Victory (1981)
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Allied prisoners of war must navigate a dangerous propaganda stunt to secure their freedom.
The story
During the Second World War, a team of Allied prisoners of war is interned in a German prison camp. Led by English Captain John Colby, a former professional footballer, the men agree to play an exhibition football match against a German team. However, they soon discover the match is actually a German propaganda stunt. While Colby fears the match will lead to the deaths of his players, another prisoner, Robert Hatch, plans to use the event as a cover for an escape attempt. The team must navigate the complexities of the game while facing the constant threat of capture and execution.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
A team of Allied prisoners of war (POWs), coached and led by English Captain John Colby, a former professional footballer for West Ham United, agree to play an exhibition football match against a German team, only to find themselves involved in a German propaganda stunt. Another POW, Robert Hatch, an American serving with the Canadian Army, joins the team as a trainer to facilitate his own escape attempt. While Colby fears the match will lead to the deaths of his players, Hatch coordinates with the French Resistance in Paris. The Resistance plans an escape using a tunnel from the Parisian sewer system to the players' changing room at Colombes Stadium. Hatch is recaptured and placed in solitary confinement, but Colby manages to get him on the team by claiming he is the backup goalkeeper. During the match, the resistance tunnelers break through at halftime while the POWs are trailing 4–1. The team persuades Hatch to return to the pitch for the second half. Despite biased officials and deliberate injuries from the German team, the POWs achieve a 4–4 draw. As time expires, Hatch makes a crucial save on a penalty kick. In the ensuing chaos, the crowd swarms the field, allowing the Allied players to disguise themselves and escape to freedom.
- First release year
- 1981
- Runtime (minutes)
- 117
- Production countries
- United States; United Kingdom; Italy
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Huston
- Writers
- Evan Jones · screenplay; Yabo Yablonsky · screenplay; Yabo Yablonsky · story; Djordje Milićević · story; Jeff Maguire · story
- Cast and characters
- Sylvester Stallone; Michael Caine; Max von Sydow; Pelé · Corporal Luis Fernandez
- Genres
- sports; war; drama
- Themes
- Resistance; Survival; Sportsmanship
- Tone and mood
- Exultant; Dramatic
- Premise and plot tags
- World War II; Prisoners of War; Football; Escape
- Source material / true-story basis
- Based on the 1962 Hungarian film drama Két félidő a pokolban ("Two half-times in Hell")
- Reception
- The film received great attention upon its theatrical release, but critical responses were mixed, with some critics calling it 'uproariously stupid' while others praised the soccer scenes.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 70% · review count: 10 critics; Metacritic · score: 57 · scale: 100 · review count: 10 critic reviews; CinemaScore · score: A- · scale: A+ to F
- Awards and nominations
- Critics' Award · Boston Cinema Festival · 1962 · win
- Production trivia
- Sylvester Stallone broke his finger while trying to block a penalty kick from Pelé during filming.; The film was inspired by the now discredited story of the so-called Death Match in which FC Dynamo Kyiv defeated German soldiers.; The music borrows heavily from the first and last movements of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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