nullnullnullMy next post is a review of the film Escape to Victory.....
During the second world war on a prisoner of war camp one of the officers has seen how enthusiastic the prisoners are about football so speak to prisoner Colby about having a small game against the Germans. Colby thinks the idea is crazy at first but reluctantly agrees as long as he can pick his own team, they get proper kit and shoes and they also have the privilege of double rations.
Colby is enthusiastic about the match and sets about picking a team. Unfortunately the Germans have taken the match a little too far and see this as a great propaganda event, so the match is moved to the main stadium in occupied Paris, much to the disgust of the English officers on the camp.
Colby sees his challenge in getting a team together so asks for other prisoners from the labour camps to be bought to him to play. The training starts to go well but little does he know that the officers are arranging to have the prisoner escape at the match.
Can Colby train his team so they can go ahead and win the match and will the escape plan come together?
This was so not my film choice as I had no interest in the story or the football theme but as hubby wanted to watch it I decided to give it a go. I have to say I was actually quite surprised by the film, I felt it did have a very good story and it was interesting to watch and despite the subject being football this was not overly played and we did have other smaller story lines going on at the same time. I think the film was helped along by the strong acting.
The lead role of Colby was played by Michael Caine and he did a great job, he seemed very strong and authoritive and I loved how he would play to the Germans weaknesses and always get what he asked for. He did work well with the football aspect of the film and I did believe him when he was training the men and actually playing himself, he seemed quite at ease with the game. He had a good on screen connection with all the men on his team and I thought they all worked well together. A role in the film which did actually surprise me was that of Hatch, he was an American officer at the same camp. This role was played by Sylvester Stallone. I am not usually a fan of his but he did quite a good job. He seemed at ease in the uniform and the environment and I felt he did deliver all of his lines in a great manner which made me believe in him. There were a few issues with some of the words he said as I could not understand all of them, but I have this problem with all of the film he is in. He did bring a element of light humour to the film as he was not a football played and knew nearly nothing about the game but he had great enthusiasm which came across in a great way.
We had some other very good performance from the cast and to name a few they included, Pele, Bobby Moore, Paul Van Himst, Mike Sommerbee and John Wark. Considering these men are not actors but professional football players I felt they bought a lot to the film and their acting skills were actually quite good. I found the mix of the characters was good as he did have quite a few different personalities. There football skills which we got to see toward the end of the film were excellent and I loved the kick which Pele did scoring a goal. I have seen this shot before and it does still amaze me when we see it again. I did find they seemed to digress from their characters slightly when on the pitch but this was no bad thing as it made them concentrate on showing off their skills instead.
The film was set for the majority on a prisoner of war camp and I felt it was shown in a good way which the basic ness of it all and how regimented it all was. I did find it all seemed very dull and drab but this is how it was on the camps so I could not expect them to put colour into the film just to brighten it up for viewers. The costumes were all very good fitting for the theme of the story. I found the appearance of some of the prisoners to be quite shocking and sad and I think a lot of credit should be given for showing this and not just healthy men on the camp. The sporting equipment was fitting for the year of this film and I found the football kits to actually very nice and very smart looking.
There were no real special effects in the film, we do have a gun shot victim which did look authentic and fitting for the film but there is no real shooting action or violence so no big effects were needed. I don’t think this film would have benefited from more violence or action at all and I feel it would have taken away from the main theme. I felt the music was good and enjoyable to listen to for the majority of the film. It was all very orchestral and there were several time when I commented to hubby how it reminded me of the music from the film The Great Escape. It worked well and was all performed to a high standard.
I am only reviewing the film so there are no DVD extras to speak about. The DVD can be bought for under £5 now and I do feel this is a good price. The running time of the film is 116 minutes and I did feel that this was a little on the long side, I don’t think anything would have been lost from the story if this had been shortened, there was also a few times in the film when I was willing the story to speed up slightly. The films rate is a PG and I do agree with this as there is no bad language or violence, I think children from the age of 7 would be able to understand the story and follow what was happening with ease.
I am surprised to be giving this film a recommendation and a good solid 3 stars as it would not my choice. I found the storyline and acting to be good and the football players took to their role excellently. I did have to mark this down as the run time was way to long and there were times when I was getting slightly bored and willing it to speed up. This film is worth watching even if you are not a football fan but I would suggest waiting for it to come on the TV instead of paying for the DVD.
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