'The Coolest Guy Movie Ever' DVD: 'You Are There' Documentary on Filming 'The Great Escape'

The Virgil Films DVD release of the 2018 documentary "The Coolest Guy Movie Ever: Return to the Scene of 'The Great Escape'" continues the Virgil celebration of Bro Cinema. 

This "True Hollywood Story" presentation of "Escape" is filmed at the German locations of the 1963 John Sturges directed tale of Steve "King of Cool" McQueen and other A-List macho men of the era planning a massive escape from the P.O.W. camp where they are guests of der Fuhrer.

​The other aforementioned documentaries about guy flicks include the Virgil 2016 DVD of (the reviewed) "Outatime" about volunteers restoring the DeLorean from the "Back to the Future." The (also reviewed) 2018 Virgil title "I Am Paul Walker" celebrates the life of that deceased "Fast and Furious" franchise star. That one shows how Walker can be considered the modern McQueen. 

The following YouTube clip of a promo. for "Coolest" honors the bro code of the film by taking less than two minutes to provide a strong sense of the theme and the style of the documentary.

Our host is Haynes portrayor Lawrence Montaigne; he explains early on that creating diversions is the raison d'etre of his character. 

The quest to relive the past begins with a search for the location of the camp; the leave only footprints philosophy of the shoot hinders this in that permission to cut down hundreds of trees in The Black Forest is conditioned on a fulfilled promise to plant two trees for each that is removed. The current trees and vintage production photos help pinpoint this setting, 

Other pictures and memories of locals help identify background locations. Prominent ones include the spot where the McQueen character strings a wire across a road to cause a German soldier to crash a motorcycle. Hearing from the stuntman who takes that fall contributes a nice perspective to "Coolest." We also see the field where McQueen makes his iconic jump and the train station where the Nazis obtain a small victory.

The copious "behind-the-scenes" stories extend beyond modern recollections to archival interviews with McQueen and co-stars James Coburn and James Garner. We learn from locals which of these men embraces the fandom and who is more aloof. A man who runs the former barbershop of his father tells the best tale of that contrast.

The keeping it in the family theme includes the current owner of a hotel sharing the registration forms of the stars and Sturges during the ownership of the parents of the man. This tour includes the actual rooms of the Hollywood royalty.

Having a film crew recreate elements of Nazi Germany during a "too soon" period is a particularly interesting aspect of the documentary. One can relate to anger on seeing reminders of that era in an area that does not find any element of The Third Reich at all amusing. 

More general information relates to improvisation that limitations require. One of the most amusing stories regarding this is the need for McQueen to play dual roles. 

The bigger picture is that "Coolest" speaks to hard-core fans of "Escape" in the way that "Outatime" resonates with dedicated "Future" fans. Both films compensate for the inability of those folks to witness the making of the delectable sausage.