Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson’s ‘The Great Escaper’ trailer is a tear-jerker
The trailer for The Great Escaper is here!
The new British movie sees Michael Caine and the late Glenda Jackson back together on screen for the first time since Joseph Losey’s 1975 classic The Romantic Englishwoman.
Inspired by true events a decade ago, The Great Escaper tells the story of octogenarian Bernard Jordan’s escape from his care home to attend the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings in France.
Take a look at the trailer here:
YouTube viewers found the trailer surprisingly emotional, with many moved to tears.
“Well, I held it together for about a minute before I started crying,” wrote one user. “This is going to be a beautiful movie, Michael Caine is one of the greatest actors of all time.”
“Never in my life have I sobbed because of a movie trailer, not the movie, but the actual trailer,” said another. “I really hope this turns out as good as it feels like it will!”
“That’s what I call great acting,” commented a fan of Caine and Jackson. “Even a trailer can tug at your heart.”
“No one can resist a script that makes people both laugh and cry,” director Oliver Parker has teased.
Parker’s previous credits include Gemma Arterton’s Funny Girl series, the modern St Trinian’s films, 2002’s The Importance of Being Earnest adaptation, and Swimming with Men.
When’s the release date?
The Great Escaper be released in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday 6 October.
Watch a clip here:
The movie marks the final screen appearance of the wonderful Glenda Jackson, after the English actress and politician died last month at the age of 87.
Jackson won two Oscars for Best Actress with Women in Love and A Touch of Class in the early 1970s.
After retiring from her political career in 2015, she returned to acting in recent years with acclaimed roles in Elizabeth is Missing and Mothering Sunday.
“In the summer of 2014 Bernard Jordan (Michael Caine) made global headlines,” says the official synopsis. “He’d staged a ‘great escape’ from his care home to join fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy, commemorating their fallen comrades.
“It was a story that captured the imagination of the world – Bernie seemed to embody the defiant, “can-do” spirit of a generation that was fast disappearing.
“But of course, it wasn’t the whole story. It was the story we all tell ourselves to make war and old age bearable. The bitter-sweet script explores the reality with wit and a very big heart.
“Bernie’s adventure, spanning a mere 48 hours, also marked the culmination of his 60-year marriage to Rene (Glenda Jackson) – the story celebrates their love without sentimentality and with an eye to the lessons we might all learn from the Greatest Generation.”
The Romantic Englishwoman is available on DVD on Amazon.