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The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II. The film stars Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough. The film is based on the book of the same name by Paul Brickhill, a nonfiction account of the mass escape from Stalag Luft III in Żagań, which was then part of Germany. The characters in the film are composites of real men. The film was made by the Mirisch Company, released by United Artists, and produced and directed by John Sturges.

Having wasted enormous resources on recapturing Allied prisoners of war (POWs), the Germans move the most determined to a new, high-security prisoner of war camp. The commandant, Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger, tells the senior British officer, Group Capt Ramsey, "There will be no escapes from this camp." Ramsey replies that it is their duty to try to escape. After several failed escape attempts on the first day, the POWs settle into the prison camp.

Gestapo and SS agents bring Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett (RAF) to the camp and deliver him to von Luger. Known as "Big X," Bartlett is the principal organizer of escapes and Gestapo agent Kuhn orders that he be...