The Great Escaper
The Great Escaper
Bernard Jordan escapes from his care home to attend the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings in France.
匚卂尺ㄥ reviewedFebruary 2, 2025
Let's face it. It's a Michael Caine movie and with him in it, as well as the legend that is Glenda Jackson, what more does an avid fan need than this?
Those who remember the commemorations for D-Day 70 can remember this real life guy going AWOL from his care home and from his wife and why shouldn't he?
He got told he cannot go on an organised trip so he sets off via bus, train, ferry, taxi and whatever else he can, to get to the beach where he had served on 6th June 1944.
Through flashbacks, you get the flavour and the taste of why this old Navy fella went but that added edginess that Caine brings to the role and the story adds a degree of realism to the story.
How do actors do that?
Check out when he tells the young Veteran to go and get help and issues his own diagnosis and you'll see. Or his thoughts on cyclists at the end.
Add to that the moments of mild swearing, something I cannot remember Caine ever doing in a film before. Strongest I've ever heard from him is "blow the bladdy doors off" and you get something remarkable as a story and a movie.
But the thing for me, is the glorious chance to see Michael and John Standing together again after so long. Remember The Eagle Has Landed? Remember the vicar chappy?
Be surprised!
Now I thought the Standing character was a faker at first, a Walter as we call them, someone who claims a lot but will run out of tales. I expected his downfall and didn't get it.
Instead, I'm left wondering if his character is "other than," in the sense that he might be the restless spirit of the Tank Commander and the moral of the tale is about a mission being accomplished, something Caine does say at the end.
Lovely. Funny. Dry as.... Touching and in moments beautifully filmed, especially when panning Caine on the beach as the drone flies behind him.
I shall watch this again and again now. Thank you Sir Michael Caine, for this and all your work. I remain a huge fan and not a lot of people know that!