And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Great fight but total rubbish. There were no Yanks in the camp when the escape took place. All had been moved weeks before to a US camp. Steve was included only because US money was invested in the film and they wanted a Yank.
The movie was always an American project, from start to finish. It was only made because Steve McQueen was in it (you could look it up), and Sturges - another American, btw - had already worked with McQueen, Bronson, and Coburn in The Magnificent Seven three years earlier, and wanted him, and them. Hollywood reworked the story because they were aiming at the world market, which wanted American movies and actors (the movie won McQueen Best Actor from the Moscow International Film Festival the year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, FFS), not the tiny Brit market alone. The London premiere was a sop to the original story origin, which was authored by an Australian in the RAF (Paul Brickhill) who had actually been interned as a POW at Luftstalag III, and been heavily involved in the escape, but not one of the actual escapees.
A book that I read many years ago (I think it's called "Human Game") was about the hunt for the Germans responsible for executing the captured Allied prisoners of the "Great Escape". Quite good. The detail that I remember best was that the investigators finally got images of the faces of the killers from a mural they had painted at their beer hall. They all posed for the painter, who was quite a good painter.
Steve's former wife Ali MacGraw lives here in Santa Fe. A very friendly lady who I've bumped into so many times that we usually stop and chat. Gotta say she looks pretty hot for 83.
Even though it's a sad ending, the fight for freedom that Steve McQueen showed was remarkable and the essence of the American spirit.
ReplyDeleteYes, a great movie, but I can't think about Steve McQueen without The Sand Pebbles coming to mind.
DeleteGreat fight but total rubbish. There were no Yanks in the camp when the escape took place. All had been moved weeks before to a US camp. Steve was included only because US money was invested in the film and they wanted a Yank.
DeleteThe movie was always an American project, from start to finish. It was only made because Steve McQueen was in it (you could look it up), and Sturges - another American, btw - had already worked with McQueen, Bronson, and Coburn in The Magnificent Seven three years earlier, and wanted him, and them.
DeleteHollywood reworked the story because they were aiming at the world market, which wanted American movies and actors (the movie won McQueen Best Actor from the Moscow International Film Festival the year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, FFS), not the tiny Brit market alone. The London premiere was a sop to the original story origin, which was authored by an Australian in the RAF (Paul Brickhill) who had actually been interned as a POW at Luftstalag III, and been heavily involved in the escape, but not one of the actual escapees.
Nice try at re-writing history though.
I love the phrase 'reworked.' Usually translated as 'changed completely.'
DeleteSteve McQueen was a man among men. You could do worse than insulate him.
ReplyDeleteEmulate. Damn touch keypad anyway.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite movies, in reality Americans worked on the escape tunnels but were all removed by coincidence before the escape happened.
ReplyDeleteA book that I read many years ago (I think it's called "Human Game") was about the hunt for the Germans responsible for executing the captured Allied prisoners of the "Great Escape". Quite good.
ReplyDeleteThe detail that I remember best was that the investigators finally got images of the faces of the killers from a mural they had painted at their beer hall. They all posed for the painter, who was quite a good painter.
I pray for the day the people holding the political prisoners in DC are brought to justice.
DeleteSteve's former wife Ali MacGraw lives here in Santa Fe. A very friendly lady who I've bumped into so many times that we usually stop and chat. Gotta say she looks pretty hot for 83.
ReplyDeleteOn a trip to Castle Neuschwanstein, we were told that the motor cycle sequences were filmed very near to there.
ReplyDelete