War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its

size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. Your host, James Early. Hello and welcome to another episode of key films about World War II in Europe.

This is your host, James Early, as always.

And I've got with me, of course, Sean McIreiber.

In this episode, we're going to look at the classic epic, 1963 film, The Great Escape. The Great Escape is another one of

these long movies. It's almost three hours, clocking in at two hours, 52 minutes. It was

very favorably received by critics and fans alike. On Rot

Tomatoes, it has a 94% positive score from the critics and 95% from the fans. IMDB, it has an

average score of 8.2, so it's cracked that 8.0 barrier. The director is John Sturgis, and the cast is All-Star. I'm just going to mention

a few people, and I know Sean will point out a few others as well, but it stars Steve McQueen,

James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, James Donald, Donald Pleasance, James Coburn,

and many others. Now, it's based on a novel of the same name, James Coburn, and many others.

Now, it's based on a novel of the same name, The Great Escape, by Paul Brickhill.

The screenplay was written by James Clavel.

And I'm sure most of you recognize that name.

James Clavel wrote many, many novels.

He wrote King Rat, Shogun, what am I leaving out, Sean?

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