• The Great Escape (1963) -- Perfect escapist cinema. Fascinating story, 8/10. TWEET a review with the #JPMN hashtag, and have it featured! VISIT: http://bit.ly/JPMNYT for quick reviews & trailer commentaries ~~ Movie Night Reviews ~~ Incorporating viewer comments and tweets, your host and film critic Jonathan Paula reviews everything from opening day releases, recent DVDs, upcoming trailers, and classics from years past. Along with your votes, each film is scored on the "Rate-O-Matic" for a 1-10 ranking. A "Five Word Summary" quickly encapsulates each review while "Factor Facts" highlight a film's best and worst features in ten key categories. Each "Quick Review" is an excerpt from a full episode, which airs on the Jogwheel channel every Friday, November through May. Born in February 1986, Jonathan Paula is a professional YouTuber and creator of the hit web series, "Is It A Good Idea To Microwave This?". In April 2006 he founded Jogwheel Productions, a new media production company that specializes in web video. He has been reviewing films since 2003, and professionally since 2009. Jon graduated from Emerson College in 2008 with a degree in Television Production / Radio Broadcasting. He currently lives in Rockingham, NH with his wife Rebecca. ~~ Links ~~ Twitter --------------------- http://bit.ly/JonTW Facebook ---------------- http://bit.ly/JonFBFan Main Channel ----------- http://bit.ly/Jogwheel 2nd Channel ------------ http://bit.ly/JonWorld Movie Night Show ----- http://bit.ly/JogJPMN FAQ Video --------------- http://bit.ly/JogFAQv T-Shirts ------------------- http://bit.ly/JogStore ~~ Technical ~~ Created by ------ Jonathan Paula Camera ---------- Panasonic HMC-150 Microphone ----- Sennheiser ME 66 Software --------- Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Computer ------- http://bit.ly/JAV010 • Jogwheel Productions © 2013 • ~~ Review Script ~~ Released on the 4th of July in 1963, this ensemble adventure drama film tripled its $4-million dollar budget, and has remained a hit with audiences, 50 years later. Featuring composite-characters, and taking artistic liberties, the story is otherwise decently faithful to a real-life escape attempt by dozens of allied forces from a German POW camp during World War II. The all-star cast features Steve McQueen, who is, as always - the master of cool, an ambitious and impatient American who spends a majority of the picture attempting escapes, and getting locked in the "cooler". Also starring is a young James Garner as the "Scrounger", Donald Pleasance as the prisoners' resident "forger", Charles Bronson as their chief tunnel digger, Richard Attenborough as the overseer of the escape endeavor, and a host of other male actors playing both the good guys, and the bad. The otherwise taleneted cast hardly does more than joke around and deliver exposition though. When initially detained, the ranking British officer dutifully reminds his captor, "It is the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape." It's this quaint, civilized understanding between the allies and the Germans than makes the dynamics of this picture more playful and lighthearted than other prison films - as everyone maintains their composure and respect for each other. Director John Sturges stays friendly with slow-moving anamorphic wide-shots, which although typical for the period, rarely elicits any excitement. Although seldom used, composer Elmer Bernstein's theme is certainly an iconic one... an upbeat, whimsical tune that only begins to suggest the amount of mayhem our heroes plan to cause. The prisoners unashamedly make brazen, and frequent escape attempts... testing the guards response and weaknesses. Their ingenious solutions to various problems is terrific fun, like shaking dirt out of their pant legs, to blend it in with the lighter-colored topsoil, to avoid arousing suspicion. At two hours and fifty two minutes, this picture, much like its mammoth cast is perhaps larger than necessary - especially considering the lengthy runtime isn't used to develop any of the main characters beyond a cursory level. Slow-moving, and tame by today's standards, this film was given the equivalent of a "PG" rating, and is surprisingly family-friendly for a war picture. With no less than six parallel narratives, the final act of this movie takes things in a new direction, and is a bit darker in tone than the preceding material - but remains decidedly enjoyable on multiple viewings. Despite its faults, this is a fun, and inspirational story for all ages - that holds up remarkably well a half century later, "The Great Escape" is "Perfect escapist cinema. Fascinating story." ~

• published: 23 Oct 2013
• views: 273