Box office
The Great Escape grossed $11.7 million at the box office,[56] after a budget of $4 million.[57] It became one of the highest-grossing films of 1963, despite heavy competition. In the years since its release, its audience has broadened, cementing its status as a cinema classic.[4] It was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival, where McQueen won the Silver Prize for Best Actor.[58]
Critical response
Contemporary reviews for the film were mostly positive. In 1963, The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "But for much longer than is artful or essential, The Great Escape grinds out its tormenting story without a peek beneath the surface of any man, without a real sense of human involvement. It's a strictly mechanical adventure with make-believe men."[59] British film critic Leslie Halliwell described it as "pretty good but overlong POW adventure with a tragic ending".[60] The Time magazine reviewer wrote in 1963: "The use of color photography is unnecessary and jarring, but little else is wrong with this film. With accurate casting, a swift screenplay, and authentic German settings, Producer-Director John Sturges has created classic cinema of action. There is no sermonizing, no soul probing, no sex. The Great Escape is simply great escapism".[61]
Modern appraisals
The Great Escape continues to receive acclaim from modern critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 53 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads, "With its impeccably slow-building story and a cast for the ages, The Great Escape is an all-time action classic."[62]
In a 2006 poll in the United Kingdom, regarding the family film that television viewers would most want to see on Christmas Day, The Great Escape came in third, and was first among the choices of male viewers.[63] In an article for the British Film Institute, "10 great prisoner of war films", updated in August 2018, Samuel Wigley wrote that watching films like The Great Escape and the 1955 British film The Colditz Story, "for all their moments of terror and tragedy, is to delight in captivity in times of war as a wonderful game for boys, an endless Houdini challenge to slip through the enemy's fingers. Often based on true stories of escape, they have the viewer marvelling at the ingenuity and seemingly unbreakable spirit of imprisoned soldiers." He described The Great Escape as "the epitome of the war-is-fun action film", which became "a fixture of family TV viewing".[64]
Accolades
- Nominated Academy Award for Film Editing (Ferris Webster)
- Nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Picture
- Winner Moscow International Film Festival Best Actor (Steve McQueen)
- Nominated Moscow International Film Festival Grand Prix (John Sturges)
- Selected National Board of Review Top Ten Films of Year
- Nominated Writers Guild of America Best Written American Drama (James Clavell, W. R. Burnett) (Screenplay Adaptation)
- 19th place in AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills
Legacy
On 24 March 2014, the 70th anniversary of the escape, the RAF staged a commemoration of the escape attempt, with 50 serving personnel each carrying a photograph of one of the shot men.[65]
On 24 March 2019, the RAF held another event for the 75th anniversary of the escape. There was a screening of the film at London's Eventim Hammersmith Apollo, hosted by Dan Snow. The film was simulcast with other cinemas throughout the UK.[66]
