This is a true story. Although the characters are composites of real men, and time and place have been compressed, every detail of the escape is the way it really happened.
There is just something about the idea of a movie being based on a true story that studios love. Whether the film is—perhaps surprisingly—almost 99% pure fiction such as JFK or whether it surprisingly adheres quite closely to the known facts such as Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, studios love to trumpet any film based on even the most tenuous connection to facts is bound to be marketed as true. How much of the film actually happened in real life? The title card offers some clues and it is most definitely not the “This is a true story” part.
“Colonel Von Luger, it is the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape. If they cannot escape, then it is their sworn duty to cause the enemy to use an inordinate number of troops to guard them, and their sworn duty to harass the enemy to the best of their ability.”
Ramsey is a British officer who mediates the discourse between the Allied prisoners of war and the German Stalag commanders. Essentially, this quote lays out the plot. Ramsey is informing the audience what the purpose of being a POW is and, by extension, what the opposite purpose of the Germans guarding them is. Were the first line all, it would be a rather obvious point to make. As it is, the purpose—such as it is—of the prisoners is deepened and becomes more complex.
"We have in effect put all our rotten eggs in one basket. And we intend to watch this basket carefully."
Von Luger is not just a Colonel; he is the Commandant of the German prisoner of war camp. This is perhaps the most famous line of the movie—it is certainly the one that is mostly likely to pop up in any list of important quotes. Here, von Luger is responding to Ramsey. The concept behind the egg metaphor is that this particular camp is home to those Allied prisoners who are considered most likely to escape and most likely to be successful when they do.
“Gentlemen, no doubt you've heard the immortal words of our new commandant: devote your energies to things other than escape, and sit out the war as comfortably as possible.”
And here is the de facto organizer and planner of the great escape attempt that provides the movie its title. He is such a strategic organizer that in derisive response to this directive, he goes on to tell the other prisoners that they will, indeed, devote their energies to things like athletics, gardening and various cultural pursuits. For a purpose. One not exactly in alignment with the Commandant’s suggestion a little cooperation will end the war more quickly and more quietly for all concerned.
