The Great Escape

:For the "Married... with Children" episode, see The Great Escape (Married... with Children episode).

Trivia

• Charles Bronson (Flight. Lt. Danny "The Tunnel King" Velinski) and David McCallum (Lt. Cmdr. Eric "Dispersal" Ashley-Pitt) were both married to English actress Jill Ireland: McCallum from May 11, 1957 until 1967, Bronson from October 5, 1968 until her death on May 18, 1990.
• This film shares three of its stars (Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn), its director and producer (John Sturges) and its composer (Elmer Bernstein) with The Magnificent Seven. Both films also feature one of the stars of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: David McCallum appears in this film while Robert Vaughn appeared in the earlier one.
• Richard Attenborough (Squadron Leader Roger "Big X" Bartlett), James Garner (Flight Lt. Bob Anthony "The Scrounger" Hendley) and David McCallum (Lt. Cmdr. Eric "Dispersal" Ashley-Pitt) are the only surviving major stars of the film.
• Steve McQueen did most of his own motorcycle stunts. The only stunt he didn't perform was the 60 foot jump over the Austrian/Swiss border fence. That stunt was performed by stuntman Bud Ekins, who also doubled for McQueen in Bullitt.
• According to David McCallum, the barbed wire that Hilts (Steve McQueen) crashes into near the end of the film, which was actually made of rubber, was made by the cast and crew during their free time by tying small pieces of rubber around larger ones.
• While Roger and MacDonald wait to board a bus, a German officer tricks Mac into blowing his cover. This scene is somewhat ironic since it was Mac himself who, earlier in the film, told one of the other POWs not to fall for the same trick.
• In the scene following Hilts' theft of a German motorcycle, he pulls into a German town, where he is stopped by a police officer. The officer says something to Hilts in German, who kicks the officer and rides off. Hilts was asked for identification papers he didn't have.