Synopsis
Now is the time for heroes.
A group of POWs in a German prison camp during World War II play the German National Soccer Team in this powerful film depicting the role of prisoners during wartime.
Escape to Victory
1981 Directed by John Huston
Cast
Sylvester Stallone Michael Caine Max von Sydow Pelé Carole Laure Bobby Moore Osvaldo Ardiles Paul Van Himst Kazimierz Deyna Mike Summerbee Co Prins Russell Osman John Wark Søren Lindsted Kevin O'Callaghan Gary Waldhorn George Mikell Laurie Sivell Arthur Brauss Robin Turner Michael Wolf Jürgen Andersen David Shawyer Werner Roth Amidou Benoît Ferreux Jean-François Stévenin Jack Lenoir Zoltán Gera Show All…
Director
Producers
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Casting
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Cinematography
Assistant Director
Executive Producer
Camera Operator
Additional Photography
Production Design
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Special Effects
Stunts
Composer
Sound
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Studios
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Primary Language
Spoken Languages
Alternative Titles
Menekülés a győzelembe, فرار به سوی پیروزی, Η Μεγάλη Απόδραση Των 11, Victory, Návrat k vítězství, 승리의 탈출, Escape a la victoria, À nous la victoire, Flucht oder Sieg, Flykt till seger, Fuga per la vittoria, Evasión o victoria, Fangelejrens helte, Η Μεγάλη Απόδραση των 11, 胜利大逃亡, Fuga para a Vitória, Ucieczka do zwycięstwa, הבריחה לניצחון, Vítězství, Бягство към победата, Победа, Zafere Kaçış, 勝利への脱出, Den sista matchen, გამარჯვება, Evasió o victòria, Втеча до перемоги, Pergalė
Genres
Themes
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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UKPG
30 Jul 1981
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USAPG-13
23 Sep 1981
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FranceU
17 Oct 1981
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ItalyT
21 Dec 1981
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Brazil12
03 Apr 1982
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South Korea15
13 May 1982
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Germany6
15 Jun 1982
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GreecePG
14 Mar 1985
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Hungary12
Physical
01 Oct 1994
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Czechia
12 Apr 2010
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Brazil14
Releases by Country
Brazil
21 Dec 1981
- Theatrical12
12 Apr 2010
- Physical14 DVD
Czechia
01 Oct 1994
- Physical
France
23 Sep 1981
- TheatricalU
Germany
13 May 1982
- Theatrical6
Greece
15 Jun 1982
- TheatricalPG
Hungary
14 Mar 1985
- Theatrical12
Italy
17 Oct 1981
- TheatricalT
South Korea
03 Apr 1982
- Theatrical15
UK
17 Jun 1981
- TheatricalPG
USA
30 Jul 1981
- TheatricalPG-13
Popular reviews
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"You give me ball. And I do thiiis, thiiiis, thiiiis, thiiiis, thiiiis, goal. Easy!"
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Every student in a Western history class learns the same somewhat true legend: around Christmas 1914, soldiers across the frontlines of the first World War lay down their weapons on Christmas Day for a ceasefire soccer/football match.
The story becomes a little less endearing, though, when one of the sides arent just Germans… but actually Nazis.
It seems odd that John Huston, part of the U.S. Army Signal Corps during the Second World War, and creator of some of the most essential American propaganda pieces of the era, would fail to realize this distinction.
It’s fair, though, to give Huston credit for acting on another aspect of his own reputation in making “Escape [to Victory].” The aspect where he never…
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Pelé playing the harmonica and scoring versus nazis, what else you need?
Watch this classic, I thought this one had a bigger popularity around Letterboxd, but I see it’s a bit unknown.
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"We don't want you shot as a spy, do we?"
"I don't want to be shot as anything."Not just the greatest football movie ever made but also the greatest sports movie ever made, John Huston's Escape to Victory is one of his most underrated works and a film that by all rights shouldn't work as well as it does, mashing up a World War 2 prison escape drama with a classic football underdog tale set against an epic Bill Conti score with an all-time great theme tune.
The perfect viewing entertainment for a lazy Saturday afternoon, Escape to Victory boasts good performances from an unlikely collaboration of actors who can't play football (Stallone at one point, decides to rugby…
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It's pretty much The Longest Yard but with Nazis which is about as good of a premise as it sounds.
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What happens when Sylvester Stallone summons Bill Conti and tries to Rocky-fy a John Huston movie? Victory is what happens. Yes, Victory the title, but more, a victory for comfort-film lovers everywhere.
One can have a favorite sport but can one have a favorite war? Well, I do. At least for cinema. Soccer and good old WWII. I love this movie. I love Pelé and his bicycle kicks, I love 47 year old Michael Caine and his ability almost look like he wants to play world-hangs-in-the-balance football. And I love you Max von Sydow, you reluctant Nazi, you. ‘Hatch! Hatch! Halftime! Halftime!’
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1981 In Review - July
#17The head of a German POW camp, soccer enthusiast Karl von Steiner (Max von Sydow) organizes a match between Nazi players and their Allied captives. Orchestrated as a way to push the Third Reich agenda, the high-profile game is set to feature an international team led by John Colby (Michael Caine), a veteran British player. While the team, which also includes Luis Fernandez (Pelé) of Trinidad, trains for the match, Robert Hatch (Sylvester Stallone) plans a dangerous mass escape from the camp.
A perennial Bank Holiday favourite and not to be taken too seriously. This is a fun movie which is basically The Great Escape mixed with the beautiful game of football.
It’s almost… -
The fact that this film is not slotted in the pantheon of classic sports movies is somewhat baffling, especially since it’s a genre curated primarily by dads. This is undeniably a dad movie — a low-rent The Longest Yard meets Shawshank Redemption meets The Great Escape. Don’t let those references fool you though — this is thoroughly Sunday matinee stuff. It’s brilliantly cast, well shot, nicely scored, and surely competent. But it’s also preposterously silly and overwhelmingly mediocre.
Set during WWII, Escape to Victory tells the story of a ragtag group of western POWs who are propositioned by an SS general to play a propagandistic soccer match in Paris against their Nazi occupiers. The purpose of the game is to showcase…
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Top 100 Directors Challenge: 54. John Huston
Escape to Victory walked so Chicken Run could, you know...
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"The Great Escape 2: The New Class"
Not just a prison camp escape movie but also an underdog sports tale, and pretty forgettable as both!
As a prison camp escape movie: it treats the setting like it's just a decorative mural on the wall - these are the most easygoing Nazi captors you'll ever see, and one of them we're even supposed to believe has a redemption arc: not against being a Nazi of course, that's fine if he wants to keep working for a government regime espousing hatred and violence. No, he just learns to respect the international soccer team that's trying to beat the Nazis in the big game, because they're such good players. He'll ostensibly go back…
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With the sad news of the great man's death, I thought I would revisit his big screen effort from 1981. I grew up with the likes of Maradona and Dalglish as icons of the game, Pele having already finished his career with New York Cosmos in the late 70s, with a big payday and plenty of shagging at Studio 54. In the pub yesterday we were talking about him and rather than debate whether he was the greatest of all time, it descended into his stint as champion for erectile dysfunction, advertising Viagra, which he claimed later never to have needed. His legacy though is much more than stiffies, a true football legend.
Escape to Victory isn't a great film,…
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