The Great Escape starred Steve McQueen.
Steve McQueen . His other popular films include The Cincinnati Kid , The Thomas Crown Affair , Bullitt , The Getaway , and Papillon , as well as the all-star ensemble films The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape , and The Towering Inferno . The Great Escape is a 1963 American World War II epic film based on an escape by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II , starring Steve McQueen , James Garner , and Richard Attenborough , filmed in Panavision .