Who would have thought Stallone used to make movies worth watching?

Rating: 9/10 (12 January 2011)

Victory is one of those movies that you see sort of half-assed as a child but for some reason parts of it stick in your brain and you recall them vividly even a few decades later. I always remembered a move starring Michael Cain and Sylvester Stallone that had something to do with WW II and soccer, but I could never remember the name of it. Fortunately I stumbled across it in the "favorites" section at Family Video and I snatched it up, eager to see the film I had long recalled but never truly remembered. I was not disappointed. The movie felt like a classic war movie, A Bridge Too Far, The Great Escape, and Patton all came to mind. It had the classic cinema feel to it that seemed to bring it to life, and I am convinced that Sylvester Stallone could have been a serious actor had he stuck with films like Victory, rather than the action garbage like Cobra, and Rambo: First Blood Part 2.
The Movie centers around a friendly game of soccer between the local German team and the allied prisoners of war. The planned game catches the attention of German propaganda officers and takes on a life of its own. Instead of a friendly local scrimmage, the game becomes an international showcase of the mighty German national team against the best allied prisoners of war in all of occupied Europe. I won't give away the ending, but I can say that it is not the typical Hollywood ending, it's more clever than that. I heartily recommend this movie to all fans of cinema.