The Coolest Guy Movie Ever is a 2018 documentary about the making of The Great Escape, returning to the iconic locations where that classic film was shot.
You may not have ever seen it, but if you’re even a passing movie fan, you’ve surely heard of it. John Sturges‘ classic 1963 war film The Great Escape is about as iconic as any flick can get, its celebrated story and legendary motorcycle jump are almost mythical in the annals of cinematic history. It’s a real ‘guys’ movie, full of action and suspense, with some of the most renowned toughies ever to top a Hollywood cast. It was also one of the most influential movies in the genre ever made, turning Steve McQueen into a bonafide international superstar.
Filmed entirely in the Munich suburb of Geiselgasteig in rural Bavaria, many of the now historic locations still remain, some fifty-five years later. Returning to them is director Christophe Espenan and a small crowd of historians, film fans, enthusiasts and experts who take to retracing the film through clips and screenshots, tracking – sometimes exactly to the spot – where much of the movie took place. This isn’t a typical documentary though, with talking heads sitting in dressed up studios offering anecdotes and insider tidbits about what they remember but rather an eye-witness account of some very dedicated people searching relentlessly to mark in modern times events of old movie magic.
As such, it’s a mostly low budget account with a cameraman following a gaggle of people with folded maps and thick binders looking for visual landmarks that match the movie, often talking with locals who tell stories of the movie production (most passed down from parents and grandparents). In-between these hunts and encounters, we get archival footage of some old interviews of the cast, clips of the movie, and history of the area. While it might lack the production of say a Werner Herzog film or the historical relevance of even a single episode of anything from Ken Burns, it is nonetheless endlessly fascinating, a tingle of excitement bristling up the spine each time they hit the spot so to speak and find street corners, buildings, train stops, and of course pastures that are clearly from the movie. It’s not doused with fanfare and musical cues, but instead just a played out as if we are among the group, studying an image, confirming with the others, and feeling good about a discovery.
Like the original movie itself, it is McQueen who somehow comes across the most memorable, perhaps by design, perhaps because he was simply that magnanimous a presence, his time in this little Bavarian town one that generations long remembered fondly. And yes, the chase and jump are lovingly and expertly researched, broken down and dissected. I won’t deny it’s sort of chilling.
You don’t really have to be a fan of The Great Escape to take part in The Coolest Guy Movie Ever. This is as much about preservation as it is remembrance. Movies touch us like no other medium and the really good ones define not only the time they are made, but the timelessness of the art. We experience them in greatly personal ways, and what’s best about Espenan’s little documentary is how well it captures that passion, the whole thing feeling like longtime die-hard movie buffs on a sentimental mecca to get as close to what moves them as the can. It’s great fun to watch.
A genuinely compelling and alternative look behind the movies, The Coolest Guy Movie Ever is a charming and deeply personal project that will no doubt appeal to fans of the classic film but also those who just plain like to get a peek behind the curtain.