I just couldn't buy the basic premise of this movie. I thought it was a passable piece of entertainment - not stellar, but good enough. But the basic premise lost me. The Nazis were masters of propaganda, and this was a truly no win scenario for them. The story has a soccer team from the German Army taking on a team made up of Allied prisoners who in peacetime had (mostly) been well known soccer players. My mind couldn't grasp how the Germans were going to milk any positive propaganda out of this. If they won - so, they beat a bunch of POWs; if they lost - WHOA! They lost to a bunch of POWS! I just couldn't buy it.But set aside the unbelievable premise and this was an all right movie. The soccer angle aside, what you had was an interesting reflection on the duty of prisoners of war to escape if possible. Hatch (played by Sylvester Stallone) was a repeat escaper, who latched on to the soccer team (first as manager and then, somewhat improbably, as the goalkeeper) because it represented another chance to escape. Colby (Michael Caine) was the Allied team's captain and manager - a former star with West Ham United who now just wants to play soccer rather than escape. What started as a small affair, organized by a German officer (Max von Sydow) ended up as this huge propaganda effort, with the game played in Paris.Yes it was unbelievabe that Hatch would end up as the goalkeeper. Yes it was unbelievable that Hatch would have been allowed on the team after his attempts at escape. Yes it was unbelievable that he would be put back on the team after escaping again. Yes it was unbelievable in so many ways. But it wasn't unenjoyable. Stallone's performance was pretty good, and there was a funny (to me anyway) nod to his work as Rocky Balboa as he stared down the German who was about to take the last second penalty kick. The last scenes, as the crowd stormed the field and seemed to help the prisoners escape was pretty dramatic. And the movie featured Pele - who showed no great acting talent, but offered up his famous scissors kick a couple of times.Sure it was implausible - and that's generous. But very watchable, and for the most part enjoyable. (6/10)

The story is one of the unique tales to be based on World War II, The basic premise departs from the love of the game of football in both the sides of Allies and Axis, despite there's a war between them. The added weight of having the Nazi will be very tempted to use the game as a great propaganda against the rest of the world and the Allied POW will be tempted to use the game as a cover to escape makes the story more interesting. However, the story develops rather unpredictably weird, having Hatch willing to go back inside to convey the info to Colby, and having the mob rush in without the Nazi shooting a single bullet. There's also all the little hiccups here and there such as the alarm didn't sound when the light hit Hatch's face when he's escaping, and also the football game rather played stupidly despite being designed by Pele. The acting is surely an average one, despite the big names of Stallone, Caine, and Von Sydow here. From all the roles, I only see Michael Caine delivers a quite convincing acting, although is also refuted by the sheer weirdness of how the story unfolds.

I quite enjoyed Escape to Victory. It is not one of John Huston's best, and it is not a perfect movie. It can get silly and implausible, the plot has its predictabilities and there is the odd cliché every now and then. That said, it was very enjoyable. The film looks good, and coming from a non-sports fan the football scenes are great fun to watch. John Huston's direction is memorable, the script was snappy and while the characters have their clichéd moments they are also somewhat credible. The acting is fine too, the cast do give it their all here and it shows. Sylvester Stallone surprised me in a good way and Michael Caine is always good value. All in all, an enjoyable and fun movie even with its problems. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Victory is one of those movies that you see sort of half-assed as a child but for some reason parts of it stick in your brain and you recall them vividly even a few decades later. I always remembered a move starring Michael Cain and Sylvester Stallone that had something to do with WW II and soccer, but I could never remember the name of it. Fortunately I stumbled across it in the "favorites" section at Family Video and I snatched it up, eager to see the film I had long recalled but never truly remembered. I was not disappointed. The movie felt like a classic war movie, A Bridge Too Far, The Great Escape, and Patton all came to mind. It had the classic cinema feel to it that seemed to bring it to life, and I am convinced that Sylvester Stallone could have been a serious actor had he stuck with films like Victory, rather than the action garbage like Cobra, and Rambo: First Blood Part 2.The Movie centers around a friendly game of soccer between the local German team and the allied prisoners of war. The planned game catches the attention of German propaganda officers and takes on a life of its own. Instead of a friendly local scrimmage, the game becomes an international showcase of the mighty German national team against the best allied prisoners of war in all of occupied Europe. I won't give away the ending, but I can say that it is not the typical Hollywood ending, it's more clever than that. I heartily recommend this movie to all fans of cinema.