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movie review - The Great Escape

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Ah, the sixties. When real men couldn't act (except, strangley, for Bronson!), and Nazis all had vays to make you talk. This movie is too long, too slow, and way too focused on the three (three!) Americans present in a cast filled with Brits and colonials. The acting is stilted, McQueen seems to have rewritten large segments of the film to suit his purposes (e.g. upping the motorcycle footage), and the view of WWII as a good-natured backdrop for cheesy male bonding - so common to 60's flicks - is over-ripe in this one.

But its cast promises more, so you keep waiting for a character to identify with, or at least a sense of suspense. But these things are missing along with any sense of perspective.

Not recommended.