Fussen film locations

Screen Shots from MGM's "The Great Escape" - these scenes were taken at Fussen

Hilts (Steve McQueen) lays a wire trap for the German motorcyclist. This was filmed on the road between Fussen and Hopfen. If we find the exact location, we'll take then-and-now comparison photos.

Although McQueen did all his own other motorcycle scenes, including some where, dressed as a German, he was chasing himself, the American stunt rider Bud Ekins made the famous bike jump. MGM could not secure insurance cover for McQueen to do it.

I regret that during our visit to Fussen at the end of May 2012 we did not have time to search for this location.

Roger Bartlett (Richard Attenborough) and MacDonald (Gordon Jackson) masquerading as French businessmen, here try to board a bus. These scenes was shot in and around the Brotmarkt in Fussen.

Here is yours truly standing where the bus was, May 29th 2012. As we were orientating the shot against the original, an elderly lady passer-by saw the printed copy and said "Oh! That's from the movie! It was shot right here!" The movie camera's position is where the fountain is now . Video footage of this is on YouTube.

MacDonald, having earlier in the film warned a fellow prisoner about inadvertently responding in English, is here caught out by a Gestapo agent using the same trick. (This is actually what happened to real-life Roger Bushell and Bernard Scheidhauer.) The two escaping PoWs flee on foot, pursued by troops and plain-clothes agents.

I stand where the Gestapo agents tricked MacDonald as he boarded the bus, May 29th 2012.

MacDonald trips over a passing cyclist and is captured; Bartlett is forced to try and get away on his own. Fluent in German, he talks his way out of this situation, only to be quickly apprehended by another agent. We did not have time to find this location.

Sedgwick (James Coburn) escapes by bicycle and goods train, ending up in a café in "occupied France". This scene was shot at the river Lech bridge in Fussen.

This one was easy, it's a minute's walk south from the Brotmarkt, just on the other side of the bridge over the RIver Lech. In fact the "Cafe Suzette" location is just an open pavement area. The stone wall against which James Coburn sits, and the bridge itself, have long since been replaced.

As Sedgwick looks on, the café owners arrange for three German army officers to be assassinated by the Resistance. (A sharp eye will notice that the bridge is the same one as in the scene with the rowing boat.)

The "Cafe Suzette" position to the left side of the photo, now has flagpoles. I've uploaded the video of this scene to YouTube.

Several prisoners masquerading as foreign workers arrive at a train station, disembark, and have their papers checked. Unfortunately a Gestapo agent recognises one of escapees. These scenes were shot at Fussen railway station but we did not have time to find the location.

Ashley-Pitt (David McCallum) distracts the agent, killing him, but is then himself shot and killed as he tries to flee. (In real life, this would have been a hell of a pistol shot - must be almost 100 yards' range!)

As Hendley (James Garner) and Blythe (Donald Pleasance) escape by stealing a light aircraft, they fly by Neuschwanstein Castle. This is just outside Fussen and clearly visible from the town. Don't confuse this with the adjacent castle at Hohenschwangau. We visited Neuschwanstein during our 2012 trip - here is the YouTube film of the Castle, from the Marienbrucke bridge.

Willy (John Leyton) and Danny (Charles Bronson) steal a rowing boat and calmly row down the "Rhine" to eventually board a neutral ship and gain their freedom. This scene was shot on the river Lech at Fussen but it was another one that time did not allow us to find.