Escape to Victory (film)

   

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 US, the film is known as Victory.

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

The film was inspired by the true story of Dynamo Kiev'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.
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.

 

Filming

Cast

Sylvester Stallone - Captain Robert Hatch

Michael Caine - The Players - England: Capt. John Colby
Pelé - The Players - Trinidad: Cpl. Luis Fernandez, Allied soccer player
Bobby Moore - The Players - England: Terry Brady, Allied Soccer Player
Osvaldo Ardiles - The Players - Argentina: Carlos Rey, Allied Soccer Player
Paul Van Himst - The Players - Belgium: Michel Fileu
Kazimierz Deyna - The Players - Poland: Paul Wolchek
Hallvar Thoresen - The Players - Norway: Gunnar Hilsson
Mike Summerbee - The Players - England: Sid Harmor, Allied Soccer Player
Co Prins - The Players - Holland: Pieter Van Beck
Russell Osman - The Players - Russell Osman: Doug Clure
John Wark - The Players - Scotland: Arthur Hayes
Søren Lindsted - The Players - Denmark: Erik Ball, Allied Soccer Player
Kevin O'Callaghan - The Players - Ireland: Tony Lewis, Allied Goalkeeper

Max von Sydow - The Germans - Major Karl Von Steiner
Gary Waldhorn - The Germans - Mueller, Coach
George Mikell - The Germans - Kommandant
Laurie Sivell - The Germans - Goalie (Schmidt)
Arthur Brauss - The Germans - Lutz
Robin Turner - The Germans - Player
Michael Wolf - The Germans - Lang
Jürgen Andersen - The Germans - Propaganda Civilian
David Shawyer - The Germans - Strauss
Werner Roth - The Germans - Baumann, Team Captain
Amidou - The French - André
Benoît Ferreux - The French - Jean Paul
Jean-François Stévenin - The French - Claude
Jack Lenoir - The French - Georges
Zoltán Gera - The French - Victor (as Folton Gera)
Tim Pigott-Smith - The English - Rose
Julian Curry - The English - Sherlock
Carole Laure - The French - Renée
Clive Merrison - The English - The Forger

Maurice Roëves - The English - Pyrie
Michael Cochrane - The English - Farrell
Jack Kendrick - The English - Williams
Daniel Massey - The English - Colonel Waldron
Anton Diffring - The Commentators - German
Gunter Wolbert - The Commentators - German
Eolo Capacci - The Commentators - Italian
Michel Dhrey - The Commentators - French
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Laszlo Klima - Fan in front row
Ákos Moskovits - Renée's son


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