GamerTab That was an excellent one.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

SimonJack Many movies made about World War II are complete fiction. The stories are totally fabricated but set within the context of the war. Most, but not all, are based on novels. Some of the better action and intriguing war films fit in this category. And, some books and movies are based on certain theaters and aspects of the war. These include battles and campaigns, the underground and resistance, POW camps and escape stories. "Victory" is one such movie. It was based on a 1962 Hungarian film that itself was inspired by a mythical football (soccer) match between a Kiev team and the German occupation forces in the Ukraine during WW II. While there wasn't such a match, three matches did take place between a Kiev soccer club and a team of the occupying Germans. The Ukrainians won all three, and after the last match, the Kiev players were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Many other matches apparently were held between Ukrainian clubs and German Army teams – about 150 total, with the Ukrainians winning a ratio of 6-3.5-1.5. See "The Death March" under Wikipedia for a detailed account and more background.This film is set in Germany and France, and involves British and American POWs, as well as a collection of Allied prisoners from other countries. So, "Victory," aka, "Escape to Victory" outside America, is a combination POW, soccer competition, underground resistance, and escape film. It also fits in the category of very late films made about WW II. All the players are good. But, Sylvester Stalone, as U.S. Army Capt. Robert Hatch, has some hammy lines when he is with the French girl, Renee (played by Carole Laure) in the Paris underground. Producer Freddie Fields assembled an impressive cast beyond Stalone. Michael Caine shares the lead with Stalone, as British Capt. John Colby. And, Max von Sydow plays German Major Karl Von Steiner. A coup for the film is Pele, the famous Brazilian soccer player, and several other professional soccer players for both the POW and German teams. The Allied assortment is explained by POWs who played soccer being transferred in from other prisons. The film makes a clear statement about the German treatment of East Europeans, compared to prisoners from other countries. Caine's Colby insists that the soccer prisoners from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and other Eastern countries be included. When five of them show up, they appear to be undernourished shells of former athletes. None would be able to recuperate for a long time, but Colby keeps them for the team rather than send them back. The pro soccer players in the film were from teams that had won national and/or world championships. They came from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, England, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Norway, Poland and Scotland. The movie was filmed in Hungary and France. Because Paris had changed so much, with modern buildings in the 35 years since the end of WW II, they couldn't shoot the soccer match there. Instead, Fields found a stadium in Budapest, the "Paris of the East."This movie is a lighter account of Allied POWs during WW II. It has none of the drama or trauma of other films about the reality of wartime POW camps. But, it is entertaining and a fun film with some good scenes of soccer play. The French underground escape by the Allied team doesn't come off as planned. The team couldn't leave at half-time with the Jerry's in the lead. To the delight of the fans – mostly thousands of French civilians hustled into the stadium to make a crowd (Hungarian extras in Budapest), the Allies rally and the game ends a tie (a legitimate Allied goal having been denied earlier). And, the excitement of the crowd turns into a spontaneous mass movement onto the field and dispersion of the Allied soccer players among the fans as they leave the stadium. The ending is priceless and caps an entertaining fictional film that most members of the family should enjoy.

Rick Joshua *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.

cultfilmfreaksdotcom Perceived as a GREAT ESCAPE clone, and somewhat resembling THE LONGEST YARD, this John Huston directed Sylvester Stallone project winds up a WWII version of an obscure Vietnam War flick titled THE BOYS IN COMPANY C.Within a German POW camp, Michael Caine plays Major John Colby, a once-great British soccer star heading a ragtag prison team, viewed by Max Von Sydow's Major Steiner, who, recognizing Colby, sets up a YARD style scrimmage between the cons and the guards… But this initial plan doesn't go far.The Nazi propaganda machine wants a legit game to occur in occupied Paris. Here's where the escape wheels spin by the imprisoned intellectual Brits… Yet American Sylvester Stallone, as the new Steve McQueen style Cooler King, Captain Robert Hatch, likes this game plan most of all… only Caine's Major Colby wants nothing to do with him. An aggressive Hatch, who eventually winds up a better goalie than kicker, begs to join the team… they get a cozy barracks and three square meals a day… but for selfish reasons only – he desperately yearns for a solo breakout.The best sequence has the rogue American given a tactical pre-game mission while director John Huston keeps the suspense edgy and unpredictable: as Hatch sneaks around and about the prison, the camera's kept low and dark, as if we too were escaping. This is followed by a brief pocket of downtime after Hatch is safe within the confine of a French Resistance group, wherein a disposable love interest is introduced. The anticipated rivalry takes up the entire third act and, like soccer often can, the match is stretched-out, hard to follow and not as involving as, for instance, the football game in THE LONGEST YARD or even Robert Altman's M*A*S*H… Here's where the climactic BOYS IN COMPANY C plot line unveils: a 1978 film in which a group of American soldiers in Vietnam take part in a soccer match against the enemy, and wind up choosing possible triumph over probable freedom.A semi-conceived halftime escape, surreptitiously tunneled out by the Resistance through a THIRD MAN style underground sewer, seemed much too easy to begin with: Leading back to the game involving shots of real players highlighted by Brazilian star Pelé (an impressive back-flip goal-kick is repeated three times in slow motion), whose exploitative "special guest" appearance made more sense to audiences than was logical to the storyline...The iconic athlete's casting trumped even the A-list Stallone, who, with help from the always-capable Caine, turns in an above par performance, shining brighter than his usual action fare and yet, like other Sly flicks, you'll suspend the same amount of testosterone-pumping disbelief backed by another ecstatic (though hardly as catchy) Bill Conti score.

manikagarwal2 what a fantastic soccer movie.. I mean if we keep aside some of the visible glitches, then it sure is a good watch. The players keeping their possible escape half the way down the match and putting forward their morale ,their self esteem ahead to give an eventful 2nd half amidst some nasty ploys adapted by the Germans!!! Its heartening watching PELE dribble around with 1 of his hands supporting his injured chest n that last goal off his feet is a treat to watch.I am surprised how come this movie is not even in all time gr8 sports movies lists of IMDb. Max Paine as always has given good performance too.. Some actors do sound a bit wooden but considering that most of them were not actual players....Highly recommended...