Escape to Victory (UK title)

Much like The Great Escape, it has the memorable whisle-worthy main tune, a bunch of POWs trying to escape and bevvy of well-known stars. It's such a lovely and happy movie to watch that I cannot say a bad word about it. Michael Caine, regardless of how much I am wary of him, is brilliant in this. Stallone is very American and that is exactly what is needed in the role. I love how Huston made Sly to be a novice and fool at football just because he's American - it's so true, especially in the 1940s, maybe not so much now. This film has football stars of the era too, but they're not the main attraction. Seeing Stallone in yet another sports film and acting great without the need for his creation is a great sight to see. The ending, the football match, is the best that's ever been filmed. Admittedly it's tricky to film football matches for a movie, but this one does a great job. Still a cult classic to this day.

A

I saw this. It's one of the John Huston movies you have to forget if you want to say you like John Huston. There's a lot of those

I didn't see this since I was a kid, and I was pretty impressed with it at that time. Rewatching it again, I found the first hour good but a bit slow, the finale though, the tension and flow of the game is still excellent. Despite knowing the ending this time around, it's still very satisfying to see the allied team return after half time and turn the game around. There's solid performances in the film from most of the cast, but it really revolves around Caine and Stallone, where the former is his usual self and the latter is nice to see in a less actiony role. The world war II setting is not a dreary as in other films around the subject, it's rather light even watching it as an adult, but believable still. It's a pretty classic war sports film.

B+