The Great Escape (1963)
Steve McQueen: Hilts 'The Cooler King'
Photos
Quotes
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Von Luger : Are all American officers so ill-mannered?
Hilts : Yeah, about 99 percent.
Von Luger : Then perhaps while you are with us you will have a chance to learn some. Ten days isolation, Hilts.
Hilts : CAPTAIN Hilts.
Von Luger : Twenty days.
Hilts : Right. Oh, uh, you'll still be here when I get out?
Von Luger : [visibly annoyed] Cooler!
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Hilts : I haven't seen Berlin yet, from the ground or from the air, and I plan on doing both before the war is over.
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Bartlett : Hilts, how do you breathe?
Hilts : Oh, we got a steel rod with hinges on it. We'll shove it up and make air holes as we go along.
[to Ramsey]
Hilts : G'night, sir.
[Walks out]
MacDonald : Why didn't anyone think of that before? It's so stupid, it's positively brilliant!
[face falls]
MacDonald : Oh, but it'll bring every goon in the camp down on top of us!
Bartlett : I don't know. Perhaps we're being too clever. If we stop all the breakouts, it will only convince the goons we must be tunneling.
Ramsey : I hope it works. If it doesn't, those two will be in the cooler for an awfully long time.
[cut to Hilts and Ives being escorted back to the cooler covered in dirt]
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Von Luger : I have had the pleasure of knowing quite a number of British officers in this war. And I flatter myself that we understand one another.
[Ives blows a raspberry]
Von Luger : You are the first American officer I have met. Hilts, isn't it?
Hilts : Captain Hilts, actually.
Von Luger : 17 escape attempts.
Hilts : 18, sir.
Von Luger : A tunnel man, engineer.
Hilts : A flier.
Von Luger : I suppose what's called in the American army a hotshot pilot.
Hilts : Mm-hmm.
Von Luger : Unfortunately, you were shot down anyway. So we are both grounded for the duration of the war.
Hilts : Well, you speak for yourself, Colonel.
Von Luger : You have other plans?
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Stratwitch : What are you doing over here by the wire?
Hilts : Well, like I told Max here, I was trying to get my...
German Soldier : [Voice] Achtung!
[Von Luger enters]
Von Luger : What were you doing by the wire?
Hilts : Well, like I told Max... I was trying to cut my way through your wire because I want to get out.
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[gathering wood to shore up the tunnels, Hilts removes the wooden slats from bunk beds in the sleeping area of the prisoner barracks, holding a stack of them, and walks carefully out into the hallway]
Cavendish : [passes Hilts in the hallway on his way to his bunk bed] Five gold rings. Four calling birds - bloody singing, I've never worked so hard in all my life. Hi, Hilts!
Hilts : [turns and tries to warn him] Say, Cavendish...
Cavendish : Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtledoves, and a partridge in a pear - Alley-oop!
[Cavendish climbs to the top bunk, and vaults onto the unsupported mattress, which collapses under his weight through the bed frame, as well as the two beneath it. Hilts approaches the doorway and sees Cavendish on the floor]
Hilts : Never mind.
[Leaves]
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Hilts : You see the way the goons got those towers placed?
Goff : [glancing at the towers] Yeah.
Hilts : There's a blind spot right in the middle.
Goff : A blind spot?
Hilts : A guy could stand at that wire and not be seen by that tower or that tower. The one on the end is too far; they'd never see me, especially at night.
Goff : You're crazy.
Hilts : You think so? Well, let's find out, right now.
[throwing his baseball over to the wire and observing the guards]
Hilts : Now, the next step's a little tricky.
Goff : You're not going out there?
Hilts : Not while they're looking, I'm not.
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Bartlett : It's possible for one man to get out through the wire, even get away, but there are in fact a considerable number of people besides yourself in this camp who are trying to escape.
Hilts : I appreciate that.
[pauses, looks at Bartlett]
Hilts : Something's coming. I can feel it, and it's coming right around the corner at me, Squadron Leader!
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Hilts : I'm going... out.
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Hilts : One chance. When the guard goes to the far end of the compund, you might be able to move your men out. I think I can make it to the woods, set up a signal when you're clear.
Bartlett : What about the goon towers?
Hilts : That's a chance you're gonna have to take. But they're gonna be watching the compound, not the woods.
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Ives : [listening to Hilts play catch with himself in the cooler] What did you do in the States? Play baseball?
Hilts : No, I was in college. Say, Ives?
Ives : Aye?
Hilts : How many escapes have you tried?
Ives : Ach, four over, seven under.
Hilts : Tunnel man, huh?
Ives : Sure, I'm that.
Hilts : How tall are you, Ives?
Ives : 5'4". Why?
Hilts : Oh, just wondering.
Ives : What did you do in college, study physical education?
Hilts : Chemical engineering. Did a little bike riding, though.
Ives : Bicycles?
Hilts : Motorcycles. You know, flat tracks, county fairs. Picked up a buck here and there. Helped pay my tuition.
Ives : Oh, I did a wee bit of racing myself. In Scotland.
Hilts : Bikes?
Ives : No, horse racing. Jockey.
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Hilts : You know the kind of clay and gravel we've got here in the compound?
Ives : Aye.
Hilts : How many feet do you think you could get through in, say, eight hours?
Ives : I could cut through this stuff here like the bit on the end of an auger. But you know it's not the digging. It's the shoring up with wood and getting the dirt out. That's what you have to worry about.
Hilts : No, it isn't, Ives. You don't have to worry about that.
Ives : But how are you going to get the dirt out?
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Kramer : You fool! To cross the wire is death!
Hilts : [playing dumb] What wire?
Kramer : This wire! The warning wire!
Hilts : Oh.
Kramer : It's absolutely forbidden to cross it. You know that!
Hilts : Yeah, but my baseball rolled over there. How am I gonna get my baseball?
Kramer : You first ask permission!
Hilts : Oh, okay.
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Cavendish : [Hilts has just taken some boards out of all the beds and Denys walks in after singing] 5 golds rings, 4 calling birds, bloody singing, hi Hilts.
Hilts : Denys, wait...
Cavendish : 3 french hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge, alley-oop!
[jumps on to bed and falls through all three]
Hilts : [sees that Denys has fallen through bed] Never mind.
