Masters of the Air fans are watching the same movie before Episode 8

❘ Updated: 2024-03-14T16:28:07

Steve McQueen in The Great Escape and the cast of Masters of the Air

United Artists/Apple TV

Masters of the Air is about to reach its penultimate chapter in Episode 8 – and fans are all watching the same movie before it airs.

The last few episodes have been pretty grim for the boys of the 100th. Buck and Bucky may have reunited, but they’re also stuck at Stalag Luft III, a notorious German POW camp – with little hope of making it home alive.

Meanwhile, Rosie managed to survive the massacre of Black Monday, the first maximum-effort daylight bombing raid on Berlin. An estimated 700 Americans died that day, but he wasn’t deterred: despite being allowed to go home, he “re-upped” and became a C.O.

Ahead of Episode 8, Masters of the Air fans have been hunting for similar movies and TV shows – and they’ve all been watching the same thing.

Masters of the Air fans are all watching this movie

Before Masters of the Air Episode 8, fans have been checking out 1963’s The Great Escape.

The classic film is inspired by the true story of 76 airmen managing to escape Stalag Luft III in March 1944. There weren’t any motorcycle jumps in real life – but their efforts were no less extraordinary, with the men managing to flee via a tunnel built 30ft below the ground. Unfortunately, only three men were truly free: 73 were recaptured, and 50 of them were executed as a warning to the other prisoners.

After the escape was mentioned in Episode 7, fans have been re-watching it and experiencing it for the first time. “Not only a great WW2 movie but one of the best prison break flicks ever. Considered a classic and one of my favorites from the time period. Highly recommended,” one Redditor wrote.

“Great movie! I would love a remake at some point that sticks to the real history,” another commented. “My teenage son and I are watching Masters of the Air together. I saw the Stalag Luft III and said to him that the camp is the one that had the Great Escape. Then I explained to him what I knew about the Great Escape and the movie,” a third wrote.

“I just finished watching the Great Escape with Steve McQueen. I had never watched it before, but had heard such great things about this movie that I had really high expectations. It was certainly entertaining and held my interest, but I can’t help feeling a little letdown, as it seemed a little on the campy side to me,” another wrote, to which one user replied: “It’s definitely not an accurate portrayal of the war, but it’s a fantastic entertaining movie. One of the best ‘dad’ movies.”

Masters of the Air Episodes 1-7 are streaming on Apple TV+, which you can sign up for here. You can also check out our other coverage below: