raywest

19th Jul 2022

The Great Escape (1963)

Question: What village is McQueen in after stealing the motorcycle? He is stopped by a Nazi solder, but sped away when unable to answer in German. Would this have been located in the village of Eisenberg?

Answer: According to the movie's production info on Wikipedia, most of the exterior scenes, including the motorcycle chases, were filmed in and around the German town of Füssen.

raywest

25th May 2004

The Great Escape (1963)

Question: Why is Hilts the only prisoner out of the 11 or so who are returned to the camp after the great escape the *only* one to be sent to the Cooler? Shouldn't the other escapees be sent there, too?

Answer: The other escapees undoubtedly faced some sort of punishment - Hilts was singled out for the Cooler as he caused the most disruption while free.

Tailkinker

Answer: Hilts was a habitual prison camp escapee. No matter how many times he was recaptured and punished, he continued to escape, agitating the Germans. He was called the "Cooler King" because of how much time he spent in isolation. That is likely why his punishment was swifter and more severe than the other prisoners. He also caused quite a bit of mayhem before being recaptured.

raywest

19th Aug 2007

The Great Escape (1963)

Question: In the scenes in which the POWs use the bags inside their trousers to distribute tunnel dirt over the compound, how do they put the pins back into the bags? It seems like a pain in the butt to have to take the bags out, just to put them back in, just to take them back out, etc.

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: The movie is based on a true story and depicts actual events. After dispersing the dirt, the POWs simply removed the bags from their pants, reinserted the pins, and put the filled bags back inside their trousers again. Of course it was a pain, but what other options did they have? Little or none. Carrying out a secret operation in a POW camp with few resources, they worked with what they had, and made what they had work.

raywest

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