About this episode

The episode explores the iconic war movie 'The Great Escape' and the true events behind it.

This week we're embodying the inimitable sense of British wartime spirit with a look at many people's all-time favourite war movie. Despite experiencing the harrowing conditions of near starvation inside POW camp Stalag Luft III, the unbreakable resilience of 600 men led to perhaps the most infamous prison escape in cinematic history. But with the events depicted undeniably embellished by Hollywood and featuring a whole host of dashing young American actors in leading roles did the filmmakers tip the scales too much in their quest for action and adventure? And, like the heroes of The Great Escape, what truth can we unearth which lies hidden beneath the surface? How were the inmates able to plan such a daring escape? Was there really a 'cooler king' like Hilts? And just how far did some of the escapees make it?! Join us to find out on That's Not How It Went Down! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Hosts: Lewis Howard, Elliot Fitzpatrick

Topics covered

• war movies
• prison escape
• British wartime spirit
• cinematic history
• POW camps

Keywords

• The Great Escape
• Stalag Luft III
• prisoners of war
• Hollywood embellishment
• war movie review

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Great Escape

Places: Stalag Luft III

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