{"product_id":"dreams-of-flight-9780520379305","title":"Dreams of Flight","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe first full-length study of the iconic 1960s film \u003ci\u003eThe Great Escape\u003c\/i\u003e and its place in Hollywood and American history.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eEscaped POW Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen) on a stolen motorcycle jumps an imposing barbed wire fence—caught on film, the act and its aftermath have become an unforgettable symbol of triumph as well as defeat for 1960s America. Combining production and reception history with close reading, \u003ci\u003eDreams of Flight\u003c\/i\u003e offers the first full-length study of \u003ci\u003eThe Great Escape,\u003c\/i\u003e the classic film based on a true story of Allied prisoners who hatched an audacious plan to divert and thwart the Wehrmacht and escape into the nearby countryside.\u003c\/p\u003e Through breezy prose and pithy analysis, Dana Polan centers \u003ci\u003eThe Great Escape\u003c\/i\u003e within American cultural and intellectual history, drawing a vivid picture of the country in the 1960s. We see a nation grappling with its own military history, a society undergoing significant shifts in its culture and identity, and a film industry in transition from Old Hollywood's big-budget runaway studio films to the slow interior cinema of New Hollywood. \u003ci\u003eDreams of Flight\u003c\/i\u003e combines this context with fan anecdotes and a close study of filmic style to bring readers into the film and trace its wide-reaching influence. Polan examines the production history, including prior adaptations in radio and television of celebrated author Paul Brickhill's original nonfiction book about the escape, and he compares the cinematic fiction to the real events of the escape in 1944. \u003ci\u003eDreams of Flight\u003c\/i\u003e also traces the afterlife of \u003ci\u003eThe Great Escape\u003c\/i\u003e in the many subsequent movies, TV commercials, and cartoons that reference it, whether reverentially or with humor.","brand":"Dana Polan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48275266240763,"sku":"9780520379305","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/3917\/9771\/files\/CoreSourceHub_29a9bf41-283e-460f-8bf5-80261f3e0a85.jpg?v=1771080782","url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.com\/products\/dreams-of-flight-9780520379305","provider":"IndiePubs","version":"1.0","type":"link"}