The Great Escape

The Great Escape (1963) is John Sturges' war adventure you can watch online on iFILM. Allied prisoners break out of a camp the Germans swore could not be cracked.

Fed up with constant tunneling, the guards herd their most stubborn escapers into one fortified compound and tell them to sit out the rest of the war. The prisoners answer with something audacious: three tunnels at once, nicknamed Tom, Dick and Harry, meant to push more than two hundred men past the wire. Steve McQueen tears around on a motorcycle as Hilts, the "Cooler King." Around him are James Garner, Charles Bronson clawing through dirt while fighting claustrophobia, Richard Attenborough running the whole scheme, and near-blind Donald Pleasence forging papers as his eyesight gives out.

It draws on what really happened at Stalag Luft III in March 1944, set down by survivor Paul Brickhill. Elmer Bernstein's marching theme is famous even to people who never saw the film. Three hours that fly by. Stream The Great Escape (1963) online on iFILM.