John Sturges: The '60s

The Magnificent Seven

By Love Possessed

Sergeants 3

A Girl Named Tamiko

The Great Escape (February 12/03)

The Great Escape is one of the more celebrated entries in the men-on-a-mission genre. Other films included in that category, like The Dirty Dozen and The Guns of Navarone, are equally deserving of kudos, but it's always The Great Escape that's thought of as the pivotal guy flick. Set in the final years of World War II, The Great Escape takes place at a Nazi prisoner of war camp - where several high-risk inmates eventually attempt to break out. As tended to be standard for movies of this ilk, The Great Escape's got an incredibly long running time (close to three hours) - and though the majority of the film is quite entertaining and exciting, the film would've been far more successful had it topped out at around two hours. Having said that, there are a number of sequences that are just go-for-broke exhilarating - with the climactic escape an obvious highlight. Director John Sturges, without the constriction of a truncated running time, is allowed the opportunity to set up the characters and gives us a chance to get to know each one of them (all the actors receive at least one scene of character development, such as Willinski's speech about his hatred of enclosed spaces). In doing that, we come to care about these people and desperately want them to succeed - and when several of them inevitably die, their loss is certainly felt. But those action sequences would mean nothing without some stellar acting, and the film certainly has that going for it. Though his face is prominent on the film's promotional material, Steve McQueen's role is just about equal to the majority of his co-stars. As Hilts, the self-centered soldier who eventually becomes a team player, McQueen seems completely at home playing this cool and rebellious guy. The Great Escape is one of those rare movies that warrants a recommendation despite being tremendously overlong. It's a solid little adventure, and there's just not enough of those around.

The Satan Bug

The Hallelujah Trail

Hour of the Gun (August 10/06)

Essentially a sequel to director John Sturges' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Hour of the Gun opens with that legendary battle between Wyatt Earp (played here by James Garner) and the villainous Clantons. The remainder of the film follows the subsequent battle of wills between Earp and Ike Clanton (Robert Ryan), as Earp - along with the help of trusty sidekick Doc Holliday (Jason Robards) - attempts to bring Ike to justice once and for all. Before Hour of the Gun essentially falls apart in its third act - ie there's a reason that this aspect of the Earp/Clanton feud isn't that well known - the movie generally comes off as a tight, efficient little Western (something that's due in no small part to Sturges' taut directorial choices). Both Robards and Garner deliver marvelously entertaining performances, with Robards a standout as the oft-portrayed Holliday (it's a notoriously juicy role that's been tackled by some of Hollywood's best and brightest, but Robards deftly manages to turn the character into a believable figure). But it eventually becomes clear that there's simply not enough plot to sustain a 101-minute movie, and Hour of the Gun slowly but surely runs out of steam as it approaches its inevitable conclusion. Despite such deficiencies, however, the film remains worth a look if only for the performances and for Sturges' expectedly masterful direction.

out of

Ice Station Zebra

Marooned