The climactic leap over a barbed-wire fence is one of cinema's most famous stunts. While McQueen performed most of the chase himself, the actual 65-foot jump was executed by his friend and stuntman due to insurance concerns. The Score: Elmer Bernstein
—it took significant "artistic license" for commercial appeal: American Involvement: the great escape 1963 okru
As the escape plan nears completion, the prisoners prepare to make their break. On the night of the escape, 76 prisoners make a run for freedom, but the Germans quickly discover the escape and begin to hunt down the fugitives. The climactic leap over a barbed-wire fence is
The film opens in 1942 at Stalag Luft III , a German prisoner-of-war camp designed specifically for Allied airmen. Unlike concentration camps, this was a luft (air) camp, notorious for its escape-proof design: huts raised off the ground to detect tunnels, seismic microphones buried around the perimeter, and loose, sandy soil that collapsed easily. On the night of the escape, 76 prisoners
Many cast members had real-life wartime experience; Pleasence was actually a POW in Stalag Luft I, and Bronson’s real-life claustrophobia (from his time as a coal miner) informed his character, the "Tunnel King." Iconic Moments and the "Cooler King"
That was his door.
Hendley and Colin steal a plane, but it crashes; Colin is killed, and Hendley is recaptured.