Escape to Victory
ESCAPE TO VICTORY (aka VICTORY)Â (PG)
D: John Huston
Lorimar (Freddie Fields)
USA 🇺🇸 1981
117 mins
War/Adventure/Sports
W: Evan Jones & Yabo Yablonsky [based on the
screenplay "Two Half Times in Hell" by Zoltán Fabri]
DP: Gerry Fisher
Ed: Robert Silvi
Mus: Bill Conti
PD: J. Dennis Washington
Michael Caine (Capt. John Colby), Sylvester Stallone
(Capt. Robert Hatch), Max Von Sydow (Maj. Karl von Steiner), Pelé (Luis Fernandez), Bobby Moore (Terry Brady), Osvaldo Ardiles (Carlos Rey)
Prisoners at a POW camp are ordered to organise a football
match between themselves and the guards for the sake of German Propaganda, but use the event as a front to hatch an escape plan.
The novelty of using real football players in the cast
sets this aside from other Great Escape wannabes, but it's all ridiculously cheesy and can't be taken seriously at all, especially when some of the world's soccer stars leave much to be
desired with their attempts at acting.
Seen as a classic in Britain, when it's on UK TV screens
every Christmas. In truth, it's nothing more than a guilty pleasure film and there's nothing wrong with that.Â
6/10
