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The Great Escape(1963)
Released
1963 · FILM

The Great Escape

A daring American POW mastermind teams up with fellow captives to orchestrate a massive tunnel breakout from a ruthless German camp, risking execution if they fail and jeopardizing the war’s front lines.

“Put a fence in front of these men... and they'll climb it!”

Directed by
John Sturges, Jack N Reddish
Written by
Paul Brickhill, James Clavell
Rated
MPA · Approved
Runtime
172 min
AdventureDramaThriller

Synopsis

Frustrated by the repeated escapes of a small group of Allied prisoners from their camps, the Nazis transfer them to a high-security facility designed to be escape-proof, intending to keep them there for the duration of the war. Despite the increased security, the prisoners devise one of the most elaborate escape attempts of World War II. The story is based on actual events.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Director of Photography
Writers
Directors

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 184+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Ferris WebsterShot by Daniel L FappScored by Elmer Bernstein

Box Office

1963 · Box office

✅ Made its money back — grossed 2.9× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$11.7M

Budget$4.0M
Worldwide gross$11.7M
break-even (2.5×)

Full synopsis

Also known as

  • Gesprengte Kettende
  • (Flemish)De grote ontsnapping
  • La Grande Évasionfr
  • La grande fugait
Release dates around the world4 countries · show
  • United KingdomJun 20, 1963
  • United StatesJul 2, 1963
  • CanadaJul 3, 1963
  • TürkiyeJul 4, 1963

Companies

ProductionThe Mirisch Company, Alpha Productions
DistributionUnited Artists, Kommunenes Filmcentral (KF), Nova Film
Other companiesDescriptive Video Works, Hollywood Studio Symphony, Samuel Goldwyn Studios, Stalmaster-Lister Co.

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