Goofs for
The Great Escape (1963) More at IMDbPro »

• Anachronisms: The railway logo is incorrect.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Traffic signs are clearly post-war.
  
  
• Anachronisms: During the escape, there is a brief shot of a bridge spanning a river. This bridge is very obviously a post-war construction.
  
  

• Continuity: In Bartlett"s briefing, he says the first tunnel ("Tom")will go out from 105, and then says it will go out from hut 104, and Harry from 105. Danny is then shown starting Tom in 104. However, by the July 4th celebrations, "Tom" is in hut 105 when Strachwitz discovers it (and "105" is painted on the hut when the guards surround it).
  
  
• Anachronisms: The motorcycle that Hilts uses in his escape attempt was a 1960s British Triumph 650.
  
  
• Continuity: Motorcycles change in close-up shots.
  
  
• Continuity: On their first day in camp, Hilts throws his baseball to the wire to check the Germans' lines of sight. When he is finally stopped and the commandant comes over and Hilts is explaining what he was doing, the position of his hands change in differently angled shots.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Sedgwick is shown reading "Liberation", a newspaper not published during the German occupation of France.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: The Region 1 widescreen DVD version is framed such that some unintended things are seen to the left of the screen. When Hilts is serving moonshine, for instance, a crewmember can be seen pushing the prisoners forwards (in the Region 2 version, only his hand is visible). When Hilts is first sent to the cooler, the left-hand edge of the set can be seen at one point, too, with crew and equipment visible beyond (completely out of shot in the Region 2 version). When the prisoners are assembled the morning after the escape, there are several huge studio lights on stands on the left side of the frame between the trip wire and the fence. More studio lights are visible on the left frame during the first appearance of German town where Roger Bartlett and Mac McDonald are captured. The Region 1 Special Edition DVD has been reframed, removing most of these instances.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: After Hilts steals the motorcycle, he is hiding behind a building waiting for the German troops to go by. As they go by, the sidecar on the German motorcycle is on the wrong side of the bike, indicating that the shot was reversed.
  
  
• Continuity: Postion of the propeller crank when Hendley first hands it to Colin and when Colin begins to turn it
  
  
• Continuity: In the tunnel, Colin's socks alternate between grey and white between shots.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Hendley wears USA flashes on his uniform. This shows that he is an American serving in the RAF and is a member of the Famous "Eagle" squadrons, three squadrons composed of Americans who joined the RAF. This also means that Hendley was shot down before 1944, since the squadrons were re-absorbed by the USAAF at that time.
  
  
• Continuity: The steam engine of the passenger train with which the majority of the prisoners tries to escape is a German "Baureihe 78" (type 78) model. However, when arriving at its final destination where all passengers get off the train, the engine is a "Baureihe 64" (type 64) model (the engine of the freight train with which Sedgwick has escaped).
  
  
• Factual errors: Group Captain Ramsey's bottom three service ribbons denote service during the first world war. (Correct order would be: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal). However, these three ribbons are worn backwards on his uniform throughout the film (Victory Medal, British War Medal, 1914-15 Star).
  
  
• Continuity: When Hilts crashes his motorcycle into the barbed wire fence, he is clearly in front of the barbed wire. When they cut back for the close-up, he is entangled in the barbed wire.
  
  
• Factual errors: The film shows almost everything happening in the summer months. In reality, the actual escape occurred in March, 1944 while there was still significant snow on the ground. Most of the escapees who were trying to walk across country were forced by the deep snow to leave the fields and go on to the roads and into the hands of the patrols.
  
  
• Factual errors: The film shows a large number of the escapees being shot in one common space at one time. In reality, the 50 were shot in many different places, sometimes alone and sometimes in small groups.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: At the start of the escape sequence Capt. Hilts, the "cooler king", is wearing a dark top and white trousers and can easily be seen against the background. It seems implausible to attempt to escape through tunnel dirt in the middle of the night dressed in white.
  
  
• Factual errors: The film shows that the Germans discovered a tunnel located under a stove. The Germans actually did find one of the three tunnels, but it was located in a corner of hut 123. And in reality it was indeed the tunnel "Harry" located under a stove in hut 104 that was actually used by the airmen to escape.
  
  
• Continuity: When the Commandant first confronts Hilts for crossing the wire, he is not wearing his "Blue Max" medallion. But when he turns around to confront Ives immediately after, the medallion is around his neck.
  
  
• Anachronisms: As the rowboat escapees, the "Tunnel Kings," near the end of their journey in a harbor, what appear to be container cranes can be seen in the background as they approach the ship and clamber onto the gangway, on both sides of the large vessel. Containerization did not begin until the mid 1950's and containership cranes were unknown in the 1940's.
  
  
• Factual errors: The word 'lieutenent' is spoken using the American pronunciation throughout the movie by British and German officers. The British pronunciation would have been used.
  
  
• Continuity: Soon after his initial arrival at the camp, Hilts puts his gear bag on the ground next to the hut. Taking his ball and mitt with him, he walks over to the wire, leaving the bag behind. While talking to another prisoner about the blind spot between the towers, a camera shot back toward the hut shows Hilt's bag is gone.
  
  
• Continuity: When Hendley's stolen plane crashes the wings are clearly ripped completely off the fuselage. When the plane is next seen on fire the wings are still attached.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the Americans are marching as "The Spirit of '76", they stop before the Senior Barracks Officer. The last fife note is heard after Hilts lowers the fife from his lips.
  
  
• Continuity: Soon after MacDonald is captured, Bartlett tries to be nonchalant as he walks along a sidewalk. The German soldier, in the car, yells at Bartlett to stop and he does...on the sidewalk. Cut to a different angle and Bartlett is stopped...in the middle of the street.
  
  
• Continuity: When Ives drops his cup and moves towards the fence, in the background Hilts turns and starts moving towards Ives. Camera cuts to Hilts and he turns and starts moving again.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): During the scene when Hendley and Blythe are playing chess, the chessboard they are using is set up incorrectly. The rules of chess specify a white square on the right corner and a dark square on the left corner (with respect to the corners nearest each player). The chessboard prop used in the movie is set up so that these white and dark squares are reversed from the correct configuration (i.e. the board has been rotated by 90 degrees).
  
  
• Continuity: After the plane crash Hendley's left leg is so badly injured he cannot stand on it. When he is returned to the POW camp he walks in normally.
  
  
• Continuity: In the opening scenes, Hilts and Ives are sentenced to 20 days each in the Cooler by the Commandant. When Hilts and Ives are to be released from the Cooler, Hilts counts the 14 day-marks on the wall and as he's counting the 15th day on his fingers, the door opens and they walk out.
  
  
• Continuity: while Hilts is contemplating throwing his baseball to the "blind spot" at the fence, he backs up to the shadows at the corner of one of the prisoner's huts. when the camera cuts back to the same spot at corner of the hut, the area is no longer in shadows.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When James Garner is carrying the drum during the "Spirit of '76" parade, the beat we hear is completely different from what he is playing. Also, toward the end of the scene, the moonshine jugs Steve McQueen is wielding are clearly empty; though he lowers the jugs as the men come by with their cups, no booze comes out, but the men keep streaming by.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Hilts is playing the fife on the Fourth of July, his hands are in the wrong position. Both are on the outside of the fife, while anyone actually playing the instrument would have the right hand on the other side.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene in Hendley and Btlyhes room, when Bartlet is telling Blythe he can't go. During close ups or the view is from the door there is an ashtray hanging on the side of Hendley's bunk. When the scene is viewed from across the room the ashtray is not there.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Ashley Pitt comes up with the idea to get rid of the tunnel dirt they show them depositing dirt in gardens the men are working on. They also show men marching with dirt coming out of their trousers. If they are marching and swinging their arms how can they pull the chords in their pockets?
  
  
• Continuity: After Ives is killed, Hilts escapes and is purposely captured so he can bring back information about the area around the camp. He had obviously been in water, but different angles as he's brought back into the camp show the water line higher or lower on his pants legs.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: During the majority of the 4th of July scene the background soundtrack loops over and over. This goes on for nearly 10 minutes.
  
  
• Continuity: During their initial escape attempt (walking out with the Russian workers) the two escapees are in different rows. In the next shot, during which one attempts to vouch for the other, they are in the same row.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: During the scene where Hilts is setting a trip line across the road the sun is screen left. As he reaches the near side of the road he's suddenly lit from screen right and has two opposing shadows. The light (probably a reflector) follows him causing the post in the foreground to reflect the light and then the post also gains a shadow facing the sun.
  
  
• Errors in geography: There's no part in the German-Swiss border where you can see the Alps or any mountains like those in the film.
  
  

• Continuity: SPOILER: In the very last scene, as Hilts is being returned to the camp, he has a bloody rip in his shirt, on the right shoulder. When he is marched directly to the cooler afterward in the last shot, the tear is gone.
  
  

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