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Breakout!


The NZA

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Following my recent trend in niche genres (SB, MM, anyone down to do a Heist genre thread?), i thought id include this one, cause some greats came from it.

 

Good, recent examples would be Shawshank Reepmtion and O Brother Where art thou? (which i still gotta see). But here's a few of the classics...

 

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Amazon sells it better:

 

Based on a true story, a group of allied escape artist type prisoners of war are all put in an 'escape proof' camp. Their leader decides to try to take out several hundred all at once. The first half of the film is played for comedy as the prisoners mostly outwit their jailers to dig the escape tunnel. The second half is high adventure as they use boats and trains and planes to get out of occupied Europe.

 

Youve got Steve mothefucking McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and a host of other greats. With such a cast, this movie could be 2 hours of drinking & poker and still prolly own most movies out these days, but instead, its a buddy comedy, a renowned war film and excellent prison break movie all in one. Seeing who makes it out - much less McQueen's famous run on a german WW I bike - are more than worth it.

 

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McQueen (who desperately needs a bio thread of his own, by the way) is alongside Dustin Hoffman, in a flick about 2 criminals befriending one another on a seeminlgy-impossible to escape desert island.

Based on the true story of Henri Charriere, also known as Papillon, which is French for 'butterfly' (the character even sports a large tattoo of a butterfly. A petty criminal, Papillon is wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in a French penal colony in 'Guiane' (French Guiana, South America). Papillon is determined to escape but attempt after attempt meets with difficulty, resulting in eventual recapture. He continues his attempts to escape despite incarcerations in solitary confinement as punishment.

 

This one's a lot dardker than Great Escape, as i recall...more personal, due to the small cast (both of which are fine actors by this point in their careers), much less the ending. Taken largely from Charriere's memoirs from his stay on Devil's Isle, this one isnt what you expect at first, even seeing the protagonist stay at a leper colony for a stint. Im surprised how this one's name doesnt get dropped very often.

 

More to come.

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