The Great Escape (NR, 1963)

The last hour of the movie is very tough to take for kids under 12. The excitement leading up to the escape from the German POW camp is now over, but the men are far from being safe. They are still in Nazi controlled Germany. One by one they keep getting recaptured and returned. The most awful part is that during the last hour, fifty of the allied men who have been recaptured (our heros up to that point), are told to go & stretch their legs and then they are machine gunned down. I have real trouble believing that the age range for this movie should be less than 12. My children are 8 and 9, and it was TOO YOUNG. They were understandably very upset. They had so many questions about war, being a prisoner of war, the camps. They had many, many questions that started with Why, many of which I had trouble explaining. The film just raised too many questions about the brutality of war that my children weren't ready to deal with yet. I think the movie is better for a child of 12+ years, who will be emotionally stronger, more mature, and better able to handle the very real disappointment of fifty unarmed prisoners being executed. A twelve year old would also be more aware of the realities of war. An eight year old is too young to see this movie, in my opinion.