Having finally finished the book A Gallant Company it was time to rent “The Great Escape”, the movie based on the infamous WWII POW Camp escape attempted by various international military offers in Sagan, Poland. The book was great, and the movie was fun, if slightly off in their facts.
I had to laugh when Steve McQueen’s character attempted to escape via jumping a motorcycle over a fence from Germany into Switzerland. I had to chuckle when James Coburn’s character originally attempted to bikeride his way to safety. And yet again when Charles Bronson stole a rowboat and rowed his way to freedom. Because those things most certainly did NOT happen since there was a 3-feet deep layer of snow when the actual escape took place in 1944. Despite those obvious discrepancies the rest of the movie is pretty faithful, if generalized, to the actual event.
One interesting note for my mom: imDB records that he became a Christian before he died – in fact, he became a Christian before he was diagnosed with cancer, through his friendship with Rev. Billy Graham.
Anyway, the movie was fun and worth renting.
And Steve McQueen was hot and I can see why the women loved him.
3 1/2 bouts of claustrophobia out of five.
Movie trivia: Steve McQueen rode the motorcycles for most of the stunts because he was a better rider than the stunt riders they had hired. The insurance company drew the line at jumping the wire, however, so a stunt double did that one particular jump. But in the scenes where he is being chased by the German riders, they did the takes in two phases–he rode by in his escape costume, then they filmed it again with him in a German uniform and merged the two to get the scene. The hired riders weren’t willing to take the chances he would, so this was the only way to get the “Germans” to follow him across some of the obstacles. :clap:
Yeah, I had seen a biography of him which indicated that he became a Christian before he got sick. Awesome. I remember seeing that movie with my brother when I was a young teenager. We went to some theater at the Shady Grove Music Fair. Weird things we remember…
My husband is probably in the top ten greatest fans ever of “The Great Escape”, so we’ve viewed it MANY times. He has a birthday coming up, so I think I’ll get the book for him. Thanks for the idea!
I enjoyed The Great Escape – seen it twice (the second time to look at Steve McQueen!)
I had no idea that McQueen became a Christian before he died – awesome. He was hot. :up:
I think I need to add The Great Escape to the queue and the wishlist. :duh: