The Great Escape (1963)

Watching World War II action/drama “The Great Escape” -– based on fact, highly dramatized, three hours long -- has a new, unshakable tinge of sadness that did not exist during my childhood viewings. The entire principal cast has now passed, with Richard Attenborough and James Garner dying earlier this year. The true story: In 1944, 250-plus Allied prisoners attempted the most brazen escape from a POW camp ever known, with hundreds of minds and hands and three tunnels dedicated to infuriating Hitler’s military machine. Director John Sturges has made a near classic, even if it whiffs far too sanitized even for 1963. Attenborough, Garner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Donald Pleasence, and Charles Brosnan play the master escapists. Two hours document the dirt and work, the final rousing hour focuses on border runs. Pleasence’s forger is still my favorite hero of the bunch. The motorcycle chase with McQueen is exciting as hell, all stunts, no CGI. This kind of epic -– gifting character development and attention to process -– exist no longer. In Michael Bay’s world, it’s all flash and bang. Another sad passing. A-

The Dirty Dozen (1967)

World War II suicide mission classic “The Dirty Dozen” is mean, violent, carries enough cruelty and anti-PC credentials to offend everyone from patriotic zealots to liberal pacifists, and lays absolute waste to its stellar tough guy cast. The ass kickers include Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown, Terry Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Charles Bronson. The puppet masters include Robert Ryan, George Kennedy and Ernest Borgnine. What a cast! This is the kind of film guys drink scotch – straight – to, and stare in awe. From the first scene of a weeping soldier being hanged to the raid-the-castle finale, director Robert Aldrich makes this action flick a subversive 1960s social drama: God takes a beating, Jim Brown smiles as he kills rich whites, all military brass are pompous idiots. We are essentially rooting for killers and scum to walk away free. The violence still plays tough, including a hairy scene where one of the 12 goes Judas bonkers. It seems common place now, but “Dozen” may be the first American film to say if you’re not dirty going into war, it’ll sure as hell grind you down into the muck and mire. Classic. A