The Great Escape?
July 2, 2006 9:48 AM Subscribe
In the movie The Great Escape, Richard Attenborough's character refers to the "X Organization" and that he has been "appointed 'Big X'". What does he mean by Big X and the X Organization?
Response by poster: Well, I was wondering if there were any links/resources online about the "X Organization" since the film was based on real events?
posted by jca at 10:28 AM on July 2, 2006
posted by jca at 10:28 AM on July 2, 2006
Well, the book by Paul Brickhill, on which the movie was based, has a lot of details, since he was one of the people in said organization. You could look up Roger Bushell (the guy Richard Attenborough was playing). This site has a good overview of "the real great escape." There was also a Nova special on the escape. My understanding is that the "X Organization" was simply used to refer to the prisoners' escape activities and the way they organized themselves, so you'd probably be better off googling the escape itself-- sites which discuss it may or may not call the escapees "the X Organization."
posted by posadnitsa at 10:45 AM on July 2, 2006
posted by posadnitsa at 10:45 AM on July 2, 2006
They did take some small liberties in telling the story in that movie. For instance, there were no Americans involved in the real great escape. Originally that POW camp had held both Americans and Brits, but as it started getting too crowded a new POW camp was built right next to the original and all the Americans were moved into it.
The characters in the movie, at least in terms of characterization, are largely created out of whole cloth, and some of the unusual events not related to the escape were created, as well.
But the details of the escape itself are absolutely true to the original, and it's absolutely accurate that the Germans rounded up 50 of the escapees and killed them.
"X Organization" and "Big X" are almost certainly creations of the script writer. But there really was an escape organization in the POW camp (and the Americans in the other camp also commenced to digging as soon as they got there), and they really did manage to get more than 70 out in a single night.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:12 PM on July 2, 2006
The characters in the movie, at least in terms of characterization, are largely created out of whole cloth, and some of the unusual events not related to the escape were created, as well.
But the details of the escape itself are absolutely true to the original, and it's absolutely accurate that the Germans rounded up 50 of the escapees and killed them.
"X Organization" and "Big X" are almost certainly creations of the script writer. But there really was an escape organization in the POW camp (and the Americans in the other camp also commenced to digging as soon as they got there), and they really did manage to get more than 70 out in a single night.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:12 PM on July 2, 2006
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posted by SPrintF at 10:09 AM on July 2, 2006