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Parents' Guide to

Victory

By Alistair Lawrence, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

WWII sporting drama has some language, violence.

Movie PG 1981 116 minutes
Victory movie poster

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Unashamedly giving WWII the Hollywood treatment, this sports drama unites two on-screen legends in Caine and Sylvester Stallone. Released in 1981, Victory (also titled Escape to Victory) also finds room for world-famous soccer stars Pele, Bobby Moore, and a few other famous faces that dedicated sports fans will recognize. A very loose remake of a grittier Hungarian drama, Two Half Times in Hell, it is inspired by a real-life team of Ukrainian soccer players who were forced to compete against German teams during the war.

The plot is a mix of sporting drama and wartime prison break, which just about manages to stay in formation. Partly because director John Huston takes his assured delivery of drama and set pieces and transfers both to the field of play. The result is a feel-good yarn with no room even for historical accuracy or even the laws of the beautiful game, in some places. But in terms of pure nostalgia and its sense of fun, Victory has aged surprisingly well as a boys' own adventure played out by the alpha males of its day.

Movie Details

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