Thursday Movie Picks: Escape

A weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves
Hello guys and happy new year! What a better way to kick off 2020 than joining Wandering Through the Shelves's wonderful weekly series, Thursday Movie Picks? As you've probably seen from the title, for this first week of the year we are asked to talk about movies involving some sort of escape. Without further ado, I leave you with my picks.

PS I didn't enjoy all of them but I wanted to do a theme within a theme. 

The Great Escape (1963) - Review

Plot: During World War II, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps, the Nazis relocate the Allied prisoners in an escape-proof camp. Unfortunately for them, they put together the best escape minds in one location and the prisoners will soon start planning one of the most ambitious escapes of WWII.

A film I kept putting off for years, The Great Escape has the perfect blend of action, drama, comedy and adventure. The story, both the slow-paced planning and the escape, is engaging from start to finish. Also, it has an incredible atmosphere, an epic score and great performances. 

Papillon (1973) - Review

Plot: Wrongly convicted of murdering a pimp, Henri Charrière (Steve McQueen) is sentenced to life and imprisoned in the penal colony in French Guyana. As he forms a friendship with a fellow prisoner, forger Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), he attempts to escape many times, despite solitary confinement being the punishment. 

Since Charrière's autobiography Papillon slowly grew on me, I was hoping this first adaptation would do the same. Unfortunately, it was a letdown. I'm not sure how the director managed to do it, but the fascinating and compelling adventures of Papillon weren't interesting at all here. Too many details from the book were left out which would make the film rather confusing for someone who hasn't read the book. However, both McQueen and Hoffman give strong performances, although their lack of chemistry is a buzz killer as they fail to convey a sense of loyalty and friendship. 

The Towering Inferno (1974) - Review

Plot: A massive fire breaks out during the opening of The Glass Tower, the world's tallest skyscraper, and a determined fire chief (Steve McQueen) and an honourable architect (Paul Newman) team up to fight the fire from the outside and the inside.

Although some of the writing is a bit lacklustre, especially the characters as they lack development, the story is throughout interesting as it focuses on the attempts to escape as well as on the individual dramas of the characters. It's not perfect but it's a fun film with a great pace and likeable leads. 

15 comments :

  1. Here I thought everyone would be picking Shawshank and so far only I have lol. I really need to see THe Great Escape. It's popular this week. The only one of yours I've sort of seen is Papillion but I saw the remake and didn't care for it.

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    1. If you didn’t care for the other adaptation you better stay away from this one as the new movie is slightly better. And you need to see The Great Escape!

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    2. I haven't seen any of your picks and like Brittani, I did think Shawshank was going to be the hot pick for this theme.

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  2. I LOVE a theme within the theme and this is a great one!!

    The Great Escape is unsurprisingly popular today and rightly so. It's wonderfully constructed and strongly directed besides having that Murderer's Row of perfect performances.

    Being a disaster movie junkie Towering Inferno is one of my three top favorites in the genre, the other two are the original Airport and The Poseidon Adventure, with it's sense of danger and a star packed cast that could never be equaled today. I suppose the writers assumed they didn't need to bother with character development too deeply given the fame of the cast and that the audience could fill in the gaps with the personas of those stars and in many ways they were right. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman anchor the film with their megawatt personalities, Faye Dunaway is ravishing, Fred Astaire a bottomless well of charm, Jennifer Jones classy and dignified and on and on. Considering that the film's purpose is to be a story of peril they let us know just enough to care about the characters and then got out to the way.

    Though it's my least favorite of these three I liked this version of Papillion and thought McQueen and Hoffman worked well together. It's miles ahead of the flat-footed remake from a few years ago with Charlie Hunnam.

    I suppose I did a mini theme as well but really I just went the simplest route via the titles.

    Escape (1940) American Mark Preysing (Robert Taylor) arrives in Nazi Germany searching for his mother, one time stage star Emmy Ritter (Nazimova) a German native who has gone missing. Discovering she has been arrested, interned in a concentration camp and scheduled for execution on trumped up charges he turns to a sympathetic American expatriate Countess Ruby von Treck (Norma Shearer) to formulate a plan and attempt an escape.

    Escape (1948) Matt Denant (Rex Harrison), newly released from the Air Corps after the war’s end, is wrongly convicted of a crime and sentenced to be imprisoned for three years. Managing to escape he takes flight, at times literally, and with the help of local girl Dora Winton (Peggy Cummins) he attempts to flee his unjust punishment. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

    Escape (aka The McKenzie Break) (1970) In a remote northern Scotland POW camp German submarine Capitan Willi Schlüter (Helmut Griem) challenges the authority of the camp’s Commanding Officer, Major Perry (Ian Hendry) leading to major conflicts. British Army Captain Jack Connor (Brian Keith) arrives to investigate what he believes to be escape attempts. While he looks into matters Schlüter leads an escape party through a hidden tunnel and the chase is on!

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    1. I'm so glad you caught my theme within the theme!

      I haven't seen neither Airplane nor The Poseidon Adventure (I've seen the newish version with Adam Baldwin) but I've been meaning to check out both.

      Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed the new adaptation more than this one. Although it has Malek in it and I can't stand him.

      I haven't seen any of your picks but I love your theme!

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    2. Good heavens don't let that awful remake of Poseidon Adv be the only one you see!! There was also an even more odious, mean spirited redo called just Poseidon with Kurt Russell in the early 2000's that is just vile swill.

      As they say stick with the original! It has some cheese factor but you care about the characters and it is impressively made considering the time it came out.

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    3. I will check it out! And I will stay away from the Kurt Russell one. It's not like I've ever thought about watching that one haha

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  3. I don't think I've seen any of these which means I should maybe get around to that! LOL

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    1. You do, especially The Great Escape as it's one of the greatest films ever made.

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  4. Awesome list! I really want to watch the Great Escape!

    Check out my Thursday Movie Pick!

    Ronyell @ The Surreal Movies and TV Blog

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    1. Thank you! And yes, you need to see The Great Escape.

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  5. Oh wow.. I haven't seen any of these because I don't watch classics that much. :D

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    1. Well, at least check out The Great Escape. It's one of the greatest films ever!

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  6. I love that you picked McQueen films and I love all 3. The Great Escape is an excellent film and popular today. I really enjoyed Papillon and thought McQueen and Hoffman did have an odd chemistry but you read the book first so the movie will always fall short. Love The Towering Inferno and all its disaster style. The disaster flicks from the 70’s are so much fun to watch and this is one of the better ones

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