In World War II, a group of Nazi officers come up with a propaganda event in which an all-star Nazi team will play a team composed of Allied prisoners of war in a soccer (football) game. The prisoners agree, planning on using the game as a means of escape from the camp.
Written by
John Vogel
Plot Synopsis:
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Nighttime at a German POW camp during WW2. A prisoner crawls on his belly alongside one bunkhouse and underneath another. Reaching the barbed-wire fence, he starts cutting through them with wire clippers. A patrol dog catches his scent and races toward him, barking. Alarms sound, a search light illuminates the prisoner, who gets tangled in more barbed wire and razor ribbon in his panic. German machine-gun fire replaces half of the prisoner's internal flesh and blood with bullet shrapnel, and he collapses in the barbed wire.

Two cars, one bearing a Swiss flag emblem, ride through the German countryside and arrive at the POW camp. Three English POW's don their military uniforms and stride out of their bunkhouse to meet the occupants of the cars. Three German officers introduce two Swiss Red Cross diplomats, Herrs Rinder and Doktor, to the senior English POW, Colonel Waldron (Daniel Massey). Waldron exchanges military salutes with two of the German officers, including Major Karl von Steiner (Max von Sydow); Waldron and Steiner look at each other as they exchange salutes, in a manner that suggests they're familiar with each other. Waldron's two cohorts are Major Rose (Tim Pigott-Smith) of the English Intelligence Committee, and Wing Commander Shurlock, who is introduced by the camp's high Kommandant (George Mikell) as head of the camp's "Escape Committee--" the three English officers discreetly provide aid to allied POW's seeking to escape from the camp. The two Swiss officials are there to investigate the killing of an English officer during an escape attempt. The senior German officer assures all parties gathered that the killing was "accidental" and asks to conduct a tour of the camp, to ensure the Swiss officials that the prisoners are being treated properly within the guidelines of the Geneva Convention.

Steiner turns as he walks, watching some allied POW's kick a soccer ball around. One of them, an American named Hatch (Sylvester Stallone), kicks the ball close to Steiner. Steiner steps forward to stop the ball's forward motion with a boot. Hatch, trying to show respect, asks for the ball's return. Using just his foot, Steiner lifts the ball from the ground, juggles it in the air a few times and lightly kicks it up to where another POW catches it with his hands. This second POW is an Englishman named Colby (Michael Caine), who Steiner recognizes as a professional player with Westham United and England.

At night, from his bunkhouse, Hatch watches a German officers' quarters building. He watches a German officer and his girlfriend get into a car and leave the POW camp. Later, Hatch is playing bridge with Rose and Waldron while Colby sits on a bunk and reads. Rose and Waldron question Colby about his conversation with Steiner. They understand that Steiner recognized Colby because Steiner, himself, played for the German National team in 1938. Colby answers evasively, avoiding the details of his brief exchange of words with Steiner. They all pause as Shurlock taps into a radio report on the state of the war, and the inhumane treatment of Eastern European prisoners.

The next day, Steiner approaches Colby as he watches allied prisoners at play on the soccer field. Steiner suggests the idea of a friendly challenge: Colby putting together a team of allied POW's from the camp to play a regulation soccer match against a German team from the Wermacht, a nearby German army base. Colby is interested in the idea, but his rational side quickly notes that the allied POW's are dressed mostly in partial military attire and mostly wear military boots, all of which are unsuitable for playing a regulation soccer match. Further, as prisoners are only fed sufficient rations to avoid hunger-related illness, they're in no condition to play a regulated 90-minute match. But Steiner says that proper athletic gear can be supplied, and when Colby asks if Steiner can also assure that the team members all stay in the same bunk and eat together-- proper rations suitable for getting back into physical shape-- Steiner agrees to the terms, since Colby says that if Steiner can come through, he'd put together a team to play against the Germans.

Hatch goes to see Waldron and the Escape Committee to discuss a plan he's concocted. He says the plan hinges on the fact that some German patrol guards don't conduct their regular patrol routes while his bunk is showering. These guards, instead, will come into the shower building, bum a smoke or two and make small talk with the allied POW's, which alleviates their boredom from their patrol chores. Hatch is sure that if someone went missing from the prisoners that were showering, the guards wouldn't report it, because they'd think they'd miscounted and leave the matter be until roll call. If the Escape Committee arranged to cover for Hatch at roll call, he could be gone for days. Hatch also knows that a vent in the shower bunker leads into a storeroom. If he could get in there, with something to pick the lock, he'd be back in the enclosure where he started-- alone. He would be able to get onto the roof undetected, slip underneath the barbed wire and drop into the German officer compound. He has several ideas of how to escape the camp altogether from there. The committee, interest piqued, agrees to discuss the ideas with Hatch.

Waldron has also taken notice of Colby's beginning to put a team together for the soccer challenge. He's disturbed by the fact that Colby is refusing to pick only allied officers for the team. He wants the best players available in the camp-- enlisted men, or 'the lads,' as Colby calls them. Waldron summons Colby to the committee's bunk and tells him that they want to use the soccer match to arrange for the team's escape from prison. But Colby is incensed at the suggestions; he doesn't want to see good young men get killed.

Steiner, as well, is facing scrutiny by his peers and superiors for arranging the match. Some of them are deeply concerned, but one German propaganda officer, Herr Lorenz (), is intrigued, seeing a major opportunity to promote the concept of German superiority, especially in light of the fact that Germany's best professional soccer teams have yet to beat the English.

Colby goes about recruiting players-- Sid Harmer (Mike Summerbee) and Terry Bradshaw (Bobby Moore) from England, and Luis Fernandez (Pelè) from Brazil. Hatch wants to join the team in hopes of using them as a cover for his escape plan, but he proves to be unskilled as a player, and moreover, after a year of admonishment from Colby, he still doesn't distinguish between soccer (which the Europeans call football), and American football, which more closely resembles English rugby. Colby rails at Hatch after he executes a tackle from American football rules, and orders him off the field.

While washing his hands, Hatch quietly counts to himself, seeing his count is perfectly synchronized with a particular German officer's patrol. Shurlock goes up to Hatch and tells him that the Escape Committee will provide him aid for his escape plan. They will arrange to have him seen by a tailor, a forger and a locksmith to carefully provide him with tools, civilian clothes and documents to help get away to neutral territory after he escapes the camp. Satisfied, Hatch finds Colby and vents his frustration at him, telling him and his forming soccer team off.

Colby is brought to Steiner, who regretfully says that his superiors have assumed control of arranging the match. They are going to field a team of top German national players, which will take place on August 15th at Colombes Stadium in Paris, France. Steiner introduces Colby to the German officer who will coach the national team-- a Hauptmann Muller (Gary Waldhorn), who Colby has actually met in London many years ago, before the war. Further, Muller has arranged for a number of top players, now POW's in other prison camps, from England, France, and even Norway to join Colby's team. But Colby says he also can think of several Polish and Czech players who would need to be on his squad-- players who, because of their nationality, are not recognized as official POW's by the German elite, and are instead in labor camps. Staying calm and speaking rationally, Colby points out that regardless of official German decree, those players do exist as human beings, and Steiner can find out where they are, and pull some strings to get them to the camp to train for the team. Colby invokes the 'officer and a gentleman' code which would oblige Steiner to see that Colby has at least a marginal chance of his team winning.

A special bunkhouse is being built to house the soccer team at the prison camp, which Waldron and the Escape committee note with mild displeasure. They warn Colby that the German propaganda machine will ensure that senior London officials will know of the match, and that Colby helped put it together, which would make him look bad.

Meanwhile, the Escape Committee's operatives are helping prepare Hatch for his escape. They work with him in forging a passport, a cover identity, and a reason for returning to his 'home town.' It will take some time to finish the preparations until Hatch can actually execute his escape; more time than Hatch cares for.

But time is something Hatch no longer has. On his way out of the bunkhouse, he passes by the shower hall and sees two guards he doesn't recognize... and who are sticking to the necessary patrol route, with no slacking or goofing off. Confronting Shurlock, Hatch is shocked to hear that the committee knows about the new guards-- Hans and Anton, the two shower guards who slack off from patrol, have been re-assigned to watch over Colby's football team. These new guards who do their duty as expected, have made Hatch's whole escape plan infeasible.

Hatch's only option is to try and get back into Colby's good graces and try to get on the team. A friendly approach and offering to work as a trainer for the team, fall short. Hatch finally confronts Colby about his planned escape, and explains how the slacking shower guards he relied on, are now assigned to watch the football team. Colby doesn't want to see Hatch get shot, but Hatch points out that it's his choice and his risk to take. Colby finally relents and lets Hatch be the team's trainer.

The remaining Allied players from other prison camps arrive. Hatch and Colby greet them, and they're brought into the team bunkhouse for a meal. The team's athletic gear arrives and Hatch begins putting the team through a workout regimen to get back into shape. During practice of soccer technique, Hatch catches a few balls and it's noted that although he doesn't kick or dribble the ball well, he has potential as a goalkeeper.

The Eastern European players arrive. Waldron grills Colby about his arranging to have them brought over. The former soccer greats are now frail and nearly emaciated from hardly being fed at the labor camps, and are now filthy and covered in lice-infested rags of clothing from the harsh conditions they live in. Waldron tells Colby that London knows about all this and Colby will be in hot water with the English army's high command when the war is over. Hatch has the team get water and soap so the Eastern European players can be properly cleaned up and dressed.

The Eastern European players are being fed in the team bunkhouse. Colby quietly takes the rest of the team aside and explains that he's responsible for the players being there, and he's responsible for sending them back to the labor camps if the team doesn't play. Colby refuses to take that responsibility on himself, but he likewise acknowledges it's not right for him to ask any of the other players to disobey their own country's high military command, so each of them must make their own decisions. All of the players unhesitatingly say that they want to play the match.

All of the papers and preparations for Hatch's escape are now in place. Waldron summons Hatch to the Escape Committee's bunkhouse to pick up his passport-- and an assignment they want to ask him to undertake. Waldron asks Hatch to travel to Paris and make contact with the resistance movement there, and ask them to help arrange the escape of the whole football team. The French resistance against the German occupation can provide shelter and safe houses for him, and if they can't or wouldn't help the team escape, they would at least help Hatch get to safety in Spain or Switzerland. Hatch is reluctant at first, but finally agrees to help Colby and the team.

The football team helps Hatch by distracting the guards, giving them cigarettes and making small talk while in the shower hall. Hatch climbs up and carefully rolls back the wire grate over the vent. Two inmates toss him a small bundle with his papers and civilian clothes. At night Hatch goes up on the roof, clips the barbed-wire attachments so he can go underneath them, and remembering the timing of the German guard patrols and search lights, crawls across the ground to avoid them until he reaches a bunkhouse near the front gate. Knowing that a particular German officer leaves the compound every night with his girlfriend, he waits for the car to pull up to the gate, then carefully secretes himself along the footboard, shielded from view by the gate guards, by the body of the car. The car pulls out of the camp onto the countryside road, and Hatch drops off, running into the woods.

Hatch makes it to a train station and buys a train ticket to Paris. Making his way to a tavern mentioned to him by Waldron as a resistance contact point, he buys a drink and sits at a table. A few minutes later, he signals the bartender for a refill and carefully writes a roman numeral V on the table. The barkeep refills his drink and wipes the mark off the table.

Hatch is at a safe house while several Resistance leaders talk. They don't seem very encouraged at the idea of staging an escape for the whole team, and tell Hatch that there's too much risk of an open battle starting in the streets. But then one of them mentions that the Germans will have a whole batallion at the colombe Stadium. The eldest of the three says that having worked in the sewers, he knows that a branch of the sewers goes up into the stadium's foundation, leading to the Seine river. The other two decide they will all go to have a look. Andre (Amidou), who speaks English, explains to Hatch and tells him to stay at the safe house with Renee (Carole Laure), who lives there.

Renee finishes preparing a meal and silently gestures for Hatch to sit and eat. Hatch tries to show some gratitude by striking up some small talk with his hostess, but Renee is very distant and unwilling to talk, although she acknowledges that she speaks English fluently. When Hatch tells her his name, she finally tells him that she doesn't want to know anything about him, because if she hears that Hatch has gotten caught or killed, she'll remember everything she hears about his family and loved ones, and it will make her mourn. Hatch wins her over by telling her he has no family, and finally gets her to open up a little about herself. Renee says her husband was killed in the earliest battles of the war, but she lives with a young son named Francois.

The football team has been covering for Hatch at roll call with a papier-mache dummy dressed in similar clothes and painted to look like Hatch. But one morning during roll call, the head of the dummy falls off and the camp's Kommandant sees. Steiner warns Colby that Hatch's escape has made him look bad with the Kommandant and the high command, and he will be increasing the guard on the football team, to which Colby acquiesces without complaint.

The French resistance leaders go into the sewers and find their way to a foundation pipe for the stadium. Showing some hand-drawn maps to Hatch, Andre explains to Hatch and says they are not sure which pipe it is. They need to steal the stadium's original blueprints and they could end up running into a concrete wall. They believe the best chance is that the pipe will lead into the visiting team's dressing room and the team will be able to slip into the sewer tunnel at halftime.

Andre then tells Hatch that he has to go back to the prison camp. Colby and Colonel Waldron must know the resistance will be coming, and how. Hatch is horrified and disgusted, to say nothing of which, he has no idea how he's supposed to get back inside. Andre knows that if Hatch lets German soldiers capture him, they will send him back to the same prison camp he escaped from, to show the other prisoners that his escape was a failure. Hatch gives his papers and passport to Renee in hopes that they can be used for another escaped prisoner that she might shelter in the near future.

As Hatch is returned to the camp, he puts the backs of his hands against his forehead while looking at Rose, who realizes this is a symbol for the Roman messenger god, Mercury. Rose understands from the gesture that Hatch has come back with a message from the French resistance. The problem is, how to learn what this message is-- Hatch is promptly put into solitary as punishment for escape, and will not be let out of it until after the soccer match. Waldron dumps the problem in Colby's lap by reminding him that unless he goes along with a planned escape for the team, he faces court-martial in England after the war for the 'fiasco' over the Eastern European players brought in from the labor camps.

Colby and Waldron are brought to the Kommandant's office where Steiner tells Waldron that he and Rose will be brought to the stadium to be seen with other senior officers from various camps, even though Waldron flatly refuses to be a 'representative' of his country. Colby asks to have Hatch released, but Steiner says he can get the team a trainer. Colby has to make up a story to Steiner that the team's goalie has broken his arm and Hatch is the best person to replace him. Of course, Colby must then break this news to the goalie... and break his arm.

The team is seen being ferried to a train station which takes them to France, and then by truck to the stadium. They are given the visiting team's dressing room. Meanwhile, Andre and several French Resistance drive to a sewer grate and put up a barrier to show sewer workers working. They descend into the sewers and begin digging through the foundation stones.

During the opening pomp and circumstance for the match, Steiner sits with a German officer who casually reveals during conversation that the referee has been specially picked to call the action in favor of the Germans, despite Steiner having given his word otherwise. The Germans are taking no chances of a propaganda stunt backfiring in their faces and embarrassing them. Even the lead commentator (Anton Diffring) is hand picked to deliver heavily pro-German commentary via radio broadcast.

Renee is in the stands with her young son, Francois. Handing him a small bouquet, she sends him onto the field. Under the guise of bringing the flowers to Hatch, Francois tells Hatch that the football team's escape will be carried out during halftime.

The game begins and the Germans quickly take initiative. THe Allies almost score a goal, but the German goalkeeper catches the shot. The German team begins to play dirty, knowing the referee will call in their favor. Through a penalty kick given them and Hatch moving too far off the line, leaving the goal unguarded, the Germans quickly mount a four-zero lead. Colby finally reins Hatch in to stay on his line, but the Germans begin targetting two of the better Allied players. They injure Dutchman Pieter Van Beck (Co Prins), forcing the Allies to take him off the field. When Fernandez leaves the Germans befuddled with several fake-outs, they trip him and hit him hard in his stomach. Fernandez scowls as he's taken off the field. Colby decides to play one man short. Hatch catches a shot and in the convergence over the ball, one German player kicks him in the head. THe Allied team finally gets fed up and begins to play more aggressively, working together to continually disarm the Germans of the ball. Brady scores a goal for the Allies, bringing the crowd to its feet.

Halftime arrives, and the Allies arrive back in their dressing room in high spirits. Colby hears the sound of thumping coming from the bottom of a filled bath basin, and all the players gather around it. Hatch tells the team that their escape has been arranged and they are leaving now. The tiles at the bottom of the basin are broken through, and the water begins gushing down the hole. A ladder pokes through the hole and one of the French resistance climbs up, greeting the Allies and telling them to hurry.

But as Hatch and Colby begin ushering the Allied players down the ladder into the sewer tunnel, several of them begin to protest. They want to play the game through to its conclusion, even at the cost of their freedom. Hatch is mortified at this, having planned his own escape for over a year, but Colby's loyalty is to his team-- if they are dedicated to playing and winning, then he is too. But if Hatch refuses to go back with them, then they have to go with him on the escape. Hatch is the only one available to play as goalkeeper.

Fernandez finally makes an impassioned plea to Hatch, about how the team will lose much more than a game if they go through with the escape. Hatch is stunned as he listens.

Halftime ends, and the French spectators cheer enthusiastically as the Allied team emerges from their dressing room, waving and smiling to the crowd. Waldron and Rose, sitting among the various Allied POW officers, are shocked to see the Allied team. Renee rises from her seat in disbelief. But as the game resumes, it quickly becomes clear that the Allied players now mean business. They go all-out into attack, working together to maintain control of the ball. Argentinian Carlos Rey (Osvaldo Ardiles) gets control of the ball and maneuvers it brilliantly up the field, scoring the second goal for the Allies. When the Allies score their third goal, even Waldron and Rose are applauding enthusiastically.

A montage of both German goalkeeper Schmidt (Laurie Sivell) and Hatch protecting their respective goals, warding off goal shots are shown. The game goes back and forth until, with only four minutes left, Rey, Brady and Belgian Michel Filieu (Paul Van Himst), all working together, maneuver the ball back up the field and Filieu scores the tying goal for the Allies.

Suddenly the referee begins blowing his whistle and gesturing. He has disallowed the tying goal, declaring several Allied players off-sides. The lead commentator pounces on this, dutifully spouting his pro-German propaganda. The Allied players argue vociferously but the referee refuses to budge.

Fernandez signals to Colby and asks to rejoin the game. He's completely fed up with the German team's cheating, aided by a completely biased referee. Colby signals that Fernandez is rejoining the game, and the spectators cheer.

As play resumes, Fernandez quickly gains control of the ball and fakes his way past several Germans, using his shoulders to hinder German players trying to press him and hit his stomach again. They trip him, causing him to stumble, but Fernandez regains his balance and kicks the ball up the field, passing it to Brady near the end zone. Brady catches the ball on his chest and kicks it back into the center of the end zone.

As several German players leap to head the ball, Fernandez maneuvers into position and executes an overhead bicycle kick maneuver to score a perfect goal (shown in slow motion three times). Even Steiner gives a spirited standing ovation (to the ridicule of his fellow German officers). The whole crowd, including Waldron and Rose among the Allied officer POW's, are cheering and applauding wildly. The entire stadium comes alive with spectators chanting "Victoire!" (French for Victory).

The Allies nearly score yet another goal, but Schmidt makes a beautiful save which the lead commentator immediately uses to heap praise on him. The Germans gain control of the ball and team captain, Baumann (Werner Roth), seems almost ready to score when Rey tries to tackle the ball and Baumann trips on his feet. The referee immediately calls a foul and awards the Germans a penalty kick as time runs out, the lead commentator spouting garbage commentary about the Allies "deliberately resorting to fouling" at "the end of the game."

As the players all assemble in position for the penalty kick, the French spectators begin to sing the Marseilles, their national anthem and battle song, in a loud, spirited voice. Baumann and Hatch meet at the spot where the ball is placed for the penalty kick. The two look intently at each other for several long seconds before Baumann finally gives a respectful nod, which Hatch returns as he steps back onto the goal line.

As the French spectators cheer him on, Hatch leaps and catches the penalty kick, saving the game. All the other players crowd around him, leaping into the air and cheering along with him, as the spectators all go wild.

Suddenly, as Waldron and Rose watch in delight, the entire crowd knocks down the barriers and pours out onto the field, many of them grappling German security officers struggling futilely to regain order. The crowd mobs around the Allied players and begin to run them across the field.

Renee finds her way to Hatch and kisses him, as another Frenchman pulls off his long coat and puts it onto Hatch. Brady and Colby are covered with French berets and coats as several other Frenchman pull off Fernandez's shirt as they run with him. Steiner watches the Allied players disappear into the mob and under French street clothes with a surprised smile. The mob stampedes its way to the front gate, easily forcing it open and sweeping the German guards trying to hold it closed, aside like children, running out of the Colombes stadium and into the streets of Paris, taking the Allied players to freedom.

The screen fades to blue and a montage of the multi-national professional soccer players making up the Allied team, is shown before the closing credits begin to roll.

The movie was inspired by an actual series of games in Kiev, during the German occupation of the city. Several members of Dynamo Kiev, the top soccer team in Ukraine, found work in a bakery. There they formed a soccer team with other bakery employees. They began playing in a new league against teams supported by the Ukranian puppet government and German military. After they beat a team from a local German Air Force base, the league was disbanded, and several of the team members were arrested by the Gestapo, and four were executed.
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Sylvester Stallone started soccer training on weekends off during the filming of Nighthawks (1981). Stallone received training from England's World Cup winning goalkeeper, Gordon Banks. Initially, Stallone paid little attention to Banks' advice, as he didn't think the training was necessary, and recklessly threw himself around on the first day of filming the match. Eventually, he hit the ground so hard that he dislocated a shoulder and broke one of his ribs, putting him out of action for several days. When he returned, Stallone paid much more attention to what Banks was telling him, but still sustained several minor injuries over the course of filming, including another broken rib. After production was finished, Stallone commented that the experience had been harder than fighting in the Rocky movies.
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Reportedly, Sylvester Stallone insisted that his character score the game-winning goal in this movie, as he felt he was the biggest star in this movie. The non-American crew was finally able to convince him of the absurdity of the goalkeeper scoring the winning goal, and the penalty shot was specifically written to placate his ego.
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The MTK Stadium in Budapest, Hungary was used to play the Stade Colombes (Colombes Stadium) in Paris, France, where the movie's climactic football match takes place. The producers had had difficulty finding a large stadium without floodlights, as floodlights at football stadiums were largely unknown until well after World War II. The MTK stadium, now known as the Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium, was the biggest one without lights (but at the same time structurally similar to Continental stadiums that were around during World War II) that they could find. The stadium today is the home of the MTK Hungária Football Club.
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Osvaldo Ardiles said of the forty-seven-year-old Sir Michael Caine and his soccer skills, "Awful, and he couldn't even run twenty yards."
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Apart from acting in the movie, Pelè also assisted in choreographing all the playing actions in the climactic game.
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Sylvester Stallone broke one of his fingers trying to stop Pelè from scoring a goal.
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Kevin O'Callaghan, who played the young goalkeeper who has his arm broken in this movie, never played in goal professionally. Instead, he enjoyed a successful career as a winger with Millwall, Ipswich Town, Portsmouth and the Republic of Ireland.
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Sylvester Stallone lost about forty pounds for this movie because he didn't want a prisoner of war to look like an "Olympic boxer", and he felt he needed that weight reduction to perform the tasks of a soccer goalie.
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The movie was originally slated to star Lloyd Bridges and Clint Eastwood. French actor Alain Delon was also touted to appear.
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The original draft of the script was a serious drama, based on the true story of a group of allied P.O.W.s challenged to a football match by the Germans. The deal was that if the Germans won the match, the P.O.W.s would be set free in Switzerland. However, if the P.O.W.s won, they would be shot. The P.O.W.s decided to go for "victory", won the match and were consequently executed.
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Other than Sylvester Stallone and Sir Michael Caine, the rest of the Allied players (that play in the game) were actual soccer stars from various countries around the world, mostly from the 1970s and 80s. Some of them performed the "tricks" for which they were famous, such as Pelè with a bicycle kick.
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During the climactic soccer match, when the commentator says that there is fifteen minutes left in the game, there is exactly fifteen minutes and five seconds left until the end of the end credits.
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Sylvester Stallone nixed the idea of using a professional player as a double for the game sequences. As a result, he separated his shoulder and broke a finger.
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A three acre prison set was built in the grounds of the Allag Riding Stables on the outskirts of Budapest, Hungary. The P.O.W. set took three months to construct.
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In the scene where the Germans discover Hatch's escape, the German guard reporting speaks Hungarian instead of German. Most likely, the actor was a Hungarian extra. He says "jelentem, a lètszám 93 fo", which roughly translates as "(I report) ninety-three people are present." Also, one of the French Resistance men speaks English (to Hatch) with a noticeable Hungarian accent.
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This movie is both known as "Victory" and "Escape to Victory" in various territories, though its original English title is "Victory". In some territories, it was released under one of these titles in theaters and and then the other title for videocassette release.
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When questioned by news reporters in 2014, Osvaldo Ardiles said that his greatest ever sporting moment was playing in this movie, despite Ardiles being a World Cup winner with Argentina in 1978, and having other major honors throughout his football career.
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Kevin Beattie stood in as an action double for Sir Michael Caine during the football scenes, while Paul Cooper did the same for Sylvester Stallone.
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Several soccer players from the Ipswich Town Football Club featured in this movie. These included Kevin Beattie; Paul Cooper; Kevin O'Callaghan; Russell Osman; Laurie Sivell; Robin Turner, and John Wark.
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At the playing of the German National Anthem, the assorted German officers stand and salute. S.S. officers in black uniforms (apart from one or two) give the Nazi salute, and Luftwaffe officers in grey give the standard military salute (hand to headgear with palm down). This is correct, so long as the events took place prior to July 1944, when the Nazi salute was imposed across the whole Wehrmacht.
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John Wark had his Scottish accent dubbed to an English one.
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One of the footballers, Mike Summerbee, became friendly with Sir Michael Caine. After retiring from football, Summerbee went into bespoke shirt-making. Caine is one of his favored customers.
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This movie featured eighteen international professional football players of the time appearing in both acting and sports action stunt roles. Soccer stars who have key roles in this movie included Brazilian Pelè as Allied Trinidadian Corporal Luis Fernandez; England's Bobby Moore as the Allies' English Terry Brady; Argentina's Osvaldo Ardiles as Allied Argentine Carlos Rey; Scotland's John Wark as Scottish Arthur Hayes; Ireland's Kevin O'Callaghan as the Allied Irish goalkeeper Tony Lewis; Poland's Kazimierz Deyna as Polish player Paul Wolchek; Norway's Hallvar Thoresen as Norwegian player Gunnar Hilsson; Belgium's Paul Van Himst as Belgian Michel Fileu; Denmark's Søren Lindsted as Danish Allie Erik Ball; U.S.'s Werner Roth as German Team Captain Baumann; England's Mike Summerbee as Allied Soccer Player Sid Harmor; England's Russell Osman as Doug Clure; Holland's Co Prins as Dutch Pieter Van Beck, while England's Laurie Sivell played the German goalkeeper Schmidt.
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Upon theatrical release, this movie was described as a cross between The Great Escape (1963) and The Longest Yard (1974), and alternatively, also as a cross between The Great Escape (1963) and Rocky (1976).
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This movie is similar in storyline to two earlier European movies made around 1962. Firstly, it is similar to the Hungarian black-and-white movie Two Half-Times in Hell (1961). Winner of the Critics' Award at the 1962 Boston Cinema Festival, this movie told of a soccer match between Allied P.O.W.s and German soldiers and held on Adolf Hitler's birthday. This movie is also similar in storyline to the earlier Russian movie, Tretiy taym (1963).
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Sir Michael Caine played the main character in Get Carter (1971). Sylvester Stallone played the main character in Get Carter (2000), with Sir Michael Caine appearing in a supporting role.
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Sir Roger Moore considered accepting the role of Captain John Colby.
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A location scout covering seven countries was conducted to find the appropriate sports stadium which would reflect a 1940s Europe in Paris, France.
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This movie featured eighteen international soccer stars of the time, appearing in acting and sports action stunt roles.
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Many of the actors had to learn how to play soccer, while many of the soccer players had to learn how to act.
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Paris' Colombe Stadium in France was portrayed by Budapest's MTK Stadium in Hungary. The actual stadium could not be used as its exteriors were surrounded by post-World War II modern buildings. Overall, it was considered that Paris was too modern to film there. Since World War II, Budapest had emphasized reconstruction rather than modernizing. The MTK Stadium in Budapest compared closely to the Colombe Stadium in Paris. Emperor Franz Joseph I of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire had previously commissioned state architects there to make Budapest the "Paris of the East" of Europe.
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One of this movie's main posters shows the left and right red sleeve arms of Sir Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone respectively pushed-upwards stretching from their red soccer guernseys and symbolic of a goal victory, forming a V-shape signifying the V of the word Victory, this being the movie's title.
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This was the only acting role for the vast majority of the football players who appeared in this movie.
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Carole Laure received an "introducing" credit despite the fact that she had appeared in numerous French language movies.
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The movie was scored by Bill Conti, who had composed the Oscar nominated score for Sylvester Stallone's Rocky (1976). This movie is one of around ten collaborations of the pair and one of just a handful of non-Rocky franchise movies scored by Conti and starring Stallone, with the others being F.I.S.T (1978), Lock Up (1989), and Paradise Alley (1978).
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Sir Michael Caine admitted that the only reason he agreed to make this movie was the opportunity to work alongside footballing legend, Pelè.
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Anton Diffring was dubbed.
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Kevin Beattie stood-in as an action double for Sir Michael Caine during the football scenes, while Paul Cooper did the same for Sylvester Stallone.
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This movie is both known as "Victory" and "Escape to Victory" in various territories, though its original English title is "Victory". In some territories, it was released under one of these titles in theaters, and and then the other title for videocassette release.
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For all of the soccer players who had acting parts in this movie, this has been their only theatrical movie acting role.
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First prison movie of Sylvester Stallone, who played one of the Allied prisoners of war. Stallone starred in the prison movies Lock Up (1989) and Escape Plan (2013).
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In an early scene, when the Allied officers are playing cards and chatting, Rose (Tim Pigott-Smith) jokingly says "Elementary, my dear Shurlock" to Shurlock (Julian Curry). Three Allied officers in that scene played in Sherlock Holmes productions: Julian Curry and Daniel Massey played in back-to-back episodes of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1991), and Sir Michael Caine played the great detective himself, in the comedy-adventure production Without a Clue (1988). He also did voice-over work in Sherlock Gnomes (2018).
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Screenwriter Yabo Yablonsky hated the revisions made to his script, and was so horrified when he saw the finished movie, that he even briefly considered taking his own life.
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Sylvester Stallone antagonized his fellow cast and crew members by refusing to eat with them and disappearing off to London or Paris every weekend on a private jet.
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Sylvester Stallone wanted to be the one to score the winning goal, but was persuaded by soccer-supporting cast and crew that a goalkeeper scoring would be absurd. In the years since this movie was made, Stallone has proven to be more right than the soccer experts. In the modern game, when there's nothing to lose, a goalkeeper will sometimes abandon his goal and go forward for a last minute set-piece such as a corner, adding to his team's numbers in the area near the goal. This tactic has occasionally succeeded. Manchester United's iconic goalie Peter Schmeichel scored such a goal in 1997.
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Fourth sports movie for Sylvester Stallone after Rocky (1976), Paradise Alley (1978), and Rocky II (1979).
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A great majority of the soccer players had not acted prior to this movie.
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Director John Huston and Sir Michael Caine collaborated on The Man Who Would Be King (1975).
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Sylvester Stallone and Max von Sydow appeared in Judge Dredd (1995).
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Shot over a period of five weeks.
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Every goal that the Allies make, except for the last one, is made when they were playing with only 10 men.
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During the match an injured POW player is taken off by stretcher and another player puts on a shirt to replace him. Substitutes were not introduced in this way until 1953; until that point, a "substitute" was a player who stood in for another who had failed to turn up for the game and players were not replaced once the match was underway.
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When Stalone is in Paris subway, he looks at a list of stations that must appear on a map. We see the station "Guy Moquet". The 1940s station name was "Marcadet - Balagny". Guy Moquet was a communist resistant executed by the German in 1941. The station was named after him only in 1946.
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The microphone used by the radio announcer at the soccer match is an RCA model 77B, a model not introduced until the late-1940s.
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The vast majority of the extras in the soccer stadium have hairstyles and wear clothes associated with the late 1970s and early 1980s (long hair, flares and wide-collared shirts etc.).
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Around the 61th min. after Hatch escaped, when the German soldier comes to report the number of prisoners, he speaks in Hungarian, but not in German.
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When the German player (Baumann) takes the penalty kick, his hair is dry in a scene a few seconds prior to the kick, then it's wet with sweat when he places the ball and then it's dry again after he scores.
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When Pele is injured during the game, he rolls around in pain, and the top his head touches the chalk line. The large white patch on his head is clearly seen. In the next scene, it is gone.
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During the final football match several of the flags feature a counter clockwise swastika meaning it is not the symbol of National Socialism but the sign of the Buddha.
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The team refuses to escape during the halftime, and return to the stadium to play the second half of the game. The two allied officers in the bleachers see this and are shocked, looking very disappointed, probably thinking something went wrong and the escape couldn't be arranged. However, there is no reason for them to be disappointed, since they could have no idea that the escape was arranged for the halftime break. Even the players were told just moments before the game.
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