  The free fall of three particles under Newtonian attraction allows to
illustrate some of the complexities of the general three body problem. The
total collapse or singularity that occurs when starting from one of the five
central configurations (two triangular and three collinear) generates periodic
solutions and the singularity mimics an elastic bounce. Periodic solutions
without collisions where found by Standish : three particles fall from an
initial triangle to each other and without colliding, come later to rest on
another triangle where the motion reverses. Singularities where the motion
ends, are illustrated by equal particles starting from an isosceles triangle.
The lack of continuity in neighbouring solutions is illustrated by particles
starting from a nearly equatorial triangle. Although the total energy is
negative, an elliptic-hyperbolic break up of the system where all three
particles go to infinity. is possible. Two particles are tightly bound in
elliptic motion, their CoM recedes to infinity while in an hyperbolic motion
with the third particle. The famous historic case of the Pythagorean triangle
shows that such a break up may happen after a long time and several close
passages. The break-up in a elliptic hyperbolic system occurs in a very short
time period around a very close passage. Progress in the understanding the
interactions between the particles when they are very close,can lead to sharper
escape criteria. This review suggests that for the free fall, there are only
three types of final trajectories : a) periodic with or without collisions, b)
ending in a ternary collision and c) a break-up in an elliptic-hyperbolic
system.
