The Great Escape is a great movie. Based on a real escape from a German prison camp in 1944, it doesn't take liberties as much as consolidating people and circumstances/events during that time.
The original idea was to escape 250 prisoners. 76 made it out and 50 were executed. The escape was part of the pre D-Day activity meant to gum up German resources.
The whole camp worked on the escape to one degree or another.
I knew 2 of the prisoners. One lived in Evansville. The other owned a neighborhood bar ironically just blocks from where the movie was showing. Great men. All great men.
Hilts was a consolidated character portrayed by Steve McQueen. The motorcycle scenes were fictitious to showcase Steve's skills, save for the famous leap performed by Steve's friend Bud Ekins.
Hilts. The character was a serial escapee. He was irreverent and single minded. Hilts made the most of any opportunity to escape.
Yet, he escaped, studied activity in the area, especially train schedules and allowed himself to be recaptured so he could share the info with the others.
Being singularly minded is not bad, when it amounts to Freedom.
Refuse to give up. Refuse to give in.
Finally recaptured near the end of the movie, Hilts sits in the cooler and repeatedly bounces a baseball off the wall. That sound confounds a guard. But, we know what it means.
Unquenchable thirst for Freedom.
