Luke’s strong-willed personality and numerous escape attempts earn him the respect of his fellow inmates, and though he is never a free man for long, he ends the movie somewhat triumphantly by never succumbing to the warden or the authority of the brutal prison. The movie stars Paul Newman as the titular character who gets sent to a Florida prison and refuses to submit to the Captain ( Strother Martin) and Boss Godfrey ( Morgan Woodward), known as the man with no eyes. Unkrich also cites the iconic prison break film, Cool Hand Luke (1967) as an especially big influence. Little details like the fence and the blind spot in the playground of Sunnyside point back toward similar plot points in The Great Escape. Woody may be the one leading the escape, but he uses the skills of his friends to make the plan work. By the time of the franchise’s third installment, Toy Story had accumulated a large cast, as each movie brought new characters to the growing list of toys with the name Andy written on their foot. The details of the well-thought-out escape plan from The Great Escape appear as breadcrumbs in Toy Story 3. The film follows a group of prisoners of war imprisoned by the Third Reich, and the large cast of characters puts together a plan of escape, with each person contributing something. In terms of prison breaks, The Great Escape (1963) is probably one of the most popular films of the genre and what most people think of when the topic is brought up. According to director Lee Unkrich in an interview with Digital Spy, “The only films we referenced, really, were prison movies…we knew that a big part of the film was going to be a prison break.” Yet, as part of the prison break genre, all three of these movies did their part in inspiring Toy Story 3. When you think of Toy Story, you probably don’t automatically associate the franchise with movies like The Shawshank Redemption, The Great Escape, or Cool Hand Luke. As the sheriff tries to lead his loyal band of friends out of Lotso's totalitarian regime, what better genre to explore these themes than a prison break? Woody and Lotso are at odds as Lotso tries to drag everyone else down to his level of misery, and Woody remains the steadfast ray of hope leading the way to escape. Woody’s worst fear from the first Toy Story movie becomes Lotso’s reality in the third, as we learn that Lotso was lost and subsequently replaced by his owner, and he now takes out his anger on innocent toys. This time, the story explores another fear that even its antagonist shares: abandonment and rejection. When Andy moves away to college, Woody, Buzz, and the gang find themselves mistakenly taken to Sunnyside Daycare, and are subjected to the corrupt system run by nefarious teddy bear, Lotso ( Ned Beatty). The visually stunning Toy Story 3 follows a well-laid pattern in that it pairs the inner conflicts of the main characters with what’s happening in the story externally.
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