The Great Escape

I've never truly liked this movie, but Parker Tyler wrote the best essay about it in his "Screening the Sexes" book when he said The Great Escape was a homosexual film. His idea was defended by the basic fact that no part of the plot had a female character waiting back home for one of the soldiers to return to and no character really spoke of one either.

Tyler proves his point by illustrating the emotional bonds that the men had with each other. Tyler's argument is provoking, but once someone thinks about it more, he does make sense. The standard Hollywood vehicle would force a female subplot, but The Great Escape is a prison escape film. Made in 1963 it had to follow Grand Illusion as its top tier example for the story. Grand Illusion showed a great example of female yearning when the imprisoned soldiers dressed up as women and put on a theatrical show. If the Great Escape ever says it is trying to pay debt to Grand Illusion, it can say so by thinking the theatrical show implied homosexuality when it really promoted heteosexuality. The viewer isn't suppose to look at this movie as homosexual, but it really is. The Great Escape is because the inklings go under the surface. Most mysognistic movies have some semblance of female worship by the male characters, but The Great Escape is a true blue depiction about the relationship of men in a men only world. I can't think of a prison movie that doesn't show men wanting to see the women they can't get to, but The Great Escape is that one example. As much as I appreciate homosexual contexts in unlikely but logical circumstances, The Great Escape likely got to this point out of incompetence.

The plot isn't developed beyond a long and exasperrated escape route. The problem is that the escape route isn't even that good. Better ones were shown in films like Le Trou and others. The Great Escape is a pay off by Hollywood to cash in on a fascination that started in foreign cinemas. The dialogue is too cute and all the characters are plastic. If the film was about just a few soldiers escaping the length would be marginal. The long length is the film granting itself self importance. Too much screen time is dedicated to routes of escape that are redudant and of little interest or excitement.