The Great Escape is one of my favourite movies. Whenever I'm not watching the History Channel, or any of the variants of CSI or Law and Order or The Wire or Seinfeld I often put The Great Escape video on for ..... well a bit of escapism.
BUT...there is a scene which never fails to annoy me. Donald Pleasence -'The Forger' is showing two passes to Richard Attenborough -'Big X' "Which one is the fake?" he asks. Big X picks one and Donald pleasence says "No they're both forgeries."
So how can one pick the fake out if there is no real one to judge it against? I had thought it was a bit of shoddy scriptwriting but I picked up the book and the scene is also there. Goes to show what being locked up can do to your critical faculties.

? There is no anomaly? It is meant to demonstrate that both are of sufficient quality to 'pass muster', and that any difference is purely down to the subjective judgment of 'X'.

Vinnie

But what is the judgement based on? If I showed you two modern German Driving Licences and said "which one is the the fake- they both are" They might be rubbish fakes for all you know, unless you have a genuine licence to compare them to.

Did he see one before when Handley hands over the wallet full of pases?

The way I've always watched that scene, and I've seen the movies tens of dozens of times, my kids will attest to that, is with an assumption. I've assumed the Roger, Big X, who has been involved in a number of previous escapes, is familiar enough with a German pass to know very well what it looks like. Based on that experience he would be looking very closely at each pass to see if he could tell which was fake. The fact that both were showed how good they were.

Exactly!
Thanks Roger!

Vinnie

Okay I can see the logic in that now, thanks. Still you'd think he would've coached Gordon Jackson to watch out for the "Good Luck" ploy by the Gestapo.

If you remember Jackson coached another escapee to watch for that ploy. When it came down to it he fell for it. That German policeman did it so well, I'll bet he'd fool most anybody in the escape.

The Great Escape is on my personal top ten list. I've got it on VHS, DVD, I'll probably some day get the special edition DVD, and I still watch it most every time it's on TV. My only complaint about it is that, typical of Hollywood, Americans are given far greater a role in the escape than they had in real life. Not to take anything away from the Americans who were in the camp prior to the escape, this was really a British and other allies show.

Hi Pat...

now I know why I'm the way I am after eight and a half years stuck in Saudi... :-)

The Great Escape is one of my favourite films too.
In fact I was 11 or 12 when I first saw it...and a friend of mine and I immediately set to and painted his bike a rather doubtfull shade of matt Germanesque grey-green and bashed a few hills and muddy fields on it....not quite the same as Mr McQueen but the intention was there as were the bruises and scrapes.. :-)

To echo Roger.....I think that as Big X had had more experience of escapes and organising the same than anyone else Donald Pleasence's question was valid. As, if anyone could tell a fake and/or a genuine pass, it was Big X.

Just my threepenneth.

Cheers
Peter
:-)

SFX Suffling of feet as Flitzer goes and stands in a corner with a 1000 lines to write...
"flitzer must learn to read previous posts before jumping in with a replica comment"

Oh yes....another non-important point.

Has anyone noticed that Donald Pleasance's socks change colour?
On the night of the big escape when he is being trundled down the tunnel on the little boggie his socks are white at the start but by the end they are light grey-blue...or vica versa.


Cheers
Peter
:-)

I remember I had the LP (The What!!!) the 33rpm long playing record of the theme music which I used to play while making motorbike noises.
On another note I saw a documentary about the real escape the movie was based on and one of the veterans was asked was it worth it , all the difficulties they put the Germans to stacked against the deaths of his comrades and he said No, it wasn't.
I just found a site about the Real Escape and the Film
http://www.historyinfilm.com/escape/real3.htm

I have just thought that would the german polie/gestapo have caught the escapees because of a english accent when speaking german. When i speak german to my cousin, he says i have a english accent. Why do people think it only works one way?
p.s Has anyone herd of the german great escape. It happend in late 1945 from a special pow camp for troubblesome and high ranking officers in wales. I think is was something like 350 people escaped via a tunnel,l but they were all recaptured.
cheers

Philip

Did you know there was even a movie that was very loosely based on this escape? The McKenzie Break. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066064/

A lot of German prisoners were very little trouble, with many of them holding jobs and allowed 'out' during the day and at weekends. Many settled in this country (UK) after the war. I should think that the German 'Great Escape' you allude to, being after the end of the War and before repatriation, would have just been impatience to return home for those who wanted to.

Vinnie