A Man Called Jones: The Real Virgil Hilts (2002) (V)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

John Cork

Writer:

John Cork (writer)

Release Date:

20 May 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Cast

James Coburn	...	Narrator
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Doolittle	...	Himself (archive footage) (as General James H. Doolittle)
David Jones	...	Himself

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Trivia:

This documentary is featured on the 2-Disc Collector's Edition DVD for The Great Escape (1963), released in 2004.

Movie Connections:

References The Great Escape (1963)

Interesting look at the man behind Virgil Hilts.

One of the things you'll learn from watching the many wonderful documentaries on the Bonus Features disc of The Great Escape is that lots of men were distilled down into the few lead characters in the movie, mostly because there were hundreds of men involved and it would have been impossible to put them all in the movie, for obvious reasons. This short documentary also goes into some detail about things that were changed for the movie, but it concentrates on the man who provided the inspiration for the character of Virgil Hilts. Like all of the documentaries on this disc, I highly recommend this one. The escape from that prison was truly an astounding accomplishment, which is an odd statement since only three of the 76 men who escaped made it to freedom, and 50 of them were gunned down in cold blood once captured. But the story is truly one that was meant to be told and retold, and any insights into the making of the movie or the truth of what happened is definitely worth checking out.