10 Most Intense War Movies Ever Made
6. The Great Escape
Making its way as the oldest film on this list, it is now 57 years since John Sturges' war epic was released.
The Great Escape focuses on Allied prisoners-of-war that are being held in a new maximum security camp, with the German military keen to recapture any POW's that had previously escaped.
When the entire film is centred around a mass grandiose escape plan that is occurring directly under the noses of the German soldiers who would rather shoot you than waste time recapturing you, nails will be bitten from start to finish.
Captured soldiers from the American, British and Australian armies come together with the idea that they will tunnel their way out of the camp. During their 4th of July celebrations, however, their tunnel is discovered and their great escape is ruined.
They switch their attention to one of the auxiliary tunnels they had been building. Upon completion, they realise there has been a potentially fatal error.
The tunnel ends short of the woods, meaning a 20-foot run through a field visible to guard towers.
In total, 76 out of the 250 captured soldiers escape and all you can do is sit there and silently pray that no one gets caught, especially after the siren starts blaring in the camp.
Quietly exhilarating.