MovieChat Forums > The Great Escape (1963) Discussion > Why didn't the Germans shoot the Steve M...

Why didn't the Germans shoot the Steve McQueen character?

posted 8 years ago by tropicaldiver2001
10 replies | jump to latest

I realize that the film is partly fictionalized, especially the Steve McQueen role. He was put in there to attract an younger American audience and that idea succeeded very well. After the 76 POWs escaped the order was given to shoot 50 of those recaptured. They shoot the Richard Attenborough character for instance because he was "Big X" the escape mastermind who had escaped several times before. One great scene at the beginning of the film is where the Gestapo agents tell him that if he escapes again and is recaptured, he will be shot.

In the film the Steve McQueen character makes two escape attempts before the big one. In the first he and the little Scottish guy are recaptured while trying to dig out and taken to the cooler covered in dirt. In the second attempt Steve McQueen allows himself to be recaptured because his job was to check out what was on the other side of the trees bordering the camp and report back to "Big X".

When McQueen escapes the third time he stretches a rope across a road and takes down a German soldier on a motorcycle, who most likely is killed or badly injured by this. McQueen then puts on the German uniform (this in itself is a capital offense in wartime) and leads Germans on a mighty pursuit to the Swiss border.

Can anyone think of any good reason why he would not have been shot upon recapture. I guess John Sturgis wanted to end the film on a high note with McQueen bouncing his baseball off the cooler wall.

[–] Corky666 8 years ago

You just answered your own question writing that overlong boring post dumb dumb

[–] Dave-R011 8 years ago

IN real life, he almost certainly would have been one of the fifty. He also might have been separately punished by court martial and then executed as an illegal combatant. Obviously, his character was intended entirely for the box office appeal.

[–] jbg926 7 years ago

While this is pure theory, it appears he shows his insignia to show he is an officer to the lowly soldier. This may get him "preferential" treatment at the onset. I agree he would then likely be shot, albeit possibly not with the 50. However, that may have been the German army and not SS/Gestapo/Nazis etc. I'd have to watch again to make that determination. Basically, it may have come down to which group captured him and then where he was sent, though I'd think he would have been executed if in the hands of the SS. Maybe he would have been slightly more fortunate if it was simply the German army, not all of which were Nazis.

[–] Dave-R011 7 years ago

He assaulted, and quite likely seriously injured or killed, a German soldier to steal that motorcycle. The Wehrmacht would be well within their Geneva Convention rights to court martial him and sentence him appropriately - which might well be a death sentence.

[–] stevekaczynski 7 years ago

That always puzzled me. He knocked out and possibly killed a German to steal the motorbike, then put on the German's uniform, although towards the end he changed back into his American clothes. They would have had grounds to execute him just for wearing German uniform - German infiltrators who put on American uniform and were captured were executed by the Americans. Not to mention Hilts leading them on a merry chase before capture. They might have shot him out of sheer exasperation when he finally gets tangled in the barbed wire. Despite all that, he gets taken back to the camp alive and suffers no more than a spell in solitary.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."

[–] Dave-R011 7 years ago

As the OP noted, John Sturges didn't want to end the film with it's biggest star being murdered. I dare say McQueen would have erfused to do the part if this had been the case.

[–] stevekaczynski 7 years ago

Hilts wears what looks like a civilian sweatshirt and trousers that, though khaki-coloured, could easily be civilian. He shows off the insignia to indicate that he is military and perhaps also that he is an officer. Since some of the characters in the film are shot specifically for wearing civilian clothes, this is wise. He wears a German uniform some of the time which could have been a pretext for shooting him, although he wisely ditches it just before capture.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."

[–] thbryn (226) 2 years ago

By this time the war was going badly for Germany. Even though I do believe McQueen would likely have be shot, German troops had begun to think of a post-war accounting for their actions. Murdering prisoners --who had rights-- was frowned upon. Roosevelt had already been planning to get justice, not just have Germans surrender and back to former lives.

[–] BillySlater (4097) a year ago

McQueen´s character wasn´t a real character from the original escape though. His attempted escape was clearly fictionalized. There was only one American that partook in the great escape. Murdering prisoners was a war crime and indeed those involved in killing the 50 (of which Hitler gave the order), who were still alive were tried at the Nuremberg trials.

[–] brux (14666) a year ago

I don't recall, but I remember reading the book. You might find some stuff out by reading the book.