I remember whistling this song loudly for much of my career as a state corrections officer, not many inmates got it.

What I love most about this is how much Elmer embraces the audience getting involved in the performance. Too many composers seem to be too self absorbed, and in a way I can understand why - because it’s THEIR composition. But EB just had that joy and passion for music and seemed to understand how much his music meant to others and the impact it had on the audience. The Great Escape is a truly legendary score and it’s like he wholly embraced that and understood how big of an impact it was and what it meant to so many. So for him to just sit back and revel in the audience participation was almost a way for him to acknowledge his work and understand that it was bigger than himself. A truly legendary composer.

R. I. P to 50 souls who they lost their lives in the line of duty, thanks to this awesome movie & to this piece of gold.

I think Elmer was delighted that the audience participated in one of his classics

Tunnel king, scrounger, forger, cooler king, big x...love that movie!

Elmer was one of the gods of film music! RIP forever in heaven Mr. Bernstein.

I think some composers/conductors would be upset at the amount of unrestrained audience participation during performance- but EB encourages it and really seems to enjoy it. You can tell he's just loving it. Great treat to see him conduct his work here. Thanks!

I love that he encourages the audience when they start clapping and whistling. You don't usually get audience participation in orchestral music. It's refreshing.

THE ABSOLUTE BEST OF THE GREATEST WWII THEME SONGS EVER RECORDED!!! WILL ALWAYS STAND THE BEST OF TIME!!! DOC

This piece of music just rouses even the most reluctant optimist out of me. It's joyful and inspiring music the I never tire of.

After listening to this music, I have the sudden urge to dig an escape tunnel.

The Harmony and Rhythms are out of this world..SO BEAUTIFUL.. Pure Greatness.

Amazing how this kid from New York somehow managed to capture British sensibilities in music.

I was there - at his 80th. Royal Albert hall London. At the end Michael Aspel walked in and said "Elmer Bernstein, this is your life!". We said -" Can we come?"

Elmer and Leonard, two brilliant contemporaries, two of my heroes.

I bought the album soundtrack about 40 years ago. Still have it. Genius transcends time.

When I listen to this I think of the Fifty !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never to be Forgotten !!!!!!

So many absolutely great American and British actors in the movie. And a great movie, as well. Mr. Bernstein could have rested on his laurels after this piece and Magnificent Seven. Cheers.

Absolutely brilliant - as was theme from The Magnificent Seven!

Beyond thrilling! Thank you Mr. Bernstein for sharing your gift with the world!

Perfect ; simply Perfect ; and the Conductor made it look as if it were so easy to conduct it. After you listen to all the other conductors, then you realize how Great this is; and cannot let go. “ the Great Addiction” to this Great escape.

It's always great to see a "film" composer come out from behind the screen, so to speak, and find proper public reward - and how right it should be at the greatest music festival in the world...the BBC's annual Proms! A lovely clip of a top man in his field enjoying his place in front of an audience - thanks!

Britain has really taken this music as its own. They love it.

This is amazing! When the whole crowd starts whistling is great!

My favourite picture since I was a child....

Goosebumps!❤

I played this song in my band class and it’s literally my fav song out of all the ones I’ve played

To the fifty. I salute you. ... Another vet.

One of the most evocative movie sound tracks!.., Nuff said.

God ... I wished I could of been in that concert whistling to this theme also, I love it !!

2:02 That woman in the light blue/green dress was feeling the music lol

…And the Cooler King returns to his cell. To the 50. RIP

What a great man! What a composer!

Ever I heard this song I see Bronson, Coburn, Attenborough, Garner, and and and - and Steve McQueen - love it

Elmer Bernstein sure was the John Williams of his era.

Thank you so much for sharing this. It was thrilling to be present at the event at London's Royal Albert Hall in, I think July/August 1999. Corrections on the date more than welcome.

I watch this one every few months. Amazing!

Fl. Lt. Wally Floody from Canada was one of the tunnel engineers and technical advisor for the movie a good man.

Saw this TWICE - at the theater! On the Big Screen. It's hard to sit through the whole movie on a TV now, but for this marvelous score and the great acting....

Great concert, always the best Elmer!

Few other renditions capture the energy and aura of Elmers direction.

He is so energetic throughout; which must make the music so powerful. The motion he uses to signal the syncopated beat at 2:28 just gets me. I think I can see him mouthing bum, bum, bum, ...bum,... ba-bum... However, I also think it is difficult, to some extent, to separate the apparent emotion in the music from the emotion of the actual event. Great music none-the-less.

This is wonderful. Thanks for sharing. Audience participation is a sign of joyful engagement with the music. The idea that one must sit in somber silence at a performance is relatively new and not, to my mind, a particularly healthy custom.

magnificent.

My all time favorite movie.

Great movies deserve great music... just like this.

In the series "From the Earth to the Moon", about the Moon program, they used this toon in the episode on the LEM. Every time they had a glitch designing it, the boss of the company contracted to build it went outside and threw a baseball at the side of one the buildings, always losing the ball while this tune played. By the end of the episode, the LEM was completed and there were hundreds of balls on the roof. Always thought that was a great tribute to Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.

Screenwriters for "The Great Escape" did not miss out on adding dashes of American bravura to the script, for engaging audiences in the States and ramping up a defiant tone: Kommandant Von Luger: "Are all American officers so, ill-mannered?" Captain Hilts: "Yeah, about ninety-nine per cent"

The Great Escape, Top Gun, Bridge on the River Kwi, all the Spaghetti Westerns Best soundtracks Ever🇺🇸

I love the part in the the middle of the theme, Hilts theme full orchestra! Yeah! The entire film score is Great!

i thought it was a delightful touch to include The Great Escape theme in the Lunar Module design episode of FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.

My favorite song, ever, and I would love to transport myself to that time, place and audience, so fun!!

i find myself whistling this tune almost everyday

Boy, that escape. It sure was good. One might even say it was great.

I feel like grabbing a basball and mit then locking myself in a hot tool shed or garage.

Awesome piece that made the movie!

The Great Man. Long live his music.

This song is based on "The Peat Bog Soldiers". Listen to Paul Robeson's version on KZfaq. In Bernstein's version, it combines a Revolutionary War Fife and drum part in a major key, with "The Peat Bog Soldiers" in a minor key. The Peat Bog Soldiers portion represents imprisonment, and the drum and fife part escape and freedom.

I just can’t help but smile Elmer Bernstein’s jolliness is infectious. Also does anyone think he was inspired for The Great Escape theme by The Bridge Over The River Kwai?

Elmer Bernstein dirigeant sa propre musique légendaire de La Grande Evasion ,...incroyable ...BRAVO et MERCI

WWII ARMY PACIFIC THEATER DAUGHTER SALUTES YOU! FANTASTIC! THANK YOU! If anyone here does NOT know the TRUE story of those brave men in the REAL Great Escape, PLEASE go research and share with all you know. God bless all.

Today marks the 100th birthday of Maestro Elmer Bernstein (April 4, 1922).

Fabulous. Five stars all the way. The best clip I've seen on KZfaq.

A great piece appropriate for a great movie about the greatest generation.

Una de las grandes películas de guerra con una banda sonora excelente del maestro Elmer Bernstein en concierto.

The world has lost some great talents & here is one of those talents

@nermid Point, mate. The Radetzky March with the clapping on New Year's came to mind as the ony one I can remember... Loved this video, really.

Love this movie.

@scottnoris106 Courtesy of the BBC Proms archive: Prom 32 (The Great Escape - Hollywood's Golden Age) of 2001 season. Held at Royal Albert Hall, London on Tuesday 14 August 2001. BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Elmer Bernstein.

This is even better than his score for Animal House.

I was about to say it a very Proms feel to it. Turns out it was.

Class! no more needs to be said.

El pueblo se expresa cuando algo le gusta y le llega al corazón, yo también aplaudo !!!!

PERFECT...FROM GREECE AND LOVE

An awesome piece of music! Thanks a lot for sharing :)

Great tribute to those lost !!

This man, genius only won one oscar you have to be kidding !, my god West side story(the greatest musical of all time), On the town, the magnificent 7, the great escape could not win !

Brigada de fusileros paracaidistas México gracias por la composición mr elmer

I got goose bumps just listening to it.

I saw him conduct this at the albert hall many years ago, so i was in the auidence !

The whistling part moist my ears

Fantastic Film Fantsstic music

Will never forget the FIFTY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent music

The clapping during the performance wasn't unnecessary. The whistling however, sounded pretty awesome!

The most famous march in movie history.

Outstanding...

Sorry...I'm Spanish Woman.!!! But Elmer is Elmer !! And the music is gold!!!!!!!

Will be played at my funeral

I am South Korean middle school student and this song is on our music book

Love the whistling, hate the clapping

Capt. Hilts: I haven't seen Berlin yet. From the ground, or from the air. And I plan on doing both before the war's over.

ADORABLE!!!

Oh my, thanks so much for sharing this with us. If only I could have been there too :)

Comme j'aurais aimé y être. 😢 Ecouté ca!!!!!!

I could totally play in the low brass section without all the rehearsals. I listen to the song that much.

不屈の精神 大脱走マーチは世界の宝物です

so powerful!!

Some people have all the luck! I wish I could have been there!!! :)

I am suddenly reminded of Recess, does anyone else know what I'm talking about?