IMDb > Victory (1981)
Victory
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Overview

User Rating:
6.2/10   7,307 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 8% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
John Huston
Writers:
Yabo Yablonsky (story) and
Djordje Milicevic (story) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Victory on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
30 July 1981 (USA) more
Genre:
Action | Sport | War more
Tagline:
Their goal was freedom... more
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. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
How Come There Are No Great Soccer Films?
 (From Cinematical. 26 March 2009, 11:32 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Silly rip off but passable to watch more (72 total)

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)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Escape to Victory (UK)
more
Runtime:
116 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Colour:
Colour (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
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 more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Sylvester Stallone initially received training from England's World Cup winning goalkeeper, Gordon Banks. After only a few days of training Stallone dismissed Banks, saying that anybody could play in goal without trouble and he didn't see what all the fuss was about. During filming however, Stallone constantly kept flinging himself about in an exaggerated acrobat-like manner and dislocated a shoulder, broke two ribs and received extensive bruises. Afterwards he admitted that he should have listened to Banks more carefully and commented that it was harder than fighting in the Rocky movies. more
Goofs:
Anachronisms: The vast majority of the extras in the soccer stadium have hairstyles and wear clothes associated with the late 1970s and early 1980s (long hair, flares and wide-collared shirts etc.). more
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.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Comic Relief Does University Challenge (2003) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Symphony 5, 4th movement more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
13 out of 19 people found the following comment useful.
Silly rip off but passable to watch, 13 November 2003
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

When Major Karl Von Steiner sees POW's playing football he suggests a friendly match between the guards and a select 11 of the prisoners. However as word of the match spreads, the German high command seize on it as a chance to publicly show the strength of the Germans to the world, while the escape committee within the POW camp start planning for a major escape to humiliate the Germans on their big day.

Well worth seeing simply because of the range of `famous' footballers in the cast and the fact that it is one of a select few films that is based around football. That is not to mean it is any good – because of course it simply isn't. The film is a strange mix of POW movie and sports movie. The POW side of it is full of cliché and rip offs of better films, the music itself sounds like a watered down version of The Great Escape. The football action itself is saved for the final third. I think the film would have worked better if it had focused more on training (al la Dirty Dozen) rather than opening up the stuff around Hatch's escape. As it stands the game is actually quite enjoyable, of course it doesn't really play out like a real football match, but it's very hard to get that in a film.

For all those who say that coming back from 4-1 down at halftime is unrealistic and laughable, I say HA! A few seasons ago I watched Man United win 5-3 over Spurs despite losing 3-0 at halftime. Even in the past 3 weeks I have seen both Wolves and West Brom come back from a 3-0 halftime loss to win 4-3 against Leicester and West Ham respectively. Of course the long midfield runs etc are a little unrealistic but the game itself is the more enjoyable aspect of the film.

The cast are not that great. Caine does almost nothing and seems to have just been interested in playing football alongside Pele and Moore (who wouldn't!). Pele, Moore and the other footballers all do OK and seem happy to play (but have major problems with delivering their lines without sounding a little wooden). However, Stallone is probably the best of the cast. For the most part his performance is pretty weak and he is forced to be a strong chin in an escape plot, however he also does well with some comic stuff and seems to enjoy being a footballer!

Overall the film is a very strange hybrid, none of which really works very well. It is best viewed as a bit of fantasy football where the `Brits' beat the Germans at football (and everything else) mainly worth watching because they can't do it in real life! The sub-par rip offs of other films keep reminding us that this is not as good as it's peers, but it is worth seeing if you are a football fan – even if it's a pretty poor product as a film.

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