BASED ON A TRUE STORY...

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During the 2nd World War, the most troublesome allied Prisoners of War were moved to Stalag Luft North, an escape-proof camp in Germany, where they combined forces to plan and execute a mass break-out on 25th March 1944.

[Image - Picture of prison camp]
The movie was based on Paul Brickhill's novel and factual account of the escape story. It had some tragic endings as 50 of the escapees were executed. The movie was originally released in 1962 and is an account of the mass break-out of 76 Allied Prisoners of War who were being held by the Germans. In addition to the all star cast John Sturges produced and directed the movie, the music was by Elmer Bernstein and the script was written by James Clavell and W.R. Burnet. The film production company was Mirisch-Alpha but the intellectual property rights to the movie are currently owned by MGM Interactive Inc. [Image - Picture from 'The Great Escape']
This is one of the great war movie classics and contains memorable sequences along with a sea of well known faces. McQueen is best remembered for his role as "The Cooler King" and particularly for the final motorbike stunt sequence. Incidentally he performed most of the stunts himself, against the wishes of director Sturges. Bronson and Garner give good support and Coburn turns in an amusing performance as an Australian. This is a movie that has played around the world time and time again.