Editing The Great Escape (film) (section)

==Production==
===Writing===
In 1962, the [[Mirisch Company|Mirisch brothers]] worked with [[United Artists]] to adapt [[Paul Brickhill]]'s 1950 book ''[[The Great Escape (book)|The Great Escape]]''. Brickhill had been a very minor member of the X Organisation at [[Stalag Luft III]], who acted as one of the "stooges" who monitored German movements in the camp. The story had been adapted as a live TV production, screened by [[NBC]] as an episode of ''[[The Philco Television Playhouse]]'' on January 27, 1951.<ref>{{Cite web  |title=The Great Escape  |website=IMDb  |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0674407/  |access-date=March 8, 2019  |archive-date=April 23, 2019  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423003001/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0674407/  |url-status=live}}</ref> The live broadcast was praised for engineering an ingenious set design for the live broadcast, including creating the illusion of tunnels.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/stream/radioageresearch195052newyrich#page/n103/mode/2up |title=The Great Escape |first=Robert J. |last=Wade |date=April 1951 |volume=10 |number=3 |magazine=Radio Age |pages=16–17}}</ref> The film's screenplay was adapted by [[James Clavell]], [[W. R. Burnett]] and [[Walter Newman (screenwriter)|Walter Newman]].

===Casting===
[[File:Steve McQueen and Wally Floody 001.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|[[Steve McQueen]] (left) with [[Wally Floody]], a former Canadian POW who was part of the real Great Escape and acted as a technical advisor in production of the film]]

Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn had previously worked with director John Sturges on his 1960 motion picture, ''[[The Magnificent Seven]]''. [[Steve McQueen]] has been credited with the most significant performance. Critic [[Leonard Maltin]] wrote that "the large, international cast is superb, but the standout is McQueen; it's easy to see why this cemented his status as a superstar".<ref name="Maltin225">{{cite book |last=Maltin |first=Leonard |author-link=Leonard Maltin |title=Leonard Maltin's Family Film Guide |publisher=Signet |year=1999 |location=New York |page=225 |url=https://archive.org/details/leonardmaltinsfa00malt/page/225 |isbn=978-0-451-19714-6}}</ref> This film established his box-office clout. Hilts was based on at least three pilots, [[David M. Jones]], John Dortch Lewis<ref>{{cite news |last=Kaufman |first=Michael T. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/13/world/john-d-lewis-84-pilot-in-the-great-escape.html |title=John D. Lewis, 84, Pilot in 'The Great Escape' |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 13, 1999 |access-date=March 15, 2015 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402215541/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/13/world/john-d-lewis-84-pilot-in-the-great-escape.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Bill Ash]].<ref name="BBC Online 30 August 2015">{{cite news |title=William Ash: The cooler king |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34058540 |last=Bishop |first=Patrick |date=30 August 2015 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=30 August 2015 |archive-date=July 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727234112/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34058540 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="The Guardian 29 April 2014">{{cite news |first=Brendan |last=Foley |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/29/bill-ash |title=Bill Ash obituary |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=29 April 2014 |access-date=30 August 2015 |archive-date=March 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312075706/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/29/bill-ash |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Daily Telegraph 30 April 2014">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10799031/William-Ash-obituary.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622161043/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10799031/William-Ash-obituary.html |archive-date=June 22, 2018 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=William Ash – obituary |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=30 April 2014 |access-date=30 August 2015 }}</ref>

[[Richard Attenborough]]'s Sqn Ldr Roger Bartlett RAF, "Big X", was based on [[Roger Bushell]], the South African-born British POW who was the mastermind of the real Great Escape.<ref name="Whalley2008">{{cite news |first=Kirsty |last=Whalley |title=Escape artist's inspiring exploits |date=November 10, 2008 |publisher=Newsquest Media Group / A Gannett Company |url=http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/indepth/nostalgia/3831930.Escape_artist/ |work=This is Local London |access-date=September 25, 2009 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629095057/http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/indepth/nostalgia/3831930.Escape_artist/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This was the film that first brought Attenborough to common notice in the United States. During World War II, Attenborough served in the Royal Air Force. He volunteered to fly with the Film Unit, and after further training (where he sustained permanent ear damage), he qualified as a sergeant. He flew on several missions over Europe, filming from the rear gunner's position to record the outcome of Bomber Command sorties ([[Richard Harris]] originally having been announced for the role).<ref>{{cite news |title='Mutiny' Director Find Make Deals: Bogarde in 'Living Room'; Du Pont Scion Plans Three |last=Scheuer |first=Philip K. |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=2 March 1962 |page=C13}}</ref>

[[James Donald]] played Group Captain Ramsey RAF, "the SBO" (Senior British Officer) in the camp. The role was based on Group Captain [[Herbert Massey]], a World War I veteran who had volunteered in World War II. Massey walked with a limp, and in the movie Ramsey walks with a cane. Massey had suffered severe wounds to the same leg in both wars. There would be no escape for him, but as SBO he had to know what was going on. Group Captain Massey was a veteran escaper himself and had been in trouble with the Gestapo. His experience allowed him to offer sound advice to the X-Organisation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill |first=Anton |title=The Great Escape |location=London |publisher=Review |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7553-1038-8 |page=96}}</ref> Another officer who is likely to have inspired the character of Ramsey was Wing Commander [[Harry Day]].

Flt Lt Colin Blythe RAF, "The Forger", was based on [[Tim Walenn]] and played by [[Donald Pleasence]].{{sfn|Vance|2000|p=44|ps=: "Now sporting a huge, bushy moustache ... he set to work arranging the operations of the forgery department"}} Pleasence had served in the [[Royal Air Force]] during World War II. He was shot down and spent a year in German prisoner-of-war camp [[Stalag Luft I]]. [[Charles Bronson]] had been a gunner in the [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]] and had been wounded, but never shot down. Like his character, Danny Welinski, he suffered from [[claustrophobia]] because of his childhood work in a mine. [[James Garner]] had been a soldier in the [[Korean War]] and was twice wounded. He was a scrounger during that time, as is his character.<ref>DVD extra.</ref>

[[Hannes Messemer]]'s Commandant, "Colonel von Luger", was based on Oberst [[Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Tim |title=The Great Escapers |publisher=Mainstream Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-84018-904-9}}</ref> Messemer had been a POW in Russia during World War II and had escaped by walking hundreds of miles to the German border.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uHNvAeD4yR4C&pg=PA135 |title=Combat Films: American Realism, 1945–2010 |edition=2nd |first=Steven Jay |last=Rubin |date=2011-07-25 |publisher=McFarland |access-date=2016-11-17 |isbn=978-0-7864-8613-7 |via=Google Books |archive-date=March 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317012649/https://books.google.com/books?id=uHNvAeD4yR4C&pg=PA135 |url-status=live }}</ref> He was wounded by Russian fire, but was not captured by the Russians. He surrendered to British forces and then spent two years in a POW facility in London known as the [[London Cage]].

[[Angus Lennie]]'s Flying Officer Archibald Ives, "The Mole", was based on Jimmy Kiddel, who was shot dead while trying to scale the fence.<ref name="Hall2009">{{cite news |first=Allan |last=Hall |title=British veterans mark Great Escape anniversary |date=March 24, 2009 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/5043863/British-veterans-mark-Great-Escape-anniversary.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=October 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100220232351/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/5043863/British-veterans-mark-Great-Escape-anniversary.html |archive-date=February 20, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The film is accurate in showing only three escapees made home runs, although the people who made them differed from those in the film. The escape of Danny and Willie to Sweden is based on two Norwegians, [[Per Bergsland]] and [[Jens Müller (pilot)|Jens Müller]], while the escape of [[Royal Australian Air Force]] (RAAF) Flying Officer  Sedgwick, "the Manufacturer", to Spain, was based on Dutchman [[Bram van der Stok]]. [[James Coburn]], an American, was cast in the role of Sedgwick who was an amalgamation of Flt Lt [[Al Hake|Albert Hake]], an Australian serving in the RAF, the camp's compass maker, and Johnny Travis, the real manufacturer. ''Filmink'' wrote that "if he didn’t crack the accent, Coburn nails the attitude" of an Australian.<ref name="coburn">{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|date=14 February 2025|access-date=14 February 2025|title=Movie Star Cold Streaks: James Coburn|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/movie-star-cold-streaks-james-coburn/}}</ref>

[[Til Kiwe|Tilman 'Til Kiwe' Kiver]] played the German guard "Frick", who discovers the escape. Kiwe had been a German paratrooper officer who was captured and held prisoner at a POW camp in Colorado. He made several escape attempts, dyeing his uniform and carrying forged papers. He was captured in the St. Louis train station during one escape attempt. He won the Knight's Cross before his capture and was the cast member who had actually performed many of the exploits shown in the film.

===Filming===
The film was made on location in Germany at the [[Bavaria Film]] Studio in the [[Munich]] suburb of Geiselgasteig in rural [[Bavaria]], where sets for the barrack interiors and tunnels were constructed. The camp was built in a clearing of the [[:de:Perlacher Forst|Perlacher Forst]] (Perlacher Forest) near the studio.<ref name="Riml">{{cite book |url=http://www.walter-riml.at/willkommen/1962-gesprengte-ketten/ |title=Behind the scenes... The Great Escape |first=Walter |last=Riml |author-link=Walter Riml |year=2013 |publisher=Helma Turk & Dr. Christian Riml |pages=28, 44ff |access-date=15 March 2015 |archive-date=January 31, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150131220900/http://www.walter-riml.at/willkommen/1962-gesprengte-ketten |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Whistance">{{cite web |url=http://www.thegreatescapelocations.com/ |title=The Great Escape Locations Site |first=Don J. |last=Whistance |year=2014 |work=thegreatescapelocations.com |access-date=15 March 2015 |archive-date=August 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200825200555/http://www.thegreatescapelocations.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The German town near the real camp was Sagan (now [[Żagań]], Poland); it was renamed Neustadt in the film.<ref name="Whistance" /> Many scenes were filmed in and around the town of [[Füssen]] in Bavaria, including its railway station. The nearby district of [[Pfronten]],<ref>Riml (2013), p.110ff.</ref> with its distinctive [[St. Nikolaus parish church (Pfronten)|St. Nikolaus Church]] and scenic background, also appears often in the film.<ref name="Whistance" /> The first scenes involving the railway were filmed on the [[Munich–Holzkirchen railway|Munich–Holzkirchen line]] at [[Großhesselohe station]] ("Neustadt" station in the movie) and near [[Oberhaching|Deisenhofen]]. Hendley and Blythe's escape from the train was shot on the [[Munich–Mühldorf railway]] east of [[Markt Schwaben]]. The station where Bartlett, MacDonald and Ashley-Pitt arrive is [[Füssen station]], whereas the scene of Sedgwick (whose theft of a bike was shot in Markt Schwaben) boarding a train was created in Pfronten-Ried station on the [[Ausserfern Railway]].<ref>Riml (2013), p.58ff.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eisenbahn-im-film.de/info/escape.htm |title=The Great Escape |first=Joachim |last=Biemann |date=2014-08-10 |website=Eisenbahn im Film – Rail Movies |access-date=2021-04-11 |language=de |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411193847/http://www.eisenbahn-im-film.de/info/escape.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The castle Hendley and Blythe fly by while attempting to escape is [[Neuschwanstein Castle]].<ref name="JWarren">{{cite news |last=Warren |first=Jane |url=http://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/56001/The-Truth-About-The-Great-Escape |title=The Truth About The Great Escape |newspaper=Daily Express |date=2008-08-07 |access-date=2016-11-17 |archive-date=November 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118041734/http://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/56001/The-Truth-About-The-Great-Escape |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:The Great Excape Jump.jpg|thumb|right|Replica of the motorcycle used by McQueen and Ekins.]]
The motorcycle chase scenes with the barbed wire fences were shot on meadows outside Füssen, and the "barbed wire" that Hilts crashes into before being recaptured was simulated by strips of rubber tied around barbless wire, constructed by the cast and crew in their spare time.<ref name="Rufford2009">{{cite news |first=Nick |last=Rufford |title=Video: The Great Escape, re-enacted |date=February 13, 2009 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/videos/article5718912.ece |work=The Times |access-date=October 20, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529155333/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/videos/article5718912.ece |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Insurance concerns prevented McQueen from performing the film's notable motorcycle leap, which was done by his friend and fellow cycle enthusiast [[Bud Ekins]], who resembled McQueen from a distance.<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Rubin, Steve |date=1993 |title=Return to 'The Great Escape' |medium=Documentary |publisher=[[MGM Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> When [[Johnny Carson]] later tried to congratulate McQueen for the jump during a broadcast of ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|The Tonight Show]]'', McQueen said, "It wasn't me. That was Bud Ekins." However, McQueen and Australian Motocross champion Tim Gibbes both performed the stunt on camera for fun, and according to second unit director [[Robert Relyea]], the stunt in the final cut of the movie could have been performed by any of the three men.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Page |first=Priscilla |date=2019-05-02 |title=The Great Escape is how Steve McQueen outfoxed studio lawyers and kept having fun |url=https://www.hagerty.com/media/motorcycles/the-great-escape-was-steve-mcqueen-having-fun/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309184609/https://www.hagerty.com/media/motorcycles/the-great-escape-was-steve-mcqueen-having-fun/ |archive-date=2021-03-09 |access-date=2022-03-10 |website=Hagerty Media}}</ref> Other parts of the chase were done by McQueen, playing both Hilts and the soldiers chasing him, because of his skill on a motorcycle.<ref name="machines">{{cite book |last=Stone |first=Matt |title=McQueen's Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon |year=2007 |publisher=MBI Publishing Company |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |isbn=978-0-7603-3895-7 |pages=77–78 |quote=There's a chase sequence in there where the Germans were after [McQueen], and he was so much a better rider than they were, that he just ran away from them. And you weren't going to slow him down. So they put a German uniform on him, and he chased himself!}}</ref> The motorcycle was a [[Triumph TR6 Trophy]] which was painted to look like a German machine. The restored machine is currently on display at [[Triumph Motorcycles Ltd|Triumph]]'s factory at [[Hinckley]], England.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-41809557 |title=Great Escape motorcycle goes on show |work=BBC News |date=November 2017 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-date=July 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731083756/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-41809557 |url-status=live }}</ref> Filming started on June 4, 1962 and ended in October 1962.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}