The Great Escape is a 1963 American World War II epic film based on an escape by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough, filmed in Panavision.

Captain Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen) has already made 17 escape attempts: during the film he makes four more - as the Commandant says, "close to insanity".

Hilts makes good his escape, acquiring Wehrmacht uniform and motorbike and heading for the Swiss border. His command of German, which earlier he claimed to have when speaking to the camp Commandant, deserts him at a vital moment, and he is pursued cross-country by checkpoint troops. Rapidly divesting himself of the uniform (which could get him shot as a spy if captured), he continues his efforts to cross the border on his bike. This culminates in the scene where, cornered by increasing numbers of German troops, he attempts to jump the double fences of the border: he clears one successfully, but is brought down by enemy fire before he can attempt the second.

Hilts is returned to the prison camp, where he learns of the fate of the other escapers, and of the Commandant. As he is escorted yet again to the cooler, Goff throws him a baseball mitt and ball; indomitable to the end, Hilts concludes the film by incessantly bouncing the ball off the walls of his cell.

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