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The Great Escape (1963) - Full Reaction (Patreon)

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2022-11-04 19:03:29
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2026-06
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Every time guys, you are right-every time! I go in subconsciously dragging my feet a bit and then every-time I am in awe and delighted and immersed in these classic movies. I loved every character in this movie. I have read since about the history and what was true and what was not etc. It was a wonderful story. I am better for seeing this classic.

I was a bit confused how cordial and well they seem to have been treated knowing what was happening to others during WWII but it seemed these were not SS fanatics running these POW camps? Even in movies focusing on the US soldiers, they seem to have a lot of disdain and mistreatment of German POW's? Would love to know your take on that? Or point me to what I should read? 

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[Full Reaction] The Great Escape (1963)

Comments

Eddie Perkins

It's always fun to go back and watch movies I missed. They were showing this one on TCM tonight, so I took advantage of that. What a great movie and cast. Stephen McQueen was an American actor and racing driver. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the 1960s and 1970s. He was nicknamed the "King of Cool." And I love older movies. I wish you do a reaction to Deliverance.

Clifford

Such a great movie.

Daniel Fowler

One of my favorite movies, I also was "dragged" into it by my dad when I was kid. Thank God he made me watch it, its so good

Brian McGovern

I think this camp was run by the Luftwaffe (German airforce )from what I recall, and not by the SS.

Jason Fulbright

So glad you liked it. Will this get a YT edit too?

Lamar Smith

Well, Dearest Cassie, I’m from Central Texas and the Geneva Convention specifies that if you take a prisoner captive, you must imprison him in an environment similar to where he was captured. Austin & Cairo are on the same line of latitude. So, when the Afrika Korps was destroyed in Africa, hundreds of thousands of prisoners were captured. Many were housed in Central Texas…..

David Freese

Awesome movie and so glad you enjoyed it. Not sure about American camps but I do believe most POWS in German camps where treated better than other camps. I also don't know any specific books but if you find any history book about WW2 they can usually tell about those camps. 👍👍👍😁

nick bell

Glad you enjoyed it.

Daniel Fowler

does the quality get better? its 360 for me

Bubba Fett

Yes most of the allied (british and american) prisoners captured by the Germans were downed airmen and most their POW camps were run by the German Air force (Luftwaffe) and were not part of the SS. I love this one and another classic Stalag 17(fictional mostly) my grandfather was a gunner on B17s and was shotdown and captured in Poland after bombing Bleschhammer so these always fascinate me. Their treatment of US and brit prisoners was not the norm, was considerably more humane compared to how they treated prisoners on the eastern front and especially compared to the Japanese treatment. Bridge on river Kwai and unbrok.en and greatest raid are great depictions of prisoner conditions in the pacific.

Jon Johns
>>94975826

Daniel, when a content creator uploads a video to YouTube, it is available to the viewer right away... But at the lowest res. After several hours of processing on the server side, it gets better. Early birds get worms 🤣 I'm impatient too, so... Yeah. Sorry about that.

Daniel Fowler
>>94975826

Thank you! I’m never this early lol. No reason to be sorry hha. I may come back in a few hours haha

James1035

This wasn’t a concentration camp this was a POW camp. The treatment was different. Plus I’m not so sure how much allied soldiers knew about the atrocities in the camps when this takes place.

Jon Johns

"I love, 'based on true story's'" (like Fargo!?)

Dryfesands

I am thrilled you liked this one! One of my all time favourite movies. Watching now with relish. The camp was run by the Luftwaffe, the German Airforce. As such it was done with a sense of respect for the Aircrew who'd been captured and the Geneva Convention. This is the source of the conflict between the Commendant and the SS and Gestapo guys who eventually see him off (presumably to a not very nice fate). For real Aerial Combat geeks, the Commendant is wearing the Pour le Merite (The Blue Max) and there are pictures in his office of what seem to be Pflaz DIII Aircraft. It's safe to assume he was probably a fighter ace of the First World War therefor. I always feel a bit sorry for the guy. As Bartlett points out though, it should be remembered, the Luftwaffe and the German army can't shirk their responsibility for what occurred. We were "fighting the bloody lot". It'll be interesting to see how you contrast this with the experience of the prisoners in "Bridge On The River Kwai". Same war, different circumstances.

Lamar Smith
>>94975618

In Central Texas there is a large contingent of Germans dating from the 1800s. New Braunfels, Fredericksburg (Named for Frederick the Great), Schertz, many other towns. German prisoners were divided into two basic groups: fanatical Nazis and just regular German boys who’d fought, were captured and were perfectly content to live out the rest of the war in Texas. A system was set up for this second group that they could be paroled out of camp every day to work on German farms in Texas and there are numerous stories of very close relationships between farmers (and more than a couple of farmer’s daughters) and captured German soldiers. At least one Texan-German farmer petitioned the Government to let a captured soldier remain in America after the war, saying he felt like the boy was like a son to him. Another petitioned the government to allow a German young man stay to marry his daughter. The government reluctantly refused. POWs MUST be repatriated after the war. Not government’s choice.

Brad P

Back in the 1990s, I met one of the American soldiers who was a prisoner at the camp. Along with the other Americans in real life, he was transferred out of the camp before the escape took place but he was involved in some of the early planning stages.

Gábor Árki

I think they only treated Western soldiers that well because they thought of them as equals, or almost equals. POWs captured in the Eastern front had a much worse treatment, much closer to the concentration camps, due to the fact that they thought of Slavic people as inferior. If I remember correctly Hitler didn't really want a full out war with neither Britain nor the USA. After occupying France, he was hoping to make peace with Britain so that he can focus on the East and take a "Lebensraum", a "living space" by beating the Soviets whom he considered the arch enemy. Looking forward to see how many people Cassie has recognized. :D

Water Leaper

Been waiting on this one for so long! Thanks!

Nathan

I'm not an expert, but POWs were treated relatively better than some civilians in the occupied regions for a number of reasons. I believe most stalags and oflags were controlled by the Luftwaffe with prisoners being interrogate by the abwehr. Guidelines of the Geneva Convention were mostly followed. Neither the luftwaffe or abwehr (who were generally professional soldiers) had mush love for the SS (Schutzstaffel) who they usually regarded as street brawlers of gutter dwellers ("kanalrotzen") and a lion's share of the mistreatment was by the SS. This from interviewing POWs and older vets on a Russian history project.

Patrick Flanagan

WW2 was different depending on where you were fighting. In the North African, Mediterranean and Western Europe theaters, as ferocious as the fighting was, soldiers still - mostly - abided by the Geneva Conventions governing war. Captured uniformed soldiers on both sides were not as a rule tortured or mistreated, were interned in camps and given food and shelter and access to the International Red Cross. This was done by both Axis and Allies to ensure that their captured men would be safe in enemy hands. (Non-uniformed combatants, like the French Resistance, were another matter.) But on the Eastern Front where the Axis fought the Soviets, and in the Pacific, it was total war. Wars of extermination. POWs taken on the Eastern Front were often tortured, mistreated, died frequently in captivity, or were forced to switch sides essentially as enslaved soldiers. In the Pacific, Japanese soldiers almost completely refused to surrender either out of fanaticism or fear of retaliation against their families in Japan, and had to be wiped out in battle. And the fighting between Japan and China was just as bloody as the Eastern Front.

Lamar Smith
>>94975618

There was constant tension inside the camps set up between San Antonio and New Braunfels between the diehard Nazis and the young German boys content to live out the rest of the war in captivity. Three or so diehards hatched a scheme to escape their camp, make their way to the Gulf of Mexico in a makeshift kayak made of sticks and sewed together raincoats, go around Florida, up the East Coast, stow away on a ship out of New York, cross the Atlantic and rejoin the fight.

Lamar Smith
>>94975618

The first part of the plan, breaking out of their camp in the middle of the night went well enough. They were picked up the next morning by MPs a few miles from their camp where they had wandered into a Texas rancher’s pasture and come upon the rancher’s rather ill-tempered Longhorn bull that chased the Nazis up a tree until dawn and American Military Police saved them much to their gratitude, or so the story goes.

RX2904

As a German citizen, parents immigrated from the Philippines 52 years ago though, with my grandpa fighting against the Japanese in WWII which makes it kinda complicated, I find it important to stress that not all German armed forces back then were Nazis. This movie was one of the very first movies my dad introduced to me and I have very fond memories looking back. And the very first thing i noticed was that the camp commander and Werner and the other guards were kinda alright. The SS on the other hand. Well, this movie makes the effort of making a distinction between Luftwaffe and SS and I am glad it did.

Andrew

Great movie and even greater book. In reality while some Americans were key in the early stages of the planned escape unfortunately none were actually able to make the escape attempt as they were all transferred to a different camp before the tunnel was ready. And Danny, the “tunnel king” is based off fellow Canadian Wally Floody who was the chief engineer behind the tunnel and the escape. Overall is a fascinating and amazing story. Glad you enjoyed

ENC SW DV Rush

Donald Pleasance was an aircrewman and shot down during WW2. He was put in a POW camp and tortured. He kindly offered advice to the driector, Sturges, who told him to keep his "opinions" to himself. Another actor informed Sturges that he had been a POW, after which Sturges requested his technical advice and input on historical accuracy from then on. POW camps and concentration are different and prisoners were treated differently in the many different camps. People were divided based on how the Germans classified them. The big concentration camps that were used for exterminating the Jews, like Auschwitz, was actually made up of over 50 different camps, of which like only 3 were used for extermination, and several were used for political prisoners or prisoners from other countries, while several others were used as factories for companies like BMW, Audi, Siemens, Mercedes Benz, etc,... where slave labor was used in the war effort. The Geneva Convention was signed in 1929 by Germany, but that didn't stop them from commiting horrific acts on and off the battle field. In 1949, civilian protections were added due to the civilian treatment in concentration camps.

Mark Lackie

If you watch closely, the German motorcyclist chasing Steve McQueen is..... Steve McQueen.

William

This is a true story. You can even today visist the camp and see the 3 tunnels Tom, Dick and Harry (I have been). And yes they shot dead all they captured in cold blood. However it was a British Officer POW camp. Nothing to do with the Americian's, but hey Hollywood

Todzilla

After almost 2 years Cassie STILL doesn't trust us? We know our movies. Well most of us do 😉 Cassie needs to watch "Hogan's Heroes". It also shows how POWs were treated by the Germans in WWII. Granted it's a COMEDY, so a lot of it is over the top, but the basis is that the Germans did take somewhat "ok" care of the POWs.

Lamar Smith

From my reading it both depended on who was running the camp you might be assigned to, as well as what you did. The camps run by the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, were most hospitable to captured fighter pilots. Bomber crews seemed to be a bit worse treated as they were raining destruction down on Germany but there still seemed to be a sort of Luftwaffe-Army Air Corps feeling of camaraderie. The Army Air Corps was losing so many bomber crews that they had a habit of artificially promoting American air crews because the Germans awarded slightly better privileges in captivity. Officers got the most creature comforts, privates the least. To make any potential aircrewman’s life ever so much easier, the Army (The Air Force didn’t become a separate branch until AFTER WWII) would promote some pimply faced kid to a rank it normally would have taken someone decades in the service to achieve.

James1035
>>94977395

I can't remember 100%. but wasn't Hitler bombing Britain before he invaded Russia?

Lamar Smith

Most probably the saddest stories of American captivity were the instances of soldiers/airmen captured that had opted to fill out the ‘religion’ section on their dogtags with ‘Jewish.’ The Army, to my understanding, at least briefed EVERY recruit that this blank could be filled in with “no preference” which, might or might not end up making a HUGE difference to the quality of life of a captured soldier or airman. Some self-identified Jewish servicemen did wind up in concentration camps, I recall reading. Even though a soldier’s dog tags might say “no preference,” if the soldier had a Jewish surname or “looked Jewish,” their life might be in danger.

Just Plain Bob
>>94976402

My grandfather was among the troops that liberated the concentration camps. He said they were shocked at what they saw. There were rumors of mistreatment but they didn’t know whether those rumors were true or how bad it really was until they saw it for themselves.

Lamar Smith

From my readings, from a very hazy memory, I think barracks inside at least one concentration camp housed American Jewish POWs but they were not subject to the ‘selections’ that decided who lived and who died. This in NO way meant their lives weren’t subject to starvation rations, brutal treatment and heavy labor.

Richard Bourne

US POWs in the Philippines were not treated so cordially. The Bataan Death March was a discrace. I usually bring that up every time some idealistic idiot tries to say the US should have not nuked Japan to end the war. It did end the war and saved millions of lives on both sides.

Gábor Árki
>>94977395

Yes, The Blitz happened before Operation Barbarossa. But after beating the Brits in France and they barely rescued their remaining forces from Dunkirk, they almost entered into negotiations to make peace with Nazi Germany. Churchill was viciously against this believing the Nazis could not be trusted based on past events. If I remember correctly, peace would have been also Hitler's preferred outcome so that he could focus entirely on beating the Soviets.

David Freese

P. S. Next time we have war movie type poll can you consider Dirty Dozen? PSS yes vodka is made by potatoes.

Lamar Smith

Across the board and pretty much over all time POW guards are drawn from the bottom of the barrel of each military. You just don’t put your best soldiers to the task of guarding prisoners. The Japanese had a habit of farming this work out to Korean soldiers pressed into service. Take the Japanese view that prisoners were scum for surrendering, add Koreans who hated the Japanese and vice versa and you end up with Americans and others brutalized by Koreans being brutalized themselves by the Japanese. From my understanding generally, how a nation is doing in the war also tends to affect treatment of prisoners. The best treatment will be at the hands of soldiers from an Army that’s winning the war. Confederate guards at Andersonville, on the losing end of the war, tend to take their resentments out on prisoners.

David Freese
>>94978967

Why not Stalag 17 the movie ( which it is more serious) that Hogan Heroes was based on?

James UK

Glad you enjoyed this. Another classic war movie, certainly this side of the pond, is Battle of Britain (1969).

Lamar Smith

Armies and nations losing a war have a hard enough time feeding their own people. Prisoners are always last on the pecking order for food and other comforts. Of course prisoners of nations not signatories to the Geneva Accords see worse treatment than prisoners of signatory nations. I’m unaware of any instance of a non-signatory nation’s treatment of POWs being measuring up to the standards laid out in the Accords. I’m aware of virtually all non-signatory nations saying the treatment they bestow is equal to it or, at least, claiming their treatment is “proper,” but when your culture holds that surrendered soldiers are deserving only of summary execution, then anything short of that is, technically, better than that. I am aware of, at least, isolated instances of signatory nations’ treatment not being up to the standards of the Accords. Whether a commander of a camp holding some particular personal hatred of his captives or just the treatment you’d expect from sub-standard soldiers controlling the lives of prisoners of an enemy nation who no one tends to feel much sympathy towards

Lamar Smith

Keep in mind, as well, instances where prisoners in time of war are likely to receive a less than warm welcome back home. It is simply unavoidable that a survivor of a POW experience is a walking, talking reminder of some sort of ‘failure’ in the minds of his countrymen. Simply to illustrate this fact, recall a former president’s jibe against a Senator who’d served time in the infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ during the Vietnam War, “I prefer my military men NOT get captured!” or some such. I’m NOT trying to spark some sort of political discussion but illustrate that a POW can be seen to represent some sort of failure in many people’s mind. Perhaps there’s a prejudice that the POW failed somehow or simply that the serviceman became a POW due to some sort of institutional failing in the military, as a whole, but many people don’t want to be reminded of things like that. A portion of the population does have a bias against surrender or thinks a soldiers’ duty is to die before surrender. I find a very high correlation between those who hold this attitude and those who’ve never served.

Bill Hayden

According to a gentleman that I new and who spent a year in a German prison camp. Stalag 17 was his choice for the most accurate depiction of a pow camp.

Brent Petty

There is even an incident where US soldiers, German soldiers, and POWs of various nationalities teamed up to defend the prisoners from SS troops in May 1945. It is known as the Battle of Castle Itter. I am hoping a film is made about it some day.

Scott Macaulay

Pretty great. Would have been a lot different had they cast Leonardo DiCaprio as originally intended.

Craig Russell

My Dad was 13 when trains of german pow's stopped in his little town in OK. He said that the people lined the tracks offering them food and drinks, even though their families were under strict rationing rules at the time. The pow's were almost always gracious and polite and at the end of the war a lot of them wanted to stay here instead of going home!

Jon Johns

Cassie, the "Scrounger" is in the Notebook! He plays old man Ryan Gosling!

Bill Maurer

Some other good Steve McQueen movies are: The Magnificent Seven The Blob (scary but not too scary). His first real screen break Papillon The Thomas Crown Affair Tom Horn He is the original "King of Cool".

Mike LL

As a child of the '60's I have very fond memories of this movie seeing it in the theater in probably '68 or'69, but I was a child in elementary school and I still appreciated the movie. There were many great WWII movies in the '60's, many with great casts like this movie. The Longest Day (1962), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Where Eagles Dare (1968), In Harm's Way (1965), and Battle of the Bulge (1965) but there were many more. Fantastic reaction, I knew that you would love the "planning" aspect of the movie. This was a movie not to miss, and so glad it did so well in our Chaos Classics bracket.

Gábor Árki

This was a great reaction, always a pleasure to see Cassie getting so immersed into a movie. Just to reflect on the outro, I think the age of the movie also participates on the contrast and surprise regarding their treatment. War movies made before the '70s were not really gritty and realistic as we are used to today. Hard to describe, but they had a certain style and some sort of elegance to them, often depicting charismatic, heroic, devoted characters but without showing too much of the dark side and gore. One of the first movies depicting a more realistic but still satirical view I know of is Kelly's Heroes from 1970 and by the end of the decade we end up getting a whole different, realistic and bleak style of war movies with titles like A Bridge Too Far, Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, etc. BTW, some of the familiar faces: - Roger Bartlett, played by Richard Attenborough, was John Hammond in Jurassic Park - Sedgwick the 'Manufacturer', played by James Coburn, was the Commodore in Maverick - Hendley the 'Scrounger', played by James Garner, was Marshal Zane Cooper in Maverick Leaving here two movie suggestions for Steve McQueen: - The Magnificent Seven (1960): a great western which I think despite the genre Cassie would enjoy. Also, besides McQueen, Charles Bronson (Danny) and James Coburn are also playing in it. - Bullitt (1968): a decent action/thriller movie from the early post Golden Age with one of the most outstanding car chase sequence ever put on film, that still holds up until today.

Choof

First time seeing this, really enjoyed it. I don't have the best ear for music but it sounded like John Williams was influenced by the score in his career.

Choof

Not sure if its been mentioned but Blythe is played by Donald Pleasance who played Dr. Loomis, Michael's psychiatrist in Halloween

Mark James

Another World War II POW movie would be Stalag 17 (1953). William Holden received an Acadamy Award for his leading role.

Ben Livingstone

Somebody might have mentioned this, but Bartlett was played by Richard Attenborough, who was also Hammond in Jurassic Park.

Stick Figure Studios

Even after all this time, Cassie, you still have doubts When approaching an "older" film that we've told you will be terrific? LOL. Well, don't worry. We'll rid you of this "recency bias" if it's the last thing we do. Pretty soon you'll be seeking out classic cinema on your own... eagerly. ;-) So glad you finally got a chance to watch this and your reaction was pretty much exactly what I anticipated. You were on the edge of your seat (sorry, bed) during the suspenseful set pieces, you gasped in shock at the surprising twists and turns in the story, you laughed at the funny parts and were heartbroken at the tragic outcomes of many of the escapees. You reacted exactly as I did when I first saw it in college and immediately fell in love with it. As with your father, it's become one of my favorite films. Exciting, funny, educational, and immensely entertaining. Assured direction by John Sturges (who also did THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN which stars Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Charles Bronson) and a rousing, memorable score by Elmer Bernstein (who also scored THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, GHOSTBUSTERS and the aforementioned MAGNIFICENT SEVEN) certainly help. Thank you, as always, for sharing your reaction with us. It will be very interesting to compare your experience of this film with David Lean's BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (a similar but still very different war movie).

Bill Hayden

You should to consider Bridge on the River Kwai. Thanks for another great reaction. It's a lot of fun seeing these movies through your eyes.

David Poray

Did you recognize Roger? He played John Hammond in Jurassic Park!

Stick Figure Studios
>>94997520

And he eventually became a fine director himself, helming some of my favorite biopics including GANDHI with Ben Kingsley in an oscar-winning performance, SHADOWLANDS with Anthony Hopkins as CS Lewis and Debra winger as his wife Joy, and CHAPLIN with a young Robert Downey Jr in an Oscar nominated performance as the great cinematic genius Charlie Chaplin.

Stick Figure Studios
>>94991337

I give slide edge to the car chase in THE FRENCH CONNECTION, but the one in BULLITT is spectacular and it did come first.

Damon Corrigan

So many good stars - I am sure people will be talking about Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, David Macullum, Charles Bronson, James Coburn...the list goes on. Nice reaction to this. I don't know much about the history, but the Prisoner of War (POW) camps were not the same as the concentration camps, although I doubt they were as pleasant as described in the film. The Geneva Conventions set out international legal standards for humanitarian treatment. Even the Third Reich hesitated to cast them aside. The role of the POW camps was to wait out the war, and then they would be returned to their respective countries afterwards. The show Hogan's Hero's was based on this movie, but it more or less lampooned the German soldiers and colored them as rather bafoon-ish.

Stick Figure Studios

P.S. While everyone else is recommending other War films for you to watch, I was going to say that if you are ever interested in seeing a very clever, very funny and very sweet animated spoof of THE GREAT ESCAPE, check out Nick Park's CHICKEN RUN. It's a delight.

Alan Kobb

Germany had signed the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of POWs, and they knew that their own POWs could be mistreated, so they generally treated POWs in accordance with the conventions. However, since they had over 1000 POW camps during WWII, the treatment of POWs was not always the same at every camp.

Just Plain Bob

The Scrounger was played by James Garner, best known for his leading role in 1970s era tv show The Rockford Files. By all accounts, Garner was one of the real good guys in Hollywood. I’ve seen numerous interviews with crew members of The Rockford Files in which they recounted how he stood up for the crew when guest stars on the show were less than kind and how he represented their interests when deal with the tv studio. Super actor and, by all accounts, an even better human being.

Mingo Wayama
>>95002680

Best known by.me from his 1950's hit series Maverick, which I introduced my dad to when I was a kid. We both loved that show!

Just Plain Bob
>>95002680

Yes, the original Maverick! In both Maverick and The Rockford Files, his natural charm and charisma infused his characters with such likability that it was impossible to not root for them.

Josh Phillips

Such a classic! Usually American, British, and Canadian POWs were treated quite well by the Germans. The camp was run by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and not by the SS, although these men were executed by the SS after the multiple escape attempts. The prison was made up of Allied pilots and airmen, which the German Luftwaffe viewed as fellow professionals. It’s a really weird dynamic.

Carol_White

"He's like Charles Bronson, he's digging tunnels." At long last I get the reference from Reservoir Dogs.

Friendly Trumpet
>>94976775

The Commandant was based heavily on a man named Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau who was the real-life commander of Stalag Luft III at the time of the "great escape" and similarly removed from his position thereafter. He was wounded in combat against the Russians but ultimately surrendered to British forces and only died in 1963 just a few months before The Great Escape released in theatres. He was also staunchly anti-Nazi, and so well liked and respected by the prisoners under him despite his position that many testified positively on his behalf during the British investigation of the fifty murdered prisoners. He even donated material for the memorial built post-war at the site of the old camp.

Friendly Trumpet

You mention the German commander seemed more sad than anything when announcing the prisoners had been shot. The real guy he's primarily based on Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau was very vocally and openly opposed to the Nazis despite his position in the German army, and its well documented that he and a few of his senior officers decided they would all face execution themselves for refusing orders should they be told by the Gestapo or SS to execute any of the prisoners at Stalag Luft III. The prisoners respected him so much after the war some testified in his defence at the British investigation into the fifty prisoners murdered, to his character as a man and his quality as an overseeing officer at the camp. He lived until 1963 and only died a few months before this movie came out. As Roger says early on, the Allies were fighting "the whole bloody lot"--no one gets a pass for being Luftwaffe instead of SS or Gestapo, they're still soldiers fighting under the Nazis--but Lindeiner Wildau was about as decent a man as one could be given the circumstances and not also killed for it.

Uncle Phoenix

Ugh. When Cassie loves a movie that you love; you have to automatically kinda love her. Cassie is so adorable. Hmmm. “Heavy Sigh” - The Accountant

Julian San

Hopefully she figured it out in the edit but our two tunnel kings, Danny & Willie were on the row boat and later got onto that large ship, so they presumably were able to get to freedom.

Gábor Árki

A few more thoughts regarding the historical context of the movie. There was some clear division between the armed forces of Nazi Germany. There was the SA, then later the SS that were initially paramilitary groups of the Nazi party and were full of fanatics. Later they had become a fully militarized branch, the Waffen-SS, that operated alongside the regular army as a separate entity. Part of this was the Gestapo, the secret police. On the other hand, there was the Wehrmacht, the regular armed forces with three branches: the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force). Even though in this form these have been created by the Nazis, they were based on the existing armed forces of Germany. This meant there were much less fanatics among them. Also, I think back then it was still a tradition that officers usually came from wealthy, respected, noble families. This was very much true to the British army but I think was also a thing in Germany, at least in the regular army before the war. This meant a lot of the officers on both sides have been coming from the same social circles and classes and there were some unwritten rules they tried to follow and often showed a level of comradeship and respect to one-another (think of the armistice and negotiations in The Last of the Mohicans between the French and British commanders or the prisoner exchange negotiations between Lord Cornwallis and Benjamin Martin in The Patriot). They often had distant relations in the other country due to marriages. Even the British Royal Family had the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha name originally that was changed to Windsor during WW1. Not to mention the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Mountbatten, who was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. This of course doesn't mean the Wehrmacht did not have its fair share of brutality and war crimes but unlike the SS there were at least some decent commanders and officers among them who tried to retain their humanity as much as the circumstances allowed.

David Poray
>>94998954

Same. First time I watched it I looked up what else people were in. I was like...no way.

RX2904

"Is the cooler like a freezer?" God, I love Cassie! LOL

Odd Thomas

I recommended Testament of Youth before - just to mention it is based on a true story (a very famous book in fact)

3dbadboy1

During the making of this movie, Steve McQueen stopped going to production because he felt his character wasn't heroic enough (he was a real egomaniac). James Garner and others had to convince him to come back by telling him his part was in fact really heroic and he should continue, lol.

3dbadboy1

During another movie he was in called The Towering Inferno, he turned down the 'leading' part because the character was an architect and chose instead to play the 'lesser' (not really) part of a fire chief because he thought the part was more heroic and also insisted that more lines be added to his part so he would have as many speaking parts as the other leading role. Lol lots of women loved his roles as a bad boy.

Mike LL
>>94996168

There is a small chance that Cassie and Carly might see Donald Pleasance down the road in a featured role in a James Bond movie from the sixties, depending on how many James Bond movies they see and if they see that particular movie.

Mike LL
>>95002680

James Garner was also great in Victor Victoria the fantastic 1982 musical comedy with Julie Andrews, Robert Preston and the amazing Lesley Ann Warren. What an outstanding reaction that would be! James Garner and Julie Andrews started making movies together in The Americanization of Emily (1964) a romantic (black) comedy with James Garner having a slightly different WWII experience, James Coburn in that film also.

Twiska Brand

You are confusing SS-run concentration camps with PoW camps. These camps were run by the german military, not the SS. Remember, the holocaust was kept secret. The Nazis could make people from Germany and the countries they occupied "disappear", not soldiers from other countries. At least from the general populace didn't know about the holocaust, but the higher-ups on both sides knew what was going on. These PoW camps were subject to the Third Geneva Convention, which meant: "PoWs should be lodged in adequately heated and lighted buildings where conditions were the same as for German troops." "Enlisted ranks were required to perform whatever labour they were asked if able to do, so long as it was not dangerous and did not support the German war-effort. "Senior Non-commissioned officers (sergeants and above) were required to work only in a supervisory role. Commissioned officers were not required to work, although they could volunteer." "PoWs hired out to military and civilian contractors were supposed to receive pay. The workers were also supposed to get at least one day a week of rest. "PoWs who died in captivity were honourably buried in marked graves." Everyone in this movie was a commissioned officer. That's why they were treated so well and why even the Kommandant was shocked that 50 of them were murdered, which was a war crime. Edit: Also, PoWs are historically treated well by their captors so as not to incur revenge on one's own PoW's on the other side. That's why they are allowed mail and care packages. So people know they are alive.

Lamar Smith
>>94975618

There is, of course, an irony that a German captured in Africa had to be imprisoned in an environment similar to the one in which he was captured. Of course none of the Germans captured in Africa, imprisoned in Texas (among other places) were from an environment remotely similar to where they were held. The Accord’s rule on this was to ensure that a soldier from and taken in, let’s say, a desert country by birth wouldn’t be imprisoned in, again let’s say, Alaska. The Accords thought that would be an intolerably cruel imprisonment.

Odd Thomas

James Coburn (suitcase guy) and Steve McQueen are both in The Magnificent Seven, which is an iconic western

Tara

Hey Cassie, I’ve heard of this movie, but never got around to watching it and I’m glad I finally did. It was so good! I remember seeing a show once where 2 brothers get arrested and one gets a note to the other that said To: Hilts and at the end of the note it was signed “McQueen” one brother created a diversion so the other, who got the note, could escape and now I understand the reference of using those names. I recognized James Garner who played Hendley (The Scrounger) immediately. As others have mentioned, he played Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files tv show and also Maverick. You may also recognize him as the older Noah from The Notebook. I couldn’t believe that Roger was played by Richard Attenborough. I know the name and remembered that he played John Hammond in the original Jurassic Park. I had never seen him as a younger man, only as the older white haired man like Jurassic Park and the remake of Miracle on 34th Street. Charles Bronson (Danny) and James Coburn (the guy who got to Spain) were also well known actors of the time along with Steve McQueen and James Garner. Steve McQueen’s son, Chad McQueen played one of the bullies in The Karate Kid and his son, Steven R McQueen is also an actor who is best known for the tv show The Vampire Diaries. Danny and Willie were seen at the end of the movie going from a row boat and climbing the ladder to a large ship, so it appears they escaped successfully. I love watching movies for the first time with you Cassie, thanks! 🍿

Grinznmore

Japan did not sign on to the convention. The POW treatment was brutal at their hands. I believe that factored into Truman's decision to unleash the bomb.

Just Plain Bob
>>95018503

McQueen was a gifted actor but he did have a MASSIVE ego. My favorite story was regarding his relationship with Yul Brenner during filming of The Magnificent Seven. McQueen was constantly moving and fidgeting, trying to draw the audience's eye to him even when others were delivering lines. Brenner, realizing what he was doing, was greatly displeased. Finally, he had enough and told McQueen: the next time you fidget, I'm taking off my hat! McQueen, realizing that every eye in every theater would be fixated on Brenner's distinctive bald pate, ceased misbehaving immediately.

Biggman83

This is a classic and I’m so glad you got to finally see it. I went to see a play a few months back that is based on the realistic account of what happened. It was called “Tom, Dick, and Harry” after the tunnels. About 20 years ago they found the remains of the camp and located the tunnels that were dug, but filled in. It’s now a monument to the 50 men that were murdered by the Gestapo that day. Here’s a couple of documentaries to watch: Archeological discovery of the tunnels https://youtu.be/Cm8mz6xeevI Documentary about the real escape attempt https://youtu.be/EEMW2svLTF8

Josh Phillips
>>95030367

Yeah, that among many other factors for sure. Japan had a “kill all allied prisoners” order for when the first Americans landed on the Japanese mainland. No question, the bombs saved their lives.

Mr Trick

I’m glad you’re appreciating the classics because so many younger viewers carry a stigma for them these days (until they start watching them). And you’ve barely scratched the surface. As to the POW experience of soldiers captured by the Germans, another great movie to watch, this time about World War One, is “The Grand Illusion” from 1937.

Larry Darrell
>>94981816

Camp Douglas and Elmira Prison weren’t far behind, and the North was winning. All POW Camps were Hell.

Larry Darrell
>>94988214

James Garner IS Maverick. He played Bret Maverick in 61 episodes of the TV show Maverick from 1957 to 1962. Even returned to the role in 1981 for 18 episodes of a new series titled, Bret Maverick.

Larry Darrell
>>94996053

I’d wager that there isn’t a working Film Composer today, that isn’t influenced even a little bit by Elmer Bernstein

Larry Darrell
>>95020321

Thanks for your comment, I’ve never heard people actually have to clarify that concentration camps and POW camps are different “because…”, like they are in the same league or something. Beginning to wonder if the teachings in school have changed over the years.

Larry Darrell

This reaction, I think, just topped the Year’s Best list. This is one of my top favorites, and so glad you liked it. You said in the beginning, Cassie, that you had been putting it off because it was really long. I bet it didn’t feel long. It’s 3 hours, and when it’s over, I want more. This was so much fun. Thank You. I think everyone else covered the history and actors in the comments, but no one mentioned David McCallum, who played Ashley Pitt. He was in the original The Man From U.N.C.L.E. as Illya Kuryakin in the 60s and if anyone has watched NCIS over the past 20 years, he has been playing the part of Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard. Also I found it pretty cool that you saw a little Paul Walker in Steve McQueen. I always thought Paul Walker could’ve been the next Steve McQueen. Their acting styles were similar and they had similar interests off camera as well. Steve McQueen died at 50 years of age and Paul Walker died at 40. Both died way too soon.

Rick Williams

Great reaction, Cassie. Western POWs were generally treated well by the Germans. They normally adhered to the Geneva Convention. Not so with Eastern POWs such as Russian and Polish were treated harshly. Most German soldiers were just soldiers fighting for their country. You had some that were cruel sadistic barbarians. Some of the SS were this way. Along with the Gestapo. They were the German secret police. Thanks for taking me back to this classic movie. I had not seen it since I was a kid.

'Pappy' Johnston

Just got done with Cassie's reaction while watching one of my all-time favorite movies. And, as always, the experience was adorable. I don't know if Cassie watches NCIS in her OFF POPCORN TIME, but if so she could see The Great ESCAPEE, Ashley Pitt (David McCalum) in his more current role as Medical Examiner Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard. I appreciate how 'An Innocent' like Cassie, reacts with such kindness and compassion to the sacrifices of our Service Members, then and now. You can tell it CLEARLY MATTERS to her. It's truly noteworthy and refreshing. It's that innocence, kindness and compassion that are one of the main reasons why I continue to enjoy this channel so much. Keep up the great work young lady. (Now if we can JUST get you past your preconceived bias against Westerns then MAYBE we can FINALY get some reactions to things like 'True Grit', 'Tombstone', and 'OPEN RANGE!' :-) )

Marc Levesque

Two other McQueen movies I would recommend, The Cincinnati Kid and the Thomas Crown Affair, very strong charismatic performances!

Stick Figure Studios

One final note on Richard Attenborough (Roger): as others have pointed out, he was John Hammond in the first two JURASSIC PARK movies and, as I mentioned in a comment above, he eventually became a fine director himself, helming some of my favorite biopics including GANDHI with Ben Kingsley in an oscar-winning performance, SHADOWLANDS with Anthony Hopkins as CS Lewis and Debra winger as his wife Joy, and CHAPLIN with a young Robert Downey Jr in an Oscar nominated performance as the great cinematic genius Charlie Chaplin... but let us not forget that he was also, for my money, the definitive cinematic Santa Claus in John Hughes' sweet but fairly mediocre remake of MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET. Not a great film (the original is better), but he was a great Santa.

London Davis

Papillon is a must watch prison escape film. McQueen and Dustin Hoffman at their peak.

Stephen Champion

Loved your reaction Cassie as always. One of my favourite ww2 films up there with Saving Private Ryan. Another great film is Memphis Belle, a lot of actor's cameoed in that film and what those young American's went through in their bombers really hits home how many died to free the world from Germany.

Tinkerbell

Hi Cassie, a note on Germans: the Luftwaffe was the German Air Force and they were highly respected. They had their own camps and the primarily took pilot pows (though they certainly took other servicemen as well). As a result their prisoners were better treated than others. Generally, the Germans abided by the Geneva convention unless they deemed the prisoner racially inferior (Jews, communists, poles, etc. ) I was laughing about your reaction to the moonshine. Yes, you can make alcohol out of potatoes. You can easily buy Polish vodka in the store made from potatoes instead of wheat. For more ww2 pow stories, you could also watch Unbroken which tells a story of American airmen held in a Japanese camp. Now we just need to get you to watch Bridge on the River Kwai and From Here to Eternity after you watch the Best years of Our Lives. I also like Mrs Miniver as a classic WW2 film. It tells the story of a civilian family living through the German bombings in Britain.

Allan Rumberger
>>95020321

Larry Darrell, she was raised in Canada, as I was, and I can assure you with 100% certainty that POW conditions in a war fought half a century before the students were born is not on the curriculum. The war itself is barely taught, except in certain elective classes.

Larry Darrell
>>95020321

Heck, who knows. School seems forever ago. I couldn’t be sure what I was taught. Maybe I learned more about History from the movies anyways. I just figured it was common knowledge that concentration camps were Evil from their conception and for the most part done in secret, while POW camps, are something common and that most countries at war have, which are accountable to the Geneva Convention. No matter who won the War, prisoners in POW camps were gonna go home, but if the Germans won, from everything I’ve learned, no one was leaving the concentration camps. So I guess you’re right. If you weren’t taught and didn’t watch movies about it, you wouldn’t know.

SnabbKassa

German POWs in British camps were treated pretty well, depending on how much they could be trusted, and how much they were sympathetic they were to Nazi ideology. The British tried to re-educate them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQdS0fEuY54

John Leighton

I love this film. Been in love with it since I was a child.

Jason Mangen

The horrors of war world 2 were well known. A lot of the actors of the time were actually veterans of world war 2.

Bill Bowman

Glad you enjoyed the film. One of the popular posters in many rooms in the 60's was of Steve McQueen on his motorcycle from this movie. Before you started this journey you probably did not expect to enjoy a guy's film or an "old" movie. A well told story with compelling actors can endure for generations. You may not have realized that Donald Pleasence, who was the prisoner going blind, was also the State Psychiatrist in Halloween.