'The Great Escape'

There are elements of this film that are oddly contradictory and it makes me uncomfortable on a certain level.

For one, it was a bit of a cartoon. The British guys were very British. The Germans were comically German. The Americans were cool. It was "Hogan's Heroes." I like "Hogan's Heroes," but the difference is that one is on TV (a medium based on being ridiculous) and the other is film (a medium that you can take your time with, develop characters and present a stirring snapshot of life in a POW camp during World War II).

Second, the music is terrible. It's not a comedy. Surely by this time, filmmakers and artists realized the full breadth of that war and how it changed everything and how it impacted so many beyond the fighting lines and dead in the trenches. This was the truest example of "good vs. evil."

Finally, maybe if the Allies were a bit better at sneaking out of POW camps, they wouldn't have gotten caught (or killed ... if you think about it, it wasn't that "great" of an escape). It seems with a bit more careful planning there could've been as much success in terms of catching more of the German's attention without just needling them to the point of getting mowed down by a machine gun. One tip: Don't let the blind guy go with Rockford. Ever.