Escape to Victory has a true story around which to base its tactics: a group of POW's in Germany were challenged to a football match by their captors and the deal was: lose and be set free in Switzerland or win and face the firing squad. Not much of a choice, but the POW's won and were promptly shot. Suffice to say, John Huston's loose spin on real events remains loyal to none of the bleakness and cruelty of POW life and only fleetingly pays tribute to the heroics (futile or otherwise) of interned allies. Instead, he assembles a couple of big-name actors (von Sydow, Caine) and an entire squad of international footballing heroes (Moore, Pele, Ardiles, Summerbee, Prins, and an ill-cast Sylvester Stallone betwixt the sticks) to take on the sneakiest, dirtiest German XI ever to dribble a ball. Ruudi Voeller would be ashamed of this lot.
Despite splicing together some jovial training camp (pardon the pun) sessions and some Great-Escape style music to lift the heart, the only thing about this film that matters, both narratively and in terms of our enjoyment, is the game at the end. Played out before a thronging French crowd, the action is some of the truest to the sport in film history, with pacey dribbling, convincing flicks, dizzying close-ups, textbook overhead kicks and, yes, shite technique from the American in goal.
