
Based on the true story of an elaborately coordinated attempt to break out of a Nazi Pow camp, John Sturges’s The Great Escape is one of the most rousing adventure films of all time, anchored by Steve McQueen’s rebellious turn as “Cooler King” Captain Virgil Hilts. Featuring a powerful ensemble that includes Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn, the film pulses with the humor of the prisoners’ camaraderie and the relentless suspense of their plan. Never released on DVD or Blu-ray, this 1993 Criterion laserdisc edition includes a long-unavailable commentary featuring Sturges,...
- 1/31/2018
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Exclusive: Charley Boorman narrates Steve McQueen motorcycle doc.
TV presenter and motorcycle enthusiast Charley Boorman, son of director John Boorman, has lent his voice to new documentary about Steve McQueen.
Cardinal Releasing handles sales on Desert Racer about McQueen’s love of motorcycles, with the producers looking for final finance to complete the film.
Jon Brewer (B.B. King: The Life of Riley) directs and produces for Emperor Media from Laura Royko’s script. The feature includes interviews with Chad McQueen, Steve’s son.
The hour-long biopic documentary, currently in post-production, explores the iconic actor’s obsession for motorbikes, his relationship with stunt double Bud Ekins and the film they were in together The Great Escape.
Through their shared love of bikes, the duo created a new track-racing bike, which McQueen took to England where he met up with the Rickman brothers of Metisse motorbikes, and the ‘Desert Racer’ was born.
TV presenter and motorcycle enthusiast Charley Boorman, son of director John Boorman, has lent his voice to new documentary about Steve McQueen.
Cardinal Releasing handles sales on Desert Racer about McQueen’s love of motorcycles, with the producers looking for final finance to complete the film.
Jon Brewer (B.B. King: The Life of Riley) directs and produces for Emperor Media from Laura Royko’s script. The feature includes interviews with Chad McQueen, Steve’s son.
The hour-long biopic documentary, currently in post-production, explores the iconic actor’s obsession for motorbikes, his relationship with stunt double Bud Ekins and the film they were in together The Great Escape.
Through their shared love of bikes, the duo created a new track-racing bike, which McQueen took to England where he met up with the Rickman brothers of Metisse motorbikes, and the ‘Desert Racer’ was born.
- 5/20/2015
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Maverick cop Steve McQueen hunts down the killer of a key witness in this taut suspense thriller. Robert Vaughn plays the ambitious politician whose motives remain murky, but it's the car chase - a sublimely edited roller coaster of a ride (this won an Oscar for best editing) following McQueen's Mustang down San Francisco's hills at more than 100mph - that went on to inspire countless inferior imitations. Trivia: Bullitt stuntman Bud Ekins had earlier filmed the legendary motorcycle sequence (again featuring McQueen) in The Great Escape.
- 11/1/2013
- Sky Movies
I’m not sure we’ll get every story of heroism, bravery, and ingenuity that made World War II so endlessly fascinating, but by now we seem to have gotten the best of them. The war had a scope involving millions of people on a global scale never seen before so the stories of the atrocities and acts of mercy continue to be uncovered and justly celebrated. And yet, one of the most enduring tales was not about a battle. Instead, the true story of the massive escape from Germany’s Stalag Luft III demonstrates a never-say-die attitude that demoralized the enemy. Thinking themselves clever, the Nazis collected their most troublesome prisoners and placed them in one facility, thinking they would be able to keep a better eye on them. They were all officers and treated a such, with the expectation that they would not cause trouble.
What the Germans...
What the Germans...
- 5/15/2013
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
This year, The Great Escape celebrates its golden anniversary. To honor the 50th anniversary of that film’s release, we’ve compiled 50 interesting facts about the film, actors, the true story, the novel and more, and we’re giving two lucky North American readers the chance to win the anniversary blu-ray of the film.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment are proud to announce that The Great Escape will arrive on Blu-ray for the first time on May 7, 2013. Based on a true story, The Great Escape is “a motion picture that entertains, captivates, thrills and stirs” (Variety). In 1943, the Germans opened a maximum-security prison-of-war camp, designed to hold even the craftiest escape artists. By doing so, they unwittingly assembled the finest escape team in military history – brilliantly portrayed by Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn – who worked on what became the largest prison breakout ever attempted.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment are proud to announce that The Great Escape will arrive on Blu-ray for the first time on May 7, 2013. Based on a true story, The Great Escape is “a motion picture that entertains, captivates, thrills and stirs” (Variety). In 1943, the Germans opened a maximum-security prison-of-war camp, designed to hold even the craftiest escape artists. By doing so, they unwittingly assembled the finest escape team in military history – brilliantly portrayed by Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn – who worked on what became the largest prison breakout ever attempted.
- 4/24/2013
- by Simon Gallagher
- Obsessed with Film
The project "Triumph Aka 40 Summers Ago" has found a home at Sony Pictures with Jerry Weintraub producing, a source familiar with the project told TheWrap. The true story follows the relationship between Steve McQueen and his stunt double, Bud Ekins. It covers the early years of their friendship in the 1960s and their adventures as the first American team in the European motor-cross race. Also read: Jerry Weintraub: How I Snookered Elvis Presley, Saved Sinatra Brandon Murphy and Philip Murphy are writing the screenplay for the project, which is in development. Susan Ekins...
- 9/28/2012
- by Liza Foreman
- The Wrap
The motorcycle ridden by Henry Winkler's character in Happy Days is set to go under the hammer.
The 1949 Triumph Trophy TR5 made a number of appearances with Winkler as The Fonz in the hit TV show, but has not been ridden since the series came to an end in 1984.
It was originally supplied to the show by Hollywood stuntman Bud Ekins, Steve McQueen's body double who completed the famous motorcycle jump over a barbed wire fence in 1963 movie The Great Escape.
Nick Smith, of auctioneers Bonhams, says, "This is the coolest motorbike ever - you would be hard pushed to find a cooler one. The two things that represent The Fonz are his black leather jacket and his bike... It would be quite something if you could say that you owned Fonzie's motorbike."
The auction will place in Los Angeles on 12 November.
The 1949 Triumph Trophy TR5 made a number of appearances with Winkler as The Fonz in the hit TV show, but has not been ridden since the series came to an end in 1984.
It was originally supplied to the show by Hollywood stuntman Bud Ekins, Steve McQueen's body double who completed the famous motorcycle jump over a barbed wire fence in 1963 movie The Great Escape.
Nick Smith, of auctioneers Bonhams, says, "This is the coolest motorbike ever - you would be hard pushed to find a cooler one. The two things that represent The Fonz are his black leather jacket and his bike... It would be quite something if you could say that you owned Fonzie's motorbike."
The auction will place in Los Angeles on 12 November.
- 10/7/2011
- WENN
In 1993, audiences gazing on the truly imposing sight of dinosaurs come to life in Jurassic Park felt the same sense of jaw-dropping awe displayed by the movie’s human characters. Nothing in movie history could compare to what Steven Spielberg and his CGI crew were able to put on the screen: not the herky-jerky stop-motion-animated lizards of 1950s monster-on-the-loose movies like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), nor the pet store lizards made up to look like supposedly threatening beasts in Irwin Allen’s back lot The Lost World (1960), and certainly not a man in a rubber reptile suit rampaging through a miniature Tokyo in the original Godzilla (1954). But as impressive a sight as it was, once the novelty of Jurassic’s CGI creations wore off, so did some of their appeal.
Jurassic Park earned a whopping $350.5 million domestic gross, and while its sequels were, without question, major box office successes, none...
Jurassic Park earned a whopping $350.5 million domestic gross, and while its sequels were, without question, major box office successes, none...
- 1/2/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Deadline exclusively announced yesterday that Brad Pitt is in "negotiations" to star in the comedic crime saga Cogan's Trade, reteaming him with Andrew Dominik, who directed The Assassination of Jesse James. "Pitt will play Jackie Cogan, a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that takes place during a high stakes poker game held under the protection of the mob." Deadline also hears that Pitt is interested in next making a movie out of a Mark Greaney novel, The Gray Man, a drama about a CIA operative-turned-hired-killer, who is targeted for death by a team assigned to rescue him.
By this morning, there were at least 94 links sourcing the Deadline post. Per yesterday's post on the bullshittery of Nikki Finke, once again, what is the real value of this trade story? Let's look at 16 other projects Brad Pitt has in the works. Will Cogan's Trade be next? Will The Gray Man be next?...
By this morning, there were at least 94 links sourcing the Deadline post. Per yesterday's post on the bullshittery of Nikki Finke, once again, what is the real value of this trade story? Let's look at 16 other projects Brad Pitt has in the works. Will Cogan's Trade be next? Will The Gray Man be next?...
- 11/3/2010
- by Dustin Rowles
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By Graham Hill
Welcome back to my visit with producer Robert E. Relyea, who continues to share with us some more anecdotes from his remarkable career. If you remember from part one, the principal wooded exterior location for the Elvis Presley picture Kid Galahad (1962), was the small mountain community of Idyllwild, California, near Palm Springs. Relyea had kept the location in mind for his next film, The Great Escape (1963). As hard as it is to believe, director John Sturges and United Artists were all set to shoot right there in sunny southern California, building the Pow camp in the California hills with only some second unit shots done on location in Germany. This strategy would have obviously ensured that the movie was shot on a relatively low budget. Relyea told Sturges “It’s not exactly the Black Forest, but it does have...
By Graham Hill
Welcome back to my visit with producer Robert E. Relyea, who continues to share with us some more anecdotes from his remarkable career. If you remember from part one, the principal wooded exterior location for the Elvis Presley picture Kid Galahad (1962), was the small mountain community of Idyllwild, California, near Palm Springs. Relyea had kept the location in mind for his next film, The Great Escape (1963). As hard as it is to believe, director John Sturges and United Artists were all set to shoot right there in sunny southern California, building the Pow camp in the California hills with only some second unit shots done on location in Germany. This strategy would have obviously ensured that the movie was shot on a relatively low budget. Relyea told Sturges “It’s not exactly the Black Forest, but it does have...
- 3/9/2009
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Bud Ekins, the man behind the most famous motorcycle stunt in movie history, has died aged 77. Ekins was in the saddle for the iconic scene in The Great Escape, when Steve McQueen's character jumps a barbed wire fence on a bike to avoid capture as he escapes a German prisoner-of-war camp. A longtime friend of movie star McQueen's, Ekins also doubled for the actor in 1968 crime drama Bullitt, and taught the film star everything he knew about off-road biking. Born in Hollywood in 1930, Ekins was a life-long motorbike enthusiast and aficionado and is credited as being one of America's leading collectors of vintage and rare motorcycles. As well his work on the McQueen films, Ekins also served as a stuntman on James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Animal House, and The Blues Brothers. He founded bike race the Baja 1000 and was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall Of Fame in 1999.
- 10/11/2007
- WENN
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