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Author Topic: The Great Escape  (Read 683 times)

Offline Kev367th

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The Great Escape
« on: May 09, 2005, 04:55:36 AM »
Watched the movie again after many years and it piqued my interest.

Found this site which gives loads of info including reality vs movie.Was actually very suprised how close to reality it was.

http://www.historyinfilm.com/escape/real1.htm
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Offline Captain Virgil Hilts

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The Great Escape
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2005, 06:54:46 AM »
Yeah, several of the people involved were consulted, one of them stayed on location the whole time.

They added the Hilts character to get McQeen and to add the amount of Hollywood needed to make it a big hit. They added the rest of the USAAF characters because they were actually there up until right before the escape.

Despite what a lot of people say, most of the men who were really there LIKED the movie, and understood the departures from the actual event. They felt the movie was not a documentary, but rather a Hollywood movie, and they understood why.
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Offline Charon

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The Great Escape
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2005, 09:57:02 AM »
The book by Paul Brickhill is excellent.

Charon
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Offline midnight Target

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« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2005, 10:06:33 AM »
I bought the DVD. Found out that Donald Pleasance who played 'the forger' was a POW himself.
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Offline Meatwad

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« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2005, 10:09:36 AM »
I think I have the book somewhere, it was a real good story to read.
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Offline Jackal1

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« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2005, 10:15:20 AM »
There is one thing about this movie that cannot be denied ------> staying power.
Seems every month or so someone comes up with a thread about this movie. I still enjoy rewatching it every year or so. Was a great movie then and now.
  Two movies of these times I remember really stand out in memory for me. They are The Great Escape and Strategic Air Command.
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Offline bunch

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The Great Escape
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2005, 02:18:15 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Charon
The book by Paul Brickhill is excellent.

Charon

every book i have read by 1st & 2nd WW escape artists have been excellent.  if you liked that one likely you would enjoy The Wooden Horse[/b] & Free as a Running Fox[/b] as well
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Offline Charon

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« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2005, 06:10:05 PM »
Thanks Bunch!

Charon
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Offline Charon

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« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2005, 06:14:13 PM »
Not to hijack, but...

But here's a link I came across from a British soldier in WW2 that covers the fall of Singapore and his time as a POW working on the Thai railroad. A long read, very long, which is good because it's a great story...

http://www.pegasus-one.org/pow/len_baynes1.htm


Charon
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Offline Guppy35

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« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2005, 08:22:49 PM »
Wally Floody, a Canadian was the tech advisor on the movie.  He'd been one of the main tunnel guys right until he was purged with a few other notables prior to the break.

The biggest problem I had with the movie, and I do like it, was that they didn't really tell us much about Roger Bushell, who was Big X.  

He's almost a secondary character in the movie when he was the driving force behind it all.  His story in itself would make a good movie

Not directly connected to the Great Escape, but a story I got from a Spitfire XII pilot named Tom Slack who became a friend while I was researching the XII back in the 80s.  He'd been forced down in August 44 and ended up in Stalag Luft III.  He was asked all kinds of questions by the other POWs who'd been there a while and he promised that the war would be over by Christmas or he'd run the camp naked.

Of course it wasn't and he did, although he was allowed tennis shoes, a baclava and a yellow ribbon tied around a certain part of his anatomy :)

Typical POW humor

Tom passed away a couple years ago now.

Dan/CorkyJr
« Last Edit: May 09, 2005, 08:29:35 PM by Guppy35 »
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Offline bunch

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« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2005, 09:29:08 PM »
lol, i occasionally print thing out from the 'net & attach them inside the appropriate book.  that will be one of them
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Offline -tronski-

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« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2005, 02:56:28 AM »
Great story...but what a fantastic cast!

Sir Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, James Garner, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn (terrible aussie accent!), Gordon Jackson, David McCallum....and of course Steve McQueen...

An example of they truly don't make em like they used too....

 Tronsky
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Offline Angus

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« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2005, 09:42:37 AM »
I have one great book about all sorts of escape attempts.
It's called "Escape from Germany", editor Tim Coates.
It covers the great escape and so many others, mostly they failed.
My favourite is the "Wooden Chest" escape, but there were some other smart ones as well.
Some even escaped from Colditz, - dressed as German officers!
Anyway, some odds and ends from the RL of the great escape, and other bits....

- One of the ones involved was RAF ace R.S.Tuck. His luck was there, - he was transferred some day or so before the escape
- Only some 2 or 3 actually made it all the way back. Some 50 were executed, - the order was from Hitler.
- Some VIP's from the LW went furious about the executions. Nowotny for instance.
- Brickhill was also a RAF person, and a POW himself.
- The actor Denholm Elliot was also a POW.
- The famous actor James Stewart was a bomber pilot, but never a POW. Clark Gable was just a rear gunner.

Lots of material in WW2, wasn't it....
-
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Offline Jackal1

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« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2005, 09:50:01 AM »
Another great book dealing with POWs is King Rat .
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Offline bunch

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The Great Escape
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2005, 05:44:00 PM »
King Rat was a movie also
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