User reviews

The great escaper is a new release this week and is based on the true story of Bernard Jordan played by the iconic Michael Caine. Whilst living in his care home in Hove, England with his wife Irene played brilliantly by Glenda Jackson (RIP) WW2 veteran Bernie wishes to attend the 70th anniversary D day event in France. Unfortunately though he misses the deadline to go with the other veterans and due to being 90 years of age he would perhaps be ill advised to go on his own. That is until Irene convinces him that it's something he must do and so off he embarks on his adventure.

This film is exactly what you'd expect it to be an at times emotional and yet heartwarming story about not letting age stop you from living your life helmed by two icons of cinema. Michael Caine for me is up there in a class of legendary British acting talents like Jim Broadbent and Maggie Smith. It's such a difficult industry to get into to even appear on one film but to have the longevity in this industry that those actors have made for themselves is nothing short of remarkable and should be commended. That being said however it is Glenda Jackson who steals this film. Her character stays behind at the care home whilst Bernie goes off on his adventure and some of the witty lines she has can't help but bring a smile to your face. Whilst at home she reminisces about the past and how she met Bernie and we get flashbacks to the young couple. Whilst away Michael Caines character is still struggling with PTSD like symptoms from the Second World War and whilst I think it's important to remember how horrific war is and the impact it has on peoples lives for years in the future it is perhaps Irene's story that gives us hope. It's the fact that after all these years they've stayed together and looked after eachother. There's a lot of lines of dialogue in this film that I loved but one of my favourites was when Irene says something along the lines of 'we haven't done extravagant things, we've done simple things but we did them bloody well'. Sometimes just finding that right person and getting to spend your entire life with them is enough.

A great film with a lesson of love not war that should be seen on the big screen by people of all ages.

Rating: 7/10.

This is mainly going to be remembered as Glenda Jackson's last movie, and what a glorious swansong it is. Her ancient, heavily lined face - far removed from the face of Elizabeth the First, the role that sealed her stardom in 1971 - conveys shades of emotion that not all actresses can hint at. She's playing Irene Jordan, the wife of Bernard (Michael Caine) who has gone AWOL from the care home in which they live, taking himself off to Normandy to attend the 70th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day landings.

This is another of those small movies with a big heart. Nothing very dramatic happens (apart from brief flashbacks to D-Day which Bernard's best pal did not survive). John Standing has a nice supporting role as another veteran who takes Bernard under his wing; there was a hint of camp in Standing's performance, which made me think an LGBT 'attitude' moment could and should have been shoe-horned in.

Michael Caine has weathered the years better than Jackson (or he's had some work done, which Glenda very clearly has not). His performance is not quite as subtle as hers, but this is a beguiling and totally believable reconstruction of an episode which made the papers back in 2014. A couple who have loved each other for seventy years are two people you have to take your heart.

RIP Glenda, one of the finest actresses Britain ever produced. And Happy Retirement to Sir Michael, who has given us a great deal of pleasure in a long and splendidly wide-ranging screen career.

This is one of those contemporary, really quite touching, dramas that we won't be able to make for too much longer. It centres around an elderly couple, who have been together for seventy years, and live a semi-independent life in a care home. During a routine chat with their nurses, "Rene" (Glenda Jackson) discovers that her husband "Bernie" (Sir Michael Caine) had wanted to go to the impending celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, but that all the tickets had gone. She makes it pretty clear that if he wants to go, well then he ought to just go! Armed with a only a carrier bag and a few quid, he takes a ferry and heads off on a trip that is going to induce some fairly horrific memories of events in 1945 - which we sparingly see in flashback - but is also going to provide him with a degree of fulfilment and closure on issues that have dogged him ever since. Snag? Well he didn't actually tell anyone he was going, so the home are worried, the police are looking and the media soon get hold of his tale of determination and a degree of celebrity beckons. It's a very characterful story, this, with a gentle chemistry between Jackson and Caine, and also between Caine and his newfound travelling companion "Arthur" (a proud performance from John Standing) as they both have to face their demons past and present. There's plenty of humour - a decent soupçon of sarcasm; along with a spirit of optimism and reconciliation that works well, without drifting into cheesy sentiment, for ninety minutes. It reminded me of the equally poignant BBC drama "A Foreign Field" (1993) and is a good, at times thought-provoking watch.

A fabulous cast with amazing performances demonstrating why Jackson and Caine are so highly regarded. Covers many difficult topics - longevity, friendship, guilt, trauma, illness, alcoholism, forgiveness and redemption. My husband and I both cried on a number of occasions, but there was also some great humour - we laughed, we cried, we enjoyed the cinematography. I'm not sure it was a true reflection of the average care home, it all seemed a bit too lovely. An effective juxtaposition with the couple as their younger selves, which was well cast. My only criticism was I felt the shoe horning into the plot of the traumatised much younger modern soldier didn't really work and for some reason those scenes jarred. It felt like an editor had requested the writers add them in later and it didn't quite work. A lovely film, but take some tissues.

An absolutely beautiful film about the thrilling true story of Bernard Jordan, a veteran who travelled alone to the beaches of Normandy in order to pay respects to his fallen comrades. He meets some fellow veterans on his way, an unknowingly becomes a news icon!

The stunning visuals and cinematography are choreographed in such a way to bring out a deep emotional response. I often don't cry at films, but there were a handful of scenes in The Great Escaper that made me shed tears.

There are elements of romance, war drama, and comedy throughout the film, as well as brilliant performances all around, which makes for an enjoyable watch for many.

However, the pacing was way too fast in my opinion. The film is about an hour and a half long, but I feel it would've been better suited to be two hours or two and a half hours.

If you fancy a trip to the cinema, The Great Escaper should be high on your priority list!

A film that is quite emotional as a D-Day veteran 'escapes' the confines (not in a jailbreak sense) of his care home to attend the 70th anniversary in France, causing a media frenzy in the process!

Michael Caine and the late Glenda Jackson give wonderful performances as the elderly couple in the care home, Caine playing Bernie the veteran in question and Jackson, Rene his devoted wife who covers up for him as much as possible and encourages him to follow his destiny.

I am used to seeing the two actors in their pomp in sixties and seventies films so this is quite a change.

Look out for good supporting performances from the care home staff and fellow D-Day veterans some with their own demons.

The film uses brief flashback timelines to show the horrors of the D-Day events in the Second World War. However the film is not all excising demons and dwelling on past stressful events. There is plenty of humour as Bernie (Caine) makes the trip and meets up with fellow vets both Allied and German.

Having missed an organised trip to the 70th anniversary of The D-Day landings, 90 year old Bernard John makes his own way to France, leaving behind his wife and care home.

I suppose I'd start by saying that I didn't want this film to end, magical from beginning to end. Bernard's story touched many people, I remember it being on The BBC news back in 2014.

They could have made the film overly sentimental or too sobre, but they struck the perfect mix, it's heartfelt, touching, inspiring and amusing, it's such a moving, real life story.

Several times it tugged away at the heart strings, the most powerful moment for me where Bernard say with The Germans, I had a lump in my throat.

The acting was truly incredible, it's the best I've seen from Michael Caine for many years, the emotion he put into this was quite something. What a send of for the late, great Glenda Jackson, again, a superb performance, the chemistry between her and Caine was noticeable.

John Standing also added to the mix, another actor who'd graced our screens for so long, wonderful.

One I'll happily watch over.

10/10.

I've just come back from seeing this beautiful little film and I'm still emotionally connected to it.

The story Bernie and Rene who have been married for 70 years living out they're final years in a care home near Brighton.

Bernie a D- Day veteran wants to visit Normandy for the 70th anniversary of the landings but is also worried about Rene failing health. He also learns that he was too late to take part.

But Rene gives him her blessing to make his own way there.

All this is in the trailer. But the film isn't just about that. The film is about coming to terms with the past and also about a love and devotion and forgiveness. Not just between the leads but also though the wonderful supporting cast.

Michael Caine is wonderful as Bernie but Glenda Jackson is the heart and soul of this film. Both reminded me of my own Grandfather and Grand mother. My grandfather was a D-Day veteran but my grandmother was his rock.

I found tears rolling down my cheeks as I watched this film as memories yesteryear came flooding back..

The title is a riff on the classic The Great Escape. It also marks the end of an acting era.

Glenda Jackson died just before the release of the movie. Eight years after second triumphant return to acting after a 23 years detour to politics.

While Michael Caine claimed this would be his last movie at the age of 90.

Inspired by the true story of Royal Navy veteran Bernard Jordan. Caine plays Bernie who in 2014 sneaked out of his seaside care home. He was on a secret mission to attend the 70th anniversary celebrations of the D-day landings in Normandy. He left it too late for the official organised group tour.

Back at the care home. His wife Rene (Glenda Jackson) cheerfully covers up for him. The staff at the care home do not want her to know that Bernie is missing. Until she lets the cat out of the back over a fish and chips supper.

While on his excursion. Bernie meets another old soldier, the posh Arthur (John Standing.) His liver is shot to pieces over a lifetime of booze, covering up a secret of a bombing mission he was engaged in.

Bernie also wants to confront his past over the D-day landings. He even gets to help out a modern soldier suffering from PTSD.

Director Oliver Parker knows what works from his actors is to keep things subtle. Caine does a lot of acting with his eyes. Jackson is sardonic. Standing almost steals the show.

The story is charming and small scale. It does come across like a television movie. A little like A Foreign Field, a BBC television movie from 1993. It was about British and American Second World War veterans returning to the beaches of Normandy as old men and women. That starred Alec Guinness and Lauren Bacall.

I saw this movie with my son Jamie this evening, I hadn't been aware of it but was interested when I heard about it. Particularly so because of Glenda Jackson, as I hadn't seen any of her film performances.

I can't remember anything of the actual events, or people, that the movie is based on. Which may have been as well when I watched it at the cinema, otherwise I would have doubtless been distracted by it.

I found the film to be one of the very best that I have ever seen, there's absolutely no Hollywood histrionics, with nothing blowing up in your face.

Simply two real people with human feelings, that were perfectly personified by these two brilliant actors.

Personally I would recommend people to watch the movie, without bothering to read any of the reviews beforehand.

I say that from browsing through some such, and frankly found them all too predictable. In that they reflect modern notions and attitudes, and take no consideration of the time period being referenced. That may appear a strange observation, but Bernard and Irene Jordan are simply, treated as characters in a tale.

With no real consideration of them as actual human beings, just so many 'Professional Reviews' with no heart and humanity.

The Great Escaper is a fitting send off for a pair of screen legends, turning a true story into a heartwarming charmer of a film that celebrates the bravery of a generation without shying away from the pain or horrors of war. Its final moments are the ideal way to end 2 magnificent careers.

Michael Caine brings a disarming wit that always lands and since this is his final performance there's also plenty of emotional heft to it too. Glenda Jackson is equally charming, despite being stuck at home the whole time she still gets plenty of screen time and feels essential to the story.

Other than an excessive amount of WW2 flashbacks interspersed throughout Oliver Parker's direction really works, the use of silence for the heavier moments is really effective. Craig Armstrong's score can get very repetitive however it's still got a lot of easygoing whimsy.

I was super excited about seeing this film. Being based on a true story and having Michael Caine in the main role seemed like a no brained. And as the title of the review suggests both the subject matter and Caine deliver.

However it's feels like the writer and director really dropped the ball on what could have been magnificent.

The real emotional bits are when they meet the Germans and when they go to the cemetery and both feel rushed and almost like they are skirted over.

The side story of the younger vet is also a missed opportunity. A way to show that whilst we have moved on from 1945 the troubles that veterans face is still the same. Caines companion on the trip comes out with a pretty big revelation yet you don't really see this story rounded out.

It's like the story with the young carer, it looks like it is going to have a deeper meaning but never really happens.

And the script is pretty poor. Glenda Jackson's character plays a key role in this story but only in the closing minutes does she recover from having spent the whole film being an annoying old woman pulling odd faces.

A bit gutted is the best way to sum up how I felt at the end, although had run out of tissues.

Both Michael Caine(? Last film) and Glenda Jackson (her last film)give touching performances as husband and wife, in this nice, decent drama based on a true story.

I hope both Laura and I see out our days in a residential home by the seafront, like the one they live in here!!!

After a slew of hard going thriller/horrors- Nowhere, The Passenger it's nice to see something light and friendly- like a hot chocolate under the duvet on a cold wet day.

I took Mum to see this at the Curzon and she enjoyed it- seeing it at home with Dad in a fugue of cigarette smoke and heavy atmosphere would have dimmed the experience.

The general consensus of the elderly patrons at the screening was that it was a nice, moving film, well acted- I agree.

As I get older, it becomes more and more difficult for me to watch movies starring the great actors who have accompanied my life of a cinephile and who have reached venerable ages. The feelings are mixed. On the one hand, I am glad that great actors like Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson (at her last role on screen) were still with us and that - far from being forgotten - they were cast in meaningful, age-appropriate roles and without unnecessary attempts at artificial rejuvenation in 'The Great Escaper', the 2023 film by director Oliver Parker. On the other hand, many of these roles press too hard on the keys of melodrama and the risk is that instead of seeing the heroes of the film, we see the actors whose images from their youth are impossible to erase from our memories. It takes their immense talent to create the characters and push past biographies and creations into the shadows. The most representative film of this category is 'Amour'. 'The Great Escaper' does not reach the heights of Michael Haneke's masterpiece, exposing in too many moments a predictable sentimentality. The main reason for watching remains the presence together on the same screen of the formidable couple of actors. But maybe that's reason enough.

The script written by William Ivory is based on a true story, which happened in June 2014, when the 70th anniversary of D-Day - the landing of allied troops in Normandy - was celebrated. Bernard Jordan, a nearly 90-year-old British D-Day veteran, was living in a nursing home together with Rene, the woman he met during the war and with whom he has spent a lifetime which does not seem to have been marked by extraordinary events. The old man decided at the last minute to travel alone to France, to revisit the places where he had fought and to pay an old debt to a comrade-in-arms who had fallen on the blood-soaked beaches. His departure, unannounced to those who were taking care of him, created concern and then escalated into a media sensation.

The story has three parallel planes of action. The first takes place in the outside world, where the old veteran's decision to undertake the journey across the Channel alone is regarded as an extraordinary fact, which inspires respect, but which is also ridiculously exaggerated by the press and television. Bernie becomes an unwilling hero of a day when true heroes are remembered. The second plane is that of the world of the old couple - a parallel world, where every movement and activity takes place at a different pace, where disease and death become companions, where memories continue to fuel the relationship that has overcome wars and time. The third plane is that of the memories and traumas of the war. That glorious day, celebrated 70 years after by presidents and queens, had been a day of horror and terror that had traumatized those who lived through it for the rest of their lives. What about Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson? At the age of their heroes, it is indistinguishable and irrelevant how much of what we see is acting and how much is living their own old age. What matters is that the two create in Bernie and Rene two heroes we care about, with whom we live the story and whom we would like to help like we do for the elders in our own families. I mention two more outstanding supporting roles: that of John Standing who plays another veteran traumatized by what happened in those days of June 1944 and carrying in his soul the guilt of losing his brother, and that of Danielle Vitalis - extremely natural and believable in the role to one of the nurses close to the old couple. The script does not manage to avoid clichés (for example the meeting with the veteran German soldiers) and does not run away from melodrama, on the contrary, it accentuates it. However, everything is balanced enough not to fall into ridicule, and the presence of the two great actors saves and ennobles the film.

I saw this movie at the cinema not knowing the story and was pleasantly surprised.

This was Michael Caine's final movie and he took the role because it was the story of a man his age and a good script. The other reason was to play alongside Glenda Jackson whom he had performed with her and they had a good friendship.

The movie tells the true story of WW2 naval veteran who missed the 70th D Day commemoration due to the nursing home applying too late. His wife (Glenda) pushes him to go and he packs a plastic carrier bag and off he goes with his walker to the bus stop to head to Normandy.

The movies flashes back to the actual landings and his wife's meeting and early days with him during the war.

The story is well told. It gives respect to the veterans and shows how they deal with the still haunting memories of the war.

Germans and alloed veterans come together sharing their experiences in a moving way.

Glenda Jackson died not long after the movie was shot and her performance was fantastic.

A final curtain for two legends of the screen.

Recommend for all to see.

The strengths of this movie are everything you would expect in any good movie. Namely, a good story, competently told with good/great acting performances.

Michael Caine in his his final role is fantastic as the OAP who goes AWOL. Glenda Jackson in her last film role before she died just before the films release is as good as ever. RIP Glenda. 4 Oscars between those two actors.

Some of the additional story points somehow detract from the overall feel of the central relationship. The friendship he strikes up with another troubles veteran, the young vet with one leg, the German veterans.

But let's not quibble about the service when we have such full stomachs after watching this.

So much to enjoy in this film. Caine and Jackson are superb. Glenda died soon after completing work on the film and Michael has more than hinted that this might be his final film. That being the case, what a tremendous film for them both to go out on. The film is beautifully photographed on the English south coast and in France and has a gorgeous score by Craig Armstrong that supports and enhances the narrative. A story of determination, love, life, death and hope. The story is simple but none the worse for that. Set in 2014, Bernie and Rene live in a carehome in Hove. Bernie decides to attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy despite missing out on a place on the offical trips. So he gets a bus from Hove to Dover and travels by ferry to france. The film tells the story of the people he meets and places he goes. Poignent and sad but also life affirming this is a fabulous film. However, when we saw it we were the only people in the cinema and I read it has so far failed to find a distributor for the US market. I sense this could find it's audience when shown on TV and it wouldn't surprise if BBC are saving it to show next June as part of the 80th anniversary celebrations.

Based on a true story, Michael Caine is Bernie who misses out on the official trip to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings. Instead, with his wife Renee's blessing he sneaks out of his care home and heads to France alone.

This reads a bit like it's going to be a sentimental, semi amusing romp, instead it is a moving and rather well acted drama looking at a long life of great love, old age and what it really meant to have been at Normandy. It is not depressing though and whilst there are scenes that will bring a tear to the eye it doesn't get maudlin. Not surprisingly everyone here is on top form with fine turns in support from Caine's mate Sir John Standing and a sweet, brief scene featuring Raiders of the Lost Ark nazi Wolf Kahler. Of course it's Caine and Jackson (in her final performance) who rule the roost and both give suitably impressive performances to bow out on - Caine announced his retirement after making this. Stirring stuff.

Take one human interest story, a bunch of brilliant actors in their twilight years, (no offence intended), add some light direction and locations that speak for itself, stir gently and let brew for 90 minutes. The result, a minor classic (to be), that only the BBC/Pathe seem able to do these days.

Explosions come via dialogue, not CGI or TNT.

Sex comes via a heart felt embrace that feels more real than any hot sweaty athletic romp that in real life is impossible to all other than the superhuman.

Story trumps loud music, or mumbling interactions.

Glamour comes via knowing this really happened, and these people really did what it 'says on the tin', give their all so you and i can enjoy today in freedom.

Will it be in the Oscar's, narh.....should it be? I'll leave that up to you, but i do recommend you go and see it - and take a hankie....you just might need it occasionally.

RIP Glenda Jackson. A great film to leave us by.

It's a romantic biopic for seniors about one couple's experience of the 2014 D-Day celebrations, set in June 2014 in Hove, England, and Normandy, France. 90-year-old Bernie Jordan (Michael Caine/Will Fletcher) and his wife Irene (Glenda Jackson/Laura Marcus) are in an assisted living facility in Hove, England. Bernie is too late to join a group going to the 70th-anniversary celebrations in Normandy, so he goes alone with no planning.

The film follows Bernie's experiences on the ferry crossing the English Channel and his two days in France. We also see Irene's life while he's gone. There are flashbacks to their experiences on D-Day, which helps explain Bernie's compulsion to take this last opportunity to return to France. We meet two care home workers, Judith (Jackie Clune) and Adele (Danielle Vitalis), and several persons Bernie engaged with on his trip, including a former RAF officer, Arthur (John Standing), a veteran of a more recent war (Victor Oshin), and a German D-Day veteran (Wolf Kahler).

"The Great Escaper" is mistitled; it's actually a tender love story of memories and regrets about an old comrade (Elliot Norman) with D-Day as the starting point. Michael Caine is excellent; Glenda Jackson is outstanding (she died less than a year after making the film, at age 87). The film's focus is very narrow; we learn nothing of Bernie and Irene's life between D-Day and 2014, which lessens the depth of the film. Some of Bernie's encounters during his trip present an appropriately complex picture of the tragedy of war. And it's a real treat to see Caine and Jackson functioning at a high level at their age.

By film-industry coincidence, true-tale Brit drama "The Great Escaper" is near identical in plot to the simultaneously released "The Last Rifleman", with Michael Caine (in what he SAYS will be his last role) as the 90+ WWII veteran who leaves his nursing home (and feisty wife Glenda Jackson in this case) to attend landing anniversary celebrations in Normandy - meeting various folk en route (in this case like John Standing) and becoming a news sensation. This one though (directed by Oliver Parker & written by William Ivory) is colder, harder & less charming than the other (and makes old age way less appealing btw). Of the two, "The Last Rifleman" is so much better.