The Great Escape is obviously a movie heavily based on real events, as each of the main characters can be traced back to one or more of the soldiers that were a part of the original “great escape” - a plan for the prisoners of war of the Nazis, who fiercely wanted to escape to help the war on their side. It was directed by John Sturges, a director that lived through the Second World War, which has also heavily impacted the movie.
John Sturges died in 1992, at the age of 82, which means that he lived through the entirety of World War II in his youth during that time. During the war, he worked as an editor for documentaries and films for the military in the USA. This way, he had a direct view of how the army worked as well as how they operated and wished to be perceived.
He had been working directly together with the United States Army Air Forced for several years before he finally started his mainstream career as a director, and in his movie, he has clearly drawn both sides of his jobs to make the movie. The Americans are also generally perceived as perfect and honorable, which is natural considering Sturges had a good American upbringing, which then became a natural influence on the presentation of the movies.
