Audio problem: The sounds of the prisoners laughing and bantering about during the 4th of July moonshine scene is obviously a looped soundtrack as the same exact sounds and volume are heard at least four times during this scene.
The Great Escape (1963)
1 audio problem
Directed by: John Sturges
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Garner, James Coburn, Steve McQueen, David McCallum
Factual error: Why is Hilts not wearing a uniform? A serving officer captured behind enemy lines in civilian clothing risked being shot as a spy. If a prisoner's uniform was too worn or damaged to wear, it was routine for the German authorities to replace it - a P.O.W. in civilian clothes is an obvious escape risk. He is wearing a pair of tan chinos, a cut off sloppy Joe sweatshirt, both ridiculously anachronistic - Sixties hipster fashions - and nowhere even close to a World War 2 uniform. He is also wearing Army Type III Service boots - something that would never have been issued to a fighter pilot.
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Suggested correction: Hilts was a POW for some years, so his current clothing would not reflect what he wore when captured, so he would not be considered a spy. After multiple escape attempts, his original uniform was probably ruined. POWs would have traded and swapped clothes. If prisoners died at the camp, their uniforms would be repurposed, regardless of branch or division. The Geneva Convention required that POWs receive shelter, food, clothing, medical care, etc. The Red Cross also delivered care packages to POW camps with food, miscellaneous apparel, and other essentials. Sweatshirts have existed since the 1920s and changed little. 1940s sweatshirts were similar to 1960s styles. Chino pants have been around since the late 19th century and were used for U.S. military uniforms.
And none of them would have been available to a prisoner in a German POW camp in Poland in the mid 1940s. Not one single item of hipster fashion would have found its way into the camp. Even if it did, do you really think the German authorities would allow a prisoner to lounge about in civilian clothing? Talk about an escape risk.
Other than the sweatshirt, Hilts is wearing military clothing - a leather bomber jacket and U.S. Air Force khaki trousers. So not "hipster" civilian clothing. The sweatshirt could just be something he had or acquired at another camp and appears to be his only shirt. He and two other POWs are the only Americans, so their uniforms are different. There's no way to say definitively what Hilts and other POWs would be allowed to wear. That was up to the camp commandant, who was shown as being rather disdainful about Hitler and his minions.
Group Capt. Ramsey: Colonel Von Luger, it is the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape. If they can't, it is their sworn duty to cause the enemy to use an inordinate number of troops to guard them and their sworn duty to harass the enemy to the best of their ability.
Col. Von Luger: Yes I know. The men under your authority have been most successful. This man, Ahsley-Pitt for example. Caught in the North Sea, escaped, recaptured, escaped, recaptured. Archibald "Archie" Ives: 11 escape attempts. He even tried to jump out of the truck coming here. Dickes, William: known to have paticipated in the digging of 11 escape tunnels. Flight Lieutenant Willinski: four escape attempts. MacDonald: nine, Hendley, the American: five, Haynes: four, Sedgewick: seven. The list is almost endless. One man here has made 17 attempted escapes. Group Captain, this is close to insanity.
Group Capt. Ramsey: Quite.
Col. Von Luger: And it must stop!
Trivia: The motorcycle used by Steve McQueen is the same motorcycle Henry Winkler used on "Happy Days."
Question: When Roger is explaining the escape plan, he says that Tom will run under the vorlager, the cooler, and the wire. The cooler and the wire are obvious, but what's the vorlager?
Chosen answer: Vorlage is German for "forward position," so this likely refers to either the main gate, or a machine gun nest.
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