June 2014 Blindspot Challenge: The Great Escape

Back when I was making the initial transfer from middle to high school I became a big fan of the 1960's TV series Hogan's Heroes. I had a few seasons on DVD and I'd watch the crazy shenanigans of Colonel Hogan as the Nazis would always have some new weapon or there would be some person who has to escape or some other problem that he and his men would have to take care of.

Naturally, when I decided to start my 2014 Blindspot challenge with the 1963 classic The Great Escape I could see how much that show drew from it. The image of the prison camp, the extended tunnels, threatening uncooperative prisoners with "The Cooler", throwing the baseball around, and the one guard who is actually a nice guy that just got pulled into the war against his will were all components of this film that Hogan's Heroes would later pick up and exaggerate beyond recognition.

During World War II, a group of really troublesome prisoners of war are brought to a brand new camp, specifically designed to hold them and prevent any chance of escape. The commandant hopes that they will co-operate but the prisoners stubbornly take every potential opportunity to try and get out without success. That is until they devise an elaborate plan to sneak out 250 men.

Months of work follow as the prisoners make the necessary preparations for their escape; digging tunnels, forging papers, learning enough German and French to be able to get by, tailoring convincing disguises, gathering information about the surrounding environment, and trying to keep any of the guards from finding out; before they can begin making their great escape in the hopes of causing a massive amount when the Nazis try to recapture them.

The one issue that may be present with this film is that there are a lot of characters and it can be easy to loose track of some of the supporting roles, but fortunately most of the cast has a distinct enough appearance to be easy to identify, and all of them have their own little quirks and personalities. After a while you really do start to connect with them.

The movie does take its time to get going but still manages to be very compelling. It may be almost three hours long but that running time is used to its full advantage, letting you experience each and every detail of preparation: every step in digging the tunnels, every plan they devise for once they get out, every problem that presents itself, every creative solution the prisoners improvise to those problems. By the time our heroes are finally ready to make the Great Escape, you're genuinely rooting for them and want to see them make it, and it becomes quite the tear-jerker for the ones that don't.

The Great Escape is a great film and definitely worth the time. If you're looking for a compelling war film with great characters, an excellent cast, and a lot of emotion, this is almost certainly a film for you. You won't regret it. The Great Escape is a great experience.

The Magnificent Three and Four Others

I had a week off back in February from my classes, during which I took some time to watch some Westerns. After re-watching the remake of 3:10 to Yuma I found myself re-watching the older classic film The Magnificent Seven. It was a reasonably enjoyable film, but I can't deny it was flawed in one particular area.

If there's anything about this movie that could be considered a problem, it's that there are a few too many characters. The acting is good enough but I couldn't help noticing that half the "magnificent seven" didn't actually get that much of a chance at any individual development. The only three that really got a lot of depth were Yul Brynner's character of Chris, Steve McQueen's role of Van, and Horst Buchholz's role of Chico (fittingly, these are the three who survive)

Now to be fair, Charles Bronson's character of Bernardo O'Reilly does get a little bit of depth in a minor sub-plot, but the three Mexican children he befriends don't have much character, and this is still greatly overshadowed by the central plot.

James Coburn's character of Britt does have some amusing quirks, but he never really gets a chance to fully shine. We see his incredible knife-throwing skills in his introductory scene, but those never come up again, outside of his death scene, where he stabs a wall after being mortally wounded. Beyond that the extent of his character is his tendency to keep falling asleep in odd places. 

I'll confess I do like the costume design for Robert Vaughn's character of Lee, but I also wish they'd done a bit more with his character. He always has this mysterious sort of vibe but it never really goes anywhere and then he just gets killed off before he can really do anything.

The role of Brad Dexter's character of Harry seemed a tad bit redundant to me. He did seem to have a personality insofar as his stubborn insistence that the villagers have something valuable that they're keeping secret. One could also argue that he is the sanest of the group, as he is the only one who decides to get out when he is offered an opportunity to leave whilst everyone else decides to go back into the village and fight a large gang of bandits.

The redundant part of his character came during the climax. After leaving he has a change of heart and returns for the big showdown at the end... only to get killed off almost immediately before he can do anything. It's just that this particular character doesn't seem all that "magnificent" for one of the members of the titular group in a movie called The Magnificent Seven.

While The Magnificent Seven is a decent enough Western, I can't deny it is flawed. The funny thing is that when you look closely, a title like The Magnificent Three and Four Others would have been more accurate.