During the filming of The Great Escape near Munich, Germany, Steve McQueen insisted on riding his own motorcycle in the film’s dangerous escape scenes.
McQueen wasn’t just acting—he was in his element. A lifelong motorcycle enthusiast, he felt completely at home behind the handlebars. Much of the thrilling chase sequence through fields and forests was McQueen himself, leaning into turns and outrunning German soldiers.
The film’s most famous stunt—the soaring leap over barbed wire—was ultimately performed by his friend and stuntman Bud Ekins, after the studio refused to let McQueen take the risk. But make no mistake: McQueen rode almost everything else, even wearing a German uniform to double as one of the soldiers chasing… himself.
With co-stars like James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn, The Great Escape became a classic. Yet it was McQueen on that motorcycle who etched himself into cinema history—turning a Hollywood star into a legend of speed, freedom, and cool.