Escape to Victory (1981)

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Blistering performances.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

'Victory' - sometimes known as 'Escape to Victory' - the plot of this sports drama has Nazi officers challenge their POWs to a soccer match for propaganda purposes; conflict comes as the Allied players find themselves torn between training for the game and plotting a daring escape during the game. The film is nicely shot by Gerry Fischer, with some excellent gliding nighttime shots, and the performances are very decent, especially those of co-stars Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine with all the US versus UK contempt and animosity between them. The rest of the characters are highly interchangeable though with the film's energy coming to a near standstill in the scenes without Caine or Stallone. The basic story is also feels incredibly unrealistic, especially with the Nazis never really seeming to consider to wide opportunities for escape that they are granting the POWs. With enough suspension of disbelief though, the film can be enjoyed. A neat touch is how initially Caine never seems interested in anything but the soccer match and initially Stallone never seems interested in anything other than escaping, but as the film plods along the pair begin to see a little more eye-to-eye. 'Victory' is not quite as potent as 'Stalag 17', 'The Great Escape', 'Danger Within' and other POW escape films since the soccer game plays a very large focus, but it is refreshingly different for sure.

Although it's a well-remembered film – particularly here in the UK – I found watching ESCAPE TO VICTORY to be a hollow experience. It actually turns out to be a hollow, rather soulless viewing experience. Yes, it's a feel-good film about a football match between an international team and the Nazis during WW2, but in truth? The script isn't very good. The prison drama stuff just kinds of happens without the viewer ever getting too involved or emotionally attached to the plot, and none of the characters have a great deal of sympathy, either.Perhaps it's one of those movies where there are so many characters, we don't have time to care about them. So we get Michael Caine as the token movie-star hero, Max Von Sydow as the token sympathetic Nazi, Sly Stallone as the token macho American idol, and a bunch of real footballers like Pele and Bobby Moore doing their bit on the pitch.The football scenes themselves are great. They're portrayed humorously, with maximum drama and skill. The final few minutes of the final match are truly nail-biting, and all this is from a guy who typically hates football. But other than pride, what's the film all about? The prison escape drama strives to be on the same level as the one in THE GREAT ESCAPE, but I never cared about whether the characters made it or not. Well-remembered it might be…but unlike other well-remembered movies, this one's no classic.

Escape to Victory is a great movie with a very well developed storyline and a stellar cast. It's a very enjoyable film that takes place shortly after World War II as we see a group of POW inmates prepare for a football game that could win them their freedom, it's a very inspired and original sports film. One thing I didn't like about this movie is that it was way too light hearted, for a film in which Nazi's and war are a primary subject, we never really get a clear sense of the real danger and tough times that these characters are struggling with, there aren't enough tense moments to convey this. The cast is terrific, Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone shine in the lead roles, their styles of acting are very different, but it worked out perfectly and they made a great pair. Exciting and well acted, I would recommend Escape to Victory to anyone looking for a good drama or sports film. POWS in Germany compete in a football game against the Nazis that soon becomes a propaganda exercise. Best Performance: Michael Caine Worst Performance: Laurie Sivell

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* Having read some of the other reviews on here, it is clear that a few people may not have watched this film properly or simply fail to understand its premise.It is not an historical drama, but an attempt to combine two "boy's own" stories - in short, an exercise in enjoyment. If you read Commando war comics as a kid, you will surely enjoy this film as I did, and if you are a football fan, just double that. Given that most of the then Ipswich Town squad were on show and featured on both sides - including "German" goalkeeper Laurie Sivell - I loved Escape to Victory from the time I first saw it in the early 1980s.Some of the reviews here are simplistic and seem to suggest that the POW camp was full of star footballers. Not so. Steiner's (Max von Sydow's) initial idea is to have Colby's (Michael Caine's) guys knocking the ball about in the yard take on a local Wehrmacht team, but after being turned into a propaganda exercise the entire camp system is scoured for footballers - including the work camps in Eastern Europe which presents one of the more worthy moments in this otherwise light-hearted romp.The senior camp officers are against the game being played, but Colby pushes for it for the sake of the Eastern Europeans, who would otherwise just be sent back to the hard labour camps.The escape of Hatch (Sylvester Stallone) is an interesting sub-plot and his speaking French is comedy gold, and the paunchy Michael Caine does cut a strange figure as the team captain. As for his age however, it was not uncommon for players back then to be playing well into late thirties and early forties. Stanley Matthews played top level football until retiring at the age of forty-six.As for the match itself, it is well put together for its time. Of course, we are not going to see a 2-0 win for the Germans here, and rather than scoff at the Allies coming back from 4-1 down it would be best just to enjoy it and revel in Stallone's attempts to emulate Gordon Banks - "where do I stand for a corner kick?" Pele's overhead kick is overcooked, yes - but this moment stirs Steiner to applaud, signifying that his love of the game of football is powerful enough to overcome his position as a German officer. His standing up to applaud has been cited by some reviewers here as strange, but in the context of the film it is realistic. His being a Wehrmacht officer is forgotten, at that moment he is simply a football fan.Yes, the escape and crowd scene is cringeworthy. Big collars and bigger hair, flared trousers and the complete ignorance of the fact that the players would have been lugging themselves around in heavy football boots. But hey, just enjoy it for what it is.Some more earnest reviewers have pulled up the fact that the players would have escaped at half-time, and yes - this is probably what most people would have done. But had that been the case, we would not have had the comeback to beat Liverpool's feat against Milan in 2005. In any case, Pelé clearly wins the day with his negotiating skills.As for Pelé even being there, there were plenty of black Allied soldiers in German POW camps, and contrary to popular myth they were treated equally by the guards and not shipped off elsewhere. Some non-white soldiers, such as Indians opposed to the British empire, were even persuaded to fight for the Germans. Pelé is portrayed as a Jamaican corporal in the film, which doesn't stretch the boundaries that much.In all, this film remains enjoyable now just as it was more than thirty years ago, in an era when Ipswich Town were pushing for the treble.