Contrived and cheesy, but massively enjoyable

Rating: 7/10 (7 January 2015)

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* Having read some of the other reviews on here, it is clear that a few people may not have watched this film properly or simply fail to understand its premise.
It is not an historical drama, but an attempt to combine two "boy's own" stories - in short, an exercise in enjoyment. If you read Commando war comics as a kid, you will surely enjoy this film as I did, and if you are a football fan, just double that. Given that most of the then Ipswich Town squad were on show and featured on both sides - including "German" goalkeeper Laurie Sivell - I loved Escape to Victory from the time I first saw it in the early 1980s.
Some of the reviews here are simplistic and seem to suggest that the POW camp was full of star footballers. Not so. Steiner's (Max von Sydow's) initial idea is to have Colby's (Michael Caine's) guys knocking the ball about in the yard take on a local Wehrmacht team, but after being turned into a propaganda exercise the entire camp system is scoured for footballers - including the work camps in Eastern Europe which presents one of the more worthy moments in this otherwise light-hearted romp.
The senior camp officers are against the game being played, but Colby pushes for it for the sake of the Eastern Europeans, who would otherwise just be sent back to the hard labour camps.
The escape of Hatch (Sylvester Stallone) is an interesting sub-plot and his speaking French is comedy gold, and the paunchy Michael Caine does cut a strange figure as the team captain. As for his age however, it was not uncommon for players back then to be playing well into late thirties and early forties. Stanley Matthews played top level football until retiring at the age of forty-six.
As for the match itself, it is well put together for its time. Of course, we are not going to see a 2-0 win for the Germans here, and rather than scoff at the Allies coming back from 4-1 down it would be best just to enjoy it and revel in Stallone's attempts to emulate Gordon Banks - "where do I stand for a corner kick?" Pele's overhead kick is overcooked, yes - but this moment stirs Steiner to applaud, signifying that his love of the game of football is powerful enough to overcome his position as a German officer. His standing up to applaud has been cited by some reviewers here as strange, but in the context of the film it is realistic. His being a Wehrmacht officer is forgotten, at that moment he is simply a football fan.
Yes, the escape and crowd scene is cringeworthy. Big collars and bigger hair, flared trousers and the complete ignorance of the fact that the players would have been lugging themselves around in heavy football boots. But hey, just enjoy it for what it is.
Some more earnest reviewers have pulled up the fact that the players would have escaped at half-time, and yes - this is probably what most people would have done. But had that been the case, we would not have had the comeback to beat Liverpool's feat against Milan in 2005. In any case, Pelé clearly wins the day with his negotiating skills.
As for Pelé even being there, there were plenty of black Allied soldiers in German POW camps, and contrary to popular myth they were treated equally by the guards and not shipped off elsewhere. Some non-white soldiers, such as Indians opposed to the British empire, were even persuaded to fight for the Germans. Pelé is portrayed as a Jamaican corporal in the film, which doesn't stretch the boundaries that much.
In all, this film remains enjoyable now just as it was more than thirty years ago, in an era when Ipswich Town were pushing for the treble.