Claustrophia
The single most effective actual visual imagery of the film—arguably, of course—is the claustrophobia induced throughout most of it. Once the prisoners arrive and the gates of Stalag are shut, the audience is for all intents and purposes imprisoned there and the world on the other side of the prison won’t be a setting until the actual escape is underway; which is a fairly good of chunk of time into the flick.
Hilts, the Baseball and Solitary Confinement
And yet, despite all the tightly squeezed interior scenes even when the scene is composed only of Germans, the single most memorable imagery of the film—arguably, of course—when it comes to conveying the sheer monotony of prison life is “The Cooler King” Hilts bouncing his baseball against the opposite wall and right back into his glove again while in solitary confinement. The success of putting across this sensation has proven so successful, in fact, that it has been paid homage by The Simpsons, Star Trek: TNG and, of course, Chicken Run (which is basically a parody of the entire film). This is not the only memorable imagery involving Steve McQueen’s character, of course.
The Motorcycle Jump
Although McQueen is clearly doing his own stunts during the long motorcycle chase, he is not actually the one who makes the famous jump. Regardless, there is the single most memorable image—not arguably, of course—associated with the entire film. McQueen tried the record-breaking stunt but crashed and so it was then performed by another. As imagery, the jump is equally significant first as a symbol of the entire escape. Unfortunately, the chase itself (not the jump, but the entire sequence both preceding and succeeding the jump) becomes emblematic of how the escape attempt turned out for most of the men. That most people tend to remember the successful jump and not the horrifying crash which occurs just a few minutes later says something.
