The last film by the late Glenda Jackson and, if she keeps her word, Michael Caine, “The Great Escaper” arrived in the United States two years after its release in the United Kingdom. The film, premiering Sunday under the umbrella of the PBS series “Masterpiece Theatre,” tells the true story of Bernie Jordan, who, at age 89, left an English retirement home unaccompanied and unannounced to attend the 70th anniversary celebrations of D-Day in Normandy, France. (This event also inspired a Pierce Brosnan film, “The Last Rifleman,” which was released around the same time.) Love, time and duty are its themes. Written by William Ivory and directed by Oliver Parker, it's a simple story, told simply: sweet, but not cloying, and moving even when you know what's coming.
Bernie (Caine) lives with his wife, Rene (Jackson), in a seaside residence in the town of Hove. She needs more medical attention than he does, but they both have their wits about them. Having lost a place among the groups traveling to Normandy, Bernie, a Royal Navy veteran, with the support of René, decides to go it alone. Although he uses a walker and can sometimes seem tired or distracted (he has a lot on his mind and a specific mission to accomplish), the trip itself is not especially difficult for him. Everything becomes even easier when he meets, on the cross-Channel ferry, Arthur Howard-Johnson (John Standing, very good), an RAF veteran who offers him a place with his group and a bed in his hotel room. As the film progresses, he becomes more and more focused, becomes alert and lively, and takes care of Arthur, who had previously taken care of him. It will be seen that each carries a burden of guilt dating back to the invasion.
Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson in “The Great Escape.”
(Rob Youngson / Masterpiece, Pathé, BBC Films)
Back in Hove, the staff, represented by assistant Adele (Danielle Vitalis) and manager Judith (Jackie Clune), do not immediately notice Bernie's absence (he can come and go) and Rene, who tends to fight with them anyway, remains silent to give him time to escape. When they learn of his disappearance, a search begins; Finally, René lets the truth slip, the feat reaches the press and Bernie, without realizing any of this, receives the nickname “The Great Evader.” He will return home an annoying celebrity.
The flashbacks, featuring Will Fletcher as young Bernie and Laura Marcus as young Rene, recall the couple's wartime meeting and Bernie's interactions with a young soldier on D-Day. Integrated as flashbacks, they enrich the present action without overexplaining it.
Jackson and Caine, you may know or should know, were icons of British theatrical glamor in the 1960s and 1970s, she in “Marat/Sade,” “Women in Love” and “Elizabeth R,” he in “Alfie” and the Harry Palmer films (“The Ipcress File,” et al.); In 1975, they starred together in Joseph Losey's “The Romantic Englishwoman,” co-written by Tom Stoppard. Always politically active, Jackson took 23 years from acting, from 1992 to 2015, to serve as a member of Parliament, returning to perform “King Lear” in London and on Broadway and winning a Tony for a revival of Edward Albee's “Three Tall Women.” Caine, despite some slow times, made movies all the time, all kinds of them, playing Scrooge in “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” Mike Myers' father in “Austin Powers in Goldmember” and Alfred in Christopher Nolan's “Batman” trilogy and roles in five other Nolan films. When you watch “The Great Escaper,” you are watching history.
Neither of them has lost a step. (I find it nice to remember that, no matter how frail or confused an older character may be, the person playing them is doing work that requires strength and thought.) Given both the actors' eminence and their age (Caine was 90 when “The Great Escaper” was released, while Jackson, 87, died shortly before), it is difficult not to watch with a double consciousness of the actors and the roles. But more than a distraction, it redoubles the impact. Jackson and Caine wear their years with pride; there is no vanity in his performance or his appearance. The couple's eventual reunion is profound and real and, like their entire relationship, wonderfully normal.
