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Escape to Victory

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Victory
Directed byJohn Huston
Written byJeff Maguire
Djordje Milicevic
Yabo Yablonsky
Produced byMario Kassar
Gordon McLendon
Andrew G. Vajna
StarringSylvester Stallone
Michael Caine
Max Von Sydow
Pelé
CinematographyGerry Fisher
Edited byRoberto Silvi
Music byBill Conti
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Warner Bros. (DVD)
Release dates
July 30, 1981
Running time
110 minutes.
LanguageEnglish

Escape to Victory is a 1981 film about Allied prisoners of war who are interned in a Nazi prison camp during World War II. It was directed by John Huston and stars Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone. The film received great attention, as it also starred football superstars Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, Kazimierz Deyna and Pelé. Numerous Ipswich Town F.C. players were also in the film, including John Wark, Russell Osman, Laurie Sivell and Kevin O'Callaghan. Further Ipswich Town players stood in for actors in the football scenes - Kevin Beattie for Michael Caine, and Paul Cooper for Sylvester Stallone. The script was written by Yabo Yablonsky. In some locations, such as the United States, the film is known as Victory.

Plot

Football plays an integral part of the film. The prisoners of war (POWs), coached and represented by John Colby (Michael Caine) agree to play an exhibition match against a German team, only to find themselves involved in a Nazi propaganda tournament. In the end, the POWs can leave the Nazi camp only to play the match; they are supposed to return to the camp after the game. During the match, despite the match officials being heavily biased towards the Nazis, a draw is achieved after great performances from Luis Fernandez (portrayed by Pelé), Carlos Rey (portrayed by Osvaldo Ardiles) and Arthur Hayes (portrayed by John Wark). American soldier Robert Hatch (Sylvester Stallone) plays the goalkeeping position, and makes excellent saves including one last save on a penalty kick as time expires to deny the Nazis the win, drawing the game 4-4. Although, the POWs scored a goal which was disallowed by the referee, for a dubious offside descision, making the score 5-4 which prompted the crowd to shout "Victory!"

Some team members plan to escape at halftime (in an escape led by Hatch) but the rest of the team (led by Russell Osman saying "but we can win this") want to carry on with the game, despite being behind at halftime. They manage to escape at the end of the game, amidst the confusion caused by the crowd storming the field after Hatch preserves the draw.

Basis of the story

The movie is based on the 1961 Hungarian film drama "Két félidő a pokolban" (Two half-times in Hell), which was directed by Zoltán Fábri and won the critics' award at the 1962 Boston Cinema Festival. [1]

The film was inspired by the true story of Dynamo Kyiv's players, who defeated Nazi soldiers while Ukraine was occupied by Nazi troops in World War II. According to myth, as a result of their victory, the Ukrainians were all shot. The true story is considerably more complex, as the team played a series of matches against Nazi teams, emerging victorious in all of them, before finally being sent to prison camps by the Gestapo. Most of the team were killed there, but a few survived.

Actors and footballers

Escape to Victory was unusual in that it featured a great many professional footballers as both the POW team and the German team. Many of the less famous footballers came from the Ipswich Town squad, who were at the time one of the more successful teams in Europe. Apparently the actor Sylvester Stallone wanted to score the winning goal in the film, until it was pointed out to him this would be impractical for a goalkeeper.[citation needed]

Selected cast, characters and clubs

Actors
England Michael Caine Captain John Colby
United States Sylvester Stallone Captain Robert Hatch
Sweden Max von Sydow Major Karl von Steiner
Germany Anton Diffring Radio announcer
Canada Carole Laure Renee
Footballers
Brazil Pelé Corporal Luis Fernandez Santos FC,New York Cosmos retired World Cup Winner
England Bobby Moore Terry Brady West Ham United, Fulham FC retired World Cup Winner
Scotland John Wark Arthur Hayes Ipswich Town
Argentina Osvaldo Ardiles Carlos Rey Tottenham Hotspur World Cup Winner
Poland Kazimierz Deyna Paul Wolchek Manchester City
Denmark Søren Lindsted Erik Ball Holbæk B&I
Belgium Paul Van Himst Michel Fileu Anderlecht retired
United States Werner Roth Baumann (German team captain) New York Cosmos retired
England Mike Summerbee Sid Harmor Manchester City retired
Norway Hallvar Thoresen Gunnar Hilsson PSV Eindhoven
England Russell Osman Doug Clure Ipswich Town
Republic of Ireland Kevin O'Callaghan Tony Lewis Ipswich Town
Netherlands Co Prins Pieter Van Beck Ajax
England Laurie Sivell Schmidt (German goalkeeper) Ipswich Town
England Robin Turner German Player Ipswich Town
England Kevin Beattie Stand-in for Michael Caine Ipswich Town
England Paul Cooper Stand-in for Sylvester Stallone Ipswich Town

Les Shannon, the ex-Burnley player, choreographed the actual game presented in the film. The movie also credits Pelé as the designer of plays. Gordon Banks, World Cup winning goalkeeper, coached Sylvester Stallone. The game was filmed in the Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium in Budapest, Hungary.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Escape_to_Victory&oldid=210315238"