À nous la victoire

If the part where the football match takes place was omitted, "Victory" would be a "5 stars out of 10" film. The reason is that although it features two very good actors (Michael Caine - Max von Sydow), there is not much to stand out: A rather incredulous WW2 plot, an average acting (what could you expect from professional footballers or from Stallone?), and a simply decent direction, produce an average result. Thankfully, there is more than that, as I will explain in more detail later.

"Victory" is about some inmates in a WW2 prison camp, who have a passion for soccer. Captain J. Colby (Caine), a former footballer, is the leading figure in the camp matches that take place. One day, he is spotted by football-fan Major Steiner (Max von Sydow) who proposes him the idea of organizing a match between allied POWs vs. Germans. Colby agrees, as he believes this will be a great morale-booster and a chance for better prison conditions for those involved; however, more senior inmates are skeptical, as they believe this will be a propaganda stunt for the Germans. In the end, they also concur but only after they have convinced the team's goalie Capt. Hatch (Stallone) to arrange the team's escape during the match. The difficulty is that both Colby and his team are more interested in this game than in their freedom, so they are hesitant on what they should finally do...

As I said, the movie is just watchable during its first part. And yet, when we start to watch the Allied - Germans match, things get much better: We watch terrific football from stars such as Pele, Ardiles, and Bobby Moore, with scenes such as Pele's goal being memorable to all sports fans. Of course, if you are not into soccer, then perhaps you won't get that excited (although the spectacle can be exciting for non-fans, too). But if you like the King of Sports, then you will certainly enjoy this film. 7/10.

John Huston's Victory has probably seen so much critical scorn it's mind boggling. Is this movie Oscar material? Certainly not, but it's a great film in many ways.

First of all, Bill Conti offers up a first rate uplifting musical score. It's outstanding work and you hear a bit of resemblence to the score he wrote for a 1982 film that received a little bit of notoriety -- The Right Stuff.

Next, the cinematography is simply gorgeous. Soccer is not an easy sport to film and I think this film was done wonderfully. I thought the choice of film stock, a certain amount of grain to make it almost like you're watching a documentary was a nice touch. Some of the action shots and slow-mos are absolutely wonderful to behold.

Finally, we have a nice plot with a couple of surprises, a great cast, and an auteur director. Certainly, Huston was in failing health and not at the top of his game by this time but his work on this film was still memorable. For me I will always remember the wonderful line with "The Forger" asking Hatch "You don't want to get shot as a spy do you?" And the quick reply, "No, I don't want to get shot as anything." Simple one liner, uncomplicated, yet funny.

Victory is a great inspirational film, a sure hit for soccer fans (of course he wasn't offside - he was behind the ball when it was struck!) and a nice film for war buffs. Just ignore Maltin et al and spend the time watching it, widescreen DVD recommended, you won't be sorry.

This movie is part of my childhood. My older brother was obsessed - to say the least - with this movie, and we used to watch it every week or so. I must have seen it about a hundred times. Pelé, Ardiles, Bob Moore... No football fan can miss this movie. Is it any good? I don't think it's very good, but this is one of those movies that really made part of my life and i can never forget it. Until today - i haven't seen the movie in several years - i can recall many of the dialogs, and a lot of the situations of the game. Brazil was eliminated in 1982's world cup after an epic game against Italy - one of the most profound traumas in Brazilian football history, an event that made Brazil to change it's game style - the art football - to a more pragmatic and tactical style. Somehow this movie reminds me of that golden period of Brazilian football.

The script of this unusual war/escape movie was nothing special, and neither was the acting. Not surprising about the latter since half the performers weren't actually experienced actors. However I loved every minute of it, and thought it was great fun and terrific entertainment. Of course there are those who won't quite see it that way and will dismiss it out of hand. And they'd be perfectly sane to do so. Everything about "Victory" (aka "Escape to Victory" in the UK) says it's one to leave well alone.

Even if you disregard the lack of aesthetic qualities, and tut-tut over the reality of it all, it's worth watching if only to see again a few of the great past-masters of what the Brits like to call "the beautiful game" (i.e. soccer). And Sylvester Stallone as a goalkeeper is something to behold.

As far as escape stories go this is about as original as they get, but even here it's possible to see plundering from other story lines, i.e "The Great Escape", "The Password is Courage", "Albert RN", to name but three, and as at least one reviewer has pointed out, the music is extremely reminiscent of the first one.

One of my favourites snippets is that of the Nazi sports commentator, portrayed by Anton Diffring, that stalwart of war movies, broadcasting his gramophone record of enthusiastic crowd applause, when in "reality" the whole stadium was as quiet as the grave.

I think this is one of those rare occasions, if taken in the right vein, when a bad movie can be a crowd pleaser. Forget the war pundits, the realists and the purists. Just enjoy the movie for what it is. Tremendous fun!

Any football fans out there? If you haven't seen Escape To Victory either at Christmas, when it is usually on at a ridiculous time of the morning, or hired/bought it on DVD then you are really missing out.

There is a fair amount of disbelief suspending that needs to take place before you settle down. But, if you can numb your brain to the idea of Micheal Caine playing professional football or indeed, Sylvester Stallone doing the same in goal, you're in for a treat.

As a football fan, it was a real thrill to see the great Bobby Moore kicking a ball in anger and, against the Germans too (remember what I said about suspending disbelief).

OK, it isn't the greatest film ever made. But it isn't supposed to be. It's a bit of bubblegum that is just supposed to kill a couple of hours. A feat the movie accomplishes handsomely.

I defy any football fan not to cheer when the goals go in or to curse when the Germans do well. Similarly, try and stifle your guffaws when you see Mr Caine trying to look like he knows what he's supposed to be doing. Is it just me or does he become more cockney when he tries to convey excitement in any of his roles?? Probably one of England's more one dimensional acting talents.

If you don't enjoy it, you're missing the point of it. Nobody will ever forget horror of war, it's ingrained. That isn't what this film is about although it does have a stab at giving the viewer a clue about the life of a POW in WWII.

No, the film is about entertainment. And, on that level, it's one of the good ones.