The Great Escape

This 1963 movie tells the tale of a mass escape from a prisoner of war camp in WWII. It is an excellent movie. Based on a true story the movie has a very strong cast and is the traditional male hero movie. Tellingly however as it is from 1963 they convey the urgency of the escape without bombs, limbs being blown off and cursing.

I know the world was a different place then but I challenge anybody to find me a war movie made in the last twenty years with all those modern tools at their disposal which is as good as this.

As the movie begins a new group of POW's is arriving at the camp. Greeted by the Commander in charge he tells them that all of them have long records of escape attempts and that they should cease these efforts as the camp is escape proof and in fact they all were sent to this camp to " put all the bad apples in one bunch" in a camp designed to protect against escape.

James Donald playing Admiral Ramsey, the Sr Officer in the Camp reminds him that is the duty of all officers to attempt to escape. The Commandant does not agree but it is also clear that he is a man of honor and understand the challenges both sides face. Soon a Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett is brought into camp by Gestapo Agents. As he has been the leader of several large escape attempts he has been interrogated and marked by the Gestapo to no avail. They have brought him to this camp to be held but the Commandant is advised to keep him separate from the other prisoners. The Commandant does not respect the Gestapo, finds them distasteful in fact and does not hide the fact. He does not follow the instructions and places Bartlett with the regular troops.

Soon enough a plan to escape is set up. Not just a single escape or two but a large scale attempt involving over 250 officers. This requires the digging of tunnels and all of the secrecy and effort this takes.

The cast in this movie is incredibly strong. Richard Attenborough as Squadron Leader Bartlett, James Garner is incredibly strong in his role as Flight Lt RAF Handley and Steve McQueen as Virgil Hilts an American from the USAF, who is known as the Cooler King for all of his time spent in isolation for infractions.

The movie is very good. Very strong. Interestingly, at least for me it does not end the way I anticipated as I watched it. This movie does not have a cookie cutter ending.

The Great Escape is a Great Movie

Bullitt

This iconic movie is well known for it's car chase scene. Considered one of the , if not the best, car chase scene ever placed on film it has out shined what was a very good movie.

Steve McQueen was known as The King of Cool. The title may have changed hands in the decades since his death but he still is one of the leading contenders. When I was a young boy, still in the single digit years I had no real knowledge of who Steve McQueen was, I certainly had not seen his movies. I did know though that he made movies and he was cool. His spot in the culture was so big that somehow it drifted down to a young boy like me, perhaps from my older brother, perhaps from other sources. Steve McQueen was a cultural icon.

In this movie he plays Frank Bullitt, a San Fransisco police lieutenant given the task of protecting a mob informant the weekend before he testifies. Nothing goes as planned, the police officer protecting him is overpowered, the witness is shot and eventually dies but all is not as it seems. Frank Bullitt over the course of the movie solves the case but not before several people are dead. The movie has several actors that we came to know later. Norman Fell, who long before being Mr. Roper was a well known character actor in many films. Vic Tayback, later well known as Mel in the Alice movie and television series also appears.

I pointed out to my sons that the actor playing Senator Chalmers the ambitious politician driving the case against the witness was played by Robert Vaughn. For the current generation at least here in Maine, Robert Vaughn shills for Joe Bornstein advising us to tell our potential plaintiffs that we mean business. Most notably appearing beside McQueen is a young Robert Duvall in a small role as a cab driver who provides some information to the Lieutenant. From small parts big careers develop.

The movie is all McQueen however. His ability to express himself with a look or a stare and usually with as few words as possible was well honed by this time. His collarless shirts with a nice jacket were a style that he put in place and that was copied not just by hipsters but suburban Dads trying to be cool. McQueen's image has lasted for several reasons. He was cool. He died young so we never saw him grow old and he in the sixties, a very culturally crazy time, was one of the few entertainment icons who could appeal to both sides of the emerging divide between young and old.

The car chase is great, the movie is good, but McQueen was immense. He filled the screen. He was The King of Cool.

Nevada Smith

Following the truism that any Steve McQueen movie is better than almost any other movie I watched this movie recently. In it McQueen plays Max Sands, a young half Indian living in the Far West in the period after The Civil War. Max is out riding one day when three riders ask if he knows a Mr Sands. This is Max's father. By the time Max gets home his Father and mother, who was an Indian have been tortured and killed.

Max makes it his mission to hunt down the men and kill them. Along the way he meets up with a Mr Cord played by Brian Keith who helps him find his way, and teaches him how to shoot. After locating the first killer dealing poker and killing him in a knife fight he discovers that another man has been captured in a robbery and put in prison. He gets himself arrested and chases him down in prison.

Eventually he has just the ringleader to track down. Tom Fitch played by Karl Malden. By now Fitch knows what has happened to his two counterparts and he is very nervous. When Sands meets up with the group he uses the name Nevada Smith and passes all of Fitch's tests to prove he is not the Sands that he is fearing.

Eventually Max reveals himself and while exacting his revenge he has given up murder as a result of the intervention of a priest who had taken him in when he had injured his leg. A notable quote is when the priest points out Jesus on the cross and tells him he came to earth to preach love and forgiveness Max Sands says " It looks like he must not have spoke to all of them as that looks worse than hanging. " So true Max Sands, Jesus does not get his message to everybody.

Not a great movie, far from it. McQueen is always watchable though. The King of Cool.

The Reivers

This 1969 movie based on William Faulkner's last novel was a pleasant surprise. I saw it on TCM late one night, decided to Tivo it and watched it in a couple of parts recently.

Steve McQueen who in his time was one of the most popular actors. He was the epitome of cool. In this movie the role was a little off from his normal range but it fit him.

He plays Boone Higgenbottom a family friend of a well to do family in turn of the century Mississippi. The patriarch grandfather played by Will Geer has a new car delivered, a Wintom Flyer. Boone convinces the young grandson to allow him to borrow the car and they go to Memphis.

The plot takes them to a bordello and involves a horcerace. Lessons are learned and all comes out well. Mcqueen is wonderful and Will Geer is perfect in his role. Can Will Geer not play a role you want to have for a grandfather figure in your life?