Reception
The film was well received and is considered, along with The Great Escape and The Bridge on the River Kwai (also starring Holden), among the greatest World War II Prisoner of War films. Bosley Crowther praised the film, calling it "cracker jack movie entertainment". More recently film critic, James Berardinelli, stated that "among the 20th century directors, few were more versatile than Billy Wilder." The film currently has a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 30 reviews.
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Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion.... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)