Summary

  • Escape To Victory is a rare and groundbreaking film that successfully combines the genres of sports and wartime drama.
  • The inclusion of real-life professional footballers adds authenticity and credibility to the film's sports action.
  • The film features iconic players such as Pelé, Bobby Moore, and Ossie Ardiles, who deliver impressive performances and contribute to the film's enduring legacy.

Escape To Victory's footballers are made up of many real-life professional players who added authenticity to the war-set sports story from John Huston. Based on Zoltán Fábri's iconic Two Halves In Hell, Escape To Victory focuses on a group of Allied prisoners of war including Sylvester Stallone's Robert Hatch, who are forced to play a rigged exhibition match of football against a German propaganda team - all the while plotting their escape from a POW camp. Escape To Victory garnered great attention upon its release in 1981, owing in no small part to the number of footballers that signed on to the project.

While there is some criticism leveled against the movie, mostly due to Stallone's heroic lead role, Escape To Victory stands the test of time as a rare and groundbreaking piece of cinema that successfully marries the two largely disparate genres of sports and wartime drama. Huston's scope of ambition saw him include no less than 14 professional footballers in Escape To Victory, adding credence to its taut sports action.

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Pelé

Cpl. Luis Fernandez

Revered worldwide for his sumptuous play and sporting achievements, Edson Arantes do Nascimento Pelé was already a global superstar had recently retired when he was cast as the skilled Luis Fernandez. In a virtuoso performance for the Allied team and as one of the footballers in Escape to Victory, Fernandez scores one goal and creates two others as his team valiantly draws 4-4 with their nefarious opposition. Considered one of the best players of all time, Pelé's legacy endures today, with the footballer accredited with birthing the phrase "The Beautiful Game." Sadly, Pelé passed away due to complications with colon cancer on December 29th, 2022.

Bobby Moore

Terry Brady

Bobby Moore raising a trophy

If Pelé's inclusion in the movie was seen as a coup, then Bobby Moore's casting as one of the footballers in Escape to Victory propelled the project into dreamland. Moore is the only Englishman to lift the FIFA World Cup trophy, doing so on a night against Germany in 1966 that goes in the footballing annuls. Brady's character mirrors his real-life exploits, with Brady a rock at the heart of the Allied defense that denies the German exhibition squad shots on goal. Moore commentated his last match between England and San Marino in 1993 before his death on February 24th, 1993, due to complications with cancer.

Ossie Ardilles

Carlos Rey

Completing the superstar trio of the Allied team is Osvaldo Ardilles' Carlos Rey whose midfield performance alongside Fernandez is critical to securing their life-or-death draw with the Germans. In real life, Ardilles is a cult footballing figure in England, after forming what many consider to be Tottenham Hotspur's best-ever team lining up alongside the likes of Glenn Hoddle and Ricardo Villa. Ardilles enjoyed a successful coaching career, coaching four English clubs, including the Spurs, before managing teams in eight other countries. As of now, Ardilles is running his own football school in the UK known as the Ossie Ardiles Soccer School.

Paul Van Himst

Michel Fileu

Paul Van Himst in Escape to Victory

Van Himst portrays Michel Flieu, another member of the Allied team that manages an escape from the undertaker during the film's coda. An Anderlecht legend in his native Belgium, Van Himst won the championship/first division eight times with his boyhood club. Flieu's injury suffered in Escape To Victory is again an example of the film imitating each player's innate qualities, with Van Himst one of the most fouled players ever in the Belgian leagues across his playing career. Himst led the Anderlecht team to the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Mike Summerbee

Sid Harmer

Mike Summerbee in Escape to Victory

Mike Summerbee is a name revered in the North-East of England, or more specifically by one-half of Manchester. Summerbee was a key component in the successful Manchester City side of the late 1960s and early 1970s while also managing eight appearances for the English national team. In Escape To Victory, the fiery right-sided winger plays Sid Harmer, an equally combustible footballer in the Allied starting line-up. As of now, Mike Summerbee is the Club Ambassador for Manchester City.

Kazimierz Deyna

Paul Wolchek

Kazimierz Deyna in in Escape to Victory

Kazimierz Deyna was a rare talent across his career, scoring goals from highly unusual positions on the pitch that included, but was not limited to, direct kicks from corners. While his time at City was marred with injury, the mercurial attacking midfielder's talent was never in question as he staved off relegation for the club and confirmed his cult status in the process. His rare attacking talents are showcased in Escape To Victory through the character Paul Wolchek. Deyna was tragically killed in a car accident in 1989 in San Diego, California, when he was only 41 years old.

Hallvar Thoresen

Gunnar Hilsson

Halvar Thoresen in Escape to Victory

Another skilled titan and attack-minded midfielder, Thoresen played the role of Norwegian football player and Allied POW Gunnar Hilsson in Escape To Victory. A gifted goalscorer from the middle of the park, Thoresen is best known for his time playing for both FC Twente and PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch Eredivisie, where he scored a prolific 152 goals in 314 appearances. Today, Hallvar Thoresen displays his talents off of the field as he is in charge of the Norway U21 team.

Co Prins

Pieter van Beck

Peter Van Veck in Escape to Victory

A Dutch legend at Ajax, Jacobus Theodorus Wilhelmus "Co" Prins, scored 60 goals across six seasons for the Amsterdam-based club before earning a foreign transfer to German side 1 FC Kaiserslautern. This was a rarity in 1960s European football and an event that singled out Prins as a trailblazer to be included in Huston's film sequences 25 years later. Prins takes on the role of Pieter van Beck in Escape To Victory, the Allied team's starting striker. Prins famously died of a heart attack in the middle of playing a match in 1987.

Søren Lindsted

Erik Ball

People celebrating a goal in Escape to Victory

The other Allied striker, Erik Ball, is played by former Danish footballer Søren Lindsted. Starting as a semi-professional footballer with Holbæk Boldklub, Lindsted reached the 1976 Danish Cup final with Boldklub as the team's top goalscorer in 1977 and 1978. His performances across these two seasons caught the attention of Netherlands-based club FC Twente, with whom he signed his first professional contract before playing three seasons there from 1979 to 1982. Lindsted ended his football career in 1990, playing for the Danish club Holbæk Boldklub.

Werner Roth

Baumann

Werner Roth with a trophy in Escape to Victory

Roth is considered one of the other few genuine stars of American soccer from the 1960s, with the Yugoslavian-born defender lining up alongside some of the all-time great players of his generation at the New York Cosmos. This illustrious list includes Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer, with Roth's performances earning induction into America's National Soccer Hall of Fame. In Escape To Victory, Roth partners the legendary Bobby Moore in defense as the stoic Baumann. Today, Roth is a MASL (Major Arena Soccer League) Advisor, assisting the Office of the Commissioner with national and international projects.

Kevin Beattie

Michael Caine's Body Double

Kevin Beattie running

Kevin Beattie is one of the footballers in Escape to Victory among some of his other Ipswich teammates, and he played the body double of Michael Caine's Captain John Colby. While he and Caine had a good relationship, he and Sylvester Stallone were at odds. Beattie mostly played as a centre-half, and was renowned for his strength, gaining the nickname "Beast" among friends and colleagues. He was inducted into the Ipswich Town Hall of Fame in 2008, and was voted several times as Ipswich Town's best player. Injuries during his career led to crippling arthritis, and Beattie tragically passed away on September 16th, 2018 due to a suspected heart attack.

Russell Osman, John Wark, Kevin O'Callaghan, & Laurie Sivell

Various Roles

Alongside Escape To Victory's star-studded cast of soccer players who have appeared in movies, numerous Ipswich Town players signed on to the film to round out the Allied team roster. Some of the real footballers in Escape to Victory include Osman, Wark, O'Callaghan, and Sivell, who all contribute in the final match as the Allies persevere against the crooked refereeing decisions and blatant cheating in favor of the German exhibition players. Other Ipswich Town players also stood in as footballing stunt doubles for Escape To Victory's A-list actors, including Paul Cooper for Sylvester Stallone.