Victory (1981)

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Yabo Yablonsky (story) and
Djordje Milicevic (story) ...

Release Date:

30 July 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sport | War

Tagline:

Their goal was freedom...

Plot:

As allied POWs prepare for a soccer game against the German National Team to be played in Nazi-occupied Paris, the French Resistance and British officers are making plans for the team's escape.

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Soccer | Soccer Football | Prisoner Of War | Goal Keeper

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Sylvester Stallone	...	Captain Robert Hatch
Michael Caine	...	Capt. John Colby - The Players: England
Pelé	...	Cpl. Luis Fernandez - Allied Soccer Player - The Players: Trinidad
Bobby Moore	...	Terry Brady - Allied Soccer Player - The Players: England
Osvaldo Ardiles	...	Carlos Rey - Allied Soccer Player - The Players: Argentina
Paul Van Himst	...	Michel Fileu - The Players: Belgium
Kazimierz Deyna	...	Paul Wolchek - The Players: Poland
Hallvar Thoresen	...	Gunnar Hilsson - The Players: Norway
Mike Summerbee	...	Sid Harmor - Allied Soccer Player - The Players: England
Co Prins	...	Pieter Van Beck - The Players: Holland
Russell Osman	...	Doug Clure - The Players
John Wark	...	Arthur Hayes - The Players: Scotland
Søren Lindsted	...	Erik Ball - Allied Soccer Player - The Players: Denmark
Kevin O'Callaghan	...	Tony Lewis - Allied Goalkeeper - The Players: Ireland
Max von Sydow	...	Major Karl Von Steiner - The Germans (as Max Von Sydow)

Also Known As:

Escape to Victory (UK)
À nous la victoire (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Bijeg u pobjedu (Croatia) [hr]
Den sista matchen (Sweden) [sv]
Escape a la victoria (Venezuela) [es]
Evasión o victoria (Spain) [es]
Flucht oder Sieg (West Germany) [de]
Fuga Para a Vitória (Brazil) [pt]
Fuga per la vittoria (Italy) [it]
Gamarjveba (Georgia) [ka]
I megali apodrasi ton 11 (Greece) [el]
Menekülés a gyözelembe (Hungary) [hu]
Pako voittoon (Finland) [fi]
Victory - fangelejrens helte (Denmark) [da]
Zafere kaçis (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987) | Iceland:L | West Germany:6 (f) | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12 | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Lorimar Film Entertainment

Trivia:

Sylvester Stallone broke one of his fingers trying to stop Pelé from scoring a goal.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the German player (Baumann) takes the penalty kick, his hair is dry in a scene a few seconds prior to the kick, then it's wet with sweat when he places the ball and then it's dry again after he scores.

Quotes:

[just before the football match]
Hatch: Where do I stand for a corner kick?
Capt. John Colby - The Players: England: At the far post, facing the ball.
Hatch: Thanks. For a while there I thought you were keeping it a secret.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Comic Relief Does University Challenge (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Symphony 5, 4th movement

"Take me out from the ball game"

The script of this unusual war/escape movie was nothing special, and neither was the acting. Not surprising about the latter since half the performers weren't actually experienced actors. However I loved every minute of it, and thought it was great fun and terrific entertainment. Of course there are those who won't quite see it that way and will dismiss it out of hand. And they'd be perfectly sane to do so. Everything about "Victory" (aka "Escape to Victory" in the UK) says it's one to leave well alone.

Even if you disregard the lack of aesthetic qualities, and tut-tut over the reality of it all, it's worth watching if only to see again a few of the great past-masters of what the Brits like to call "the beautiful game" (i.e. soccer). And Sylvester Stallone as a goalkeeper is something to behold.

As far as escape stories go this is about as original as they get, but even here it's possible to see plundering from other story lines, i.e "The Great Escape", "The Password is Courage", "Albert RN", to name but three, and as at least one reviewer has pointed out, the music is extremely reminiscent of the first one.

One of my favourites snippets is that of the Nazi sports commentator, portrayed by Anton Diffring, that stalwart of war movies, broadcasting his gramophone record of enthusiastic crowd applause, when in "reality" the whole stadium was as quiet as the grave.

I think this is one of those rare occasions, if taken in the right vein, when a bad movie can be a crowd pleaser. Forget the war pundits, the realists and the purists. Just enjoy the movie for what it is. Tremendous fun!