The Great Escape Collector’s Edition
Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review
By: The Dweeb
May 2004
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Finally, one of my favorite classic films gets the DVD edition it deserves. The older release that I have is absolutely terrible. Bravo MGM! If you have not seen this film, you are in for a treat. For some reason I tend like movies about prison breakouts, like Escape From Alcatraz or The Shawshank Redemption. This film will remind you a lot of the TV show Hogan’s Heroes, that’s because this film was the inspiration behind it. The best part about this unbelievable story is, that it’s mostly true! Yeah sure, the producers glitzed it up a bit and added a small amount of schmaltz, but the rest is pure entertainment.
The Great Escape is an ensemble picture, and there are many familiar (and young!) looking faces in here. A lot of these guys are now considered the godfathers of Hollywood. There some great chemistry in here between all the actors, who somehow manage to make a grim situation fairly light and jovial. At every possible moment, they make smartass remarks to their German captors, who don’t seem to have much in the humor department. There are a lot of great exchanges in here. My favorite is when the Luftwaffe Captain comes to surprise inspect the barracks where they are digging and Danny (Bronson) jumps out of the hole and into the shower, while Sedgwick (James Coburn) gets stuck just standing there. “And what are you doing?” “I’m watching him, I’m his lifeguard.” Classic.
There are a couple of notable performances in here. For some reason, Charles Bronson really sticks out, in a good way. Who knew the guy could really act? And with an accent to boot. Bronson plays Danny, a Polish fighter pilot in the RAF (That’s Royal Air Force to you non history buffs), and quite convincingly too. He is the man behind the shovel, digging the long and dangerous escape tunnel while keeping his major claustrophobia in check. Most people would lump him in the same category like a Stallone or Schwarzenegger. He’s got more range than both of them in here.
I know its good marketing, by putting a young Steve Mcqueen on the cover of both DVD editions, but really he only plays a secondary role. I wouldn’t consider him the star or lead of this film. In fact its hard to say who really is the lead, they are all played equally. His motorcycle skills notwithstanding, he may have been the worst performance of the film. His emotional outburts seemed flat at certain points, sounding like a high school actor reading his lines from a cue card. Still, he does mold himself into the bad boy American image that we know and love.
I’ve been watching many DVD’s now for quite some time, and I know the good from bad. This is a good one. The transfer for this reissue is great. The previous edition claimed to be widescreen, but it really was a fullscreen picture mangled widescreen. Its hard to explain, but this one gets it right. The picture and sound are crisp, only the opening credits seems a bit grainy. You have two extra options when viewing the film, the commentary track, or the trivia track. I liked the trivia track the most, it runs these little blurbs on the screen as the movie spools out.
The second disc is also chock full of goodies. There are some nice documentaries about how this film came about, and lengthy interviews with the real veterans of Stalag Luft III. The most interesting was the profile on the person whose is based on McQueen’s Virgil character. What an unbelievable life this guy lead, very interesting. Go watch it you’ll see what I mean.
The Great Escape is a great movie, and MGM has created another winner of a DVD for it. Now, what should I do with that crappy version I already have?
Reviewer’s Opinion: BUY IT!!
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