Review: Warner Archive’s Lovely New Blu-Ray of 1981’s “Victory”

The year 1981 was an important year as far as my evolution as a movie fan goes. 

It was the year I went to see “Raiders of the Lost Ark” thirty-some-odd times at the Gemini Twin — a 99-cent movie theater in Omaha. “Raiders” played for weeks and weeks at the Gemini. 

This was a world before “mass consumers” owned VCRs and other home video devices like RCA’s VideoDisc Players (read my 2016 blog post on that ill-fated technology). 

That was also the year my mom and dad took me to see the movie “Victory,” starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, and Pelé (who designed the soccer plays in the movie). 

We went to see it at Omaha’s Cinema Center. I played youth soccer for the Rockbrook Rockets at the time, and we took a couple of my friends/teammates to the movie. 

I would have loved to have been a “fly on the wall” when this movie was pitched to studio execs: 

“Here’s the concept… think ‘Rocky’ in a World War II prisoner of war camp. Only instead of boxing, it’s going to be about soccer. Brazilian phenom Pelé will be cast for his soccer cred. We’re looking at Michael Caine and Max von Sydow to add ‘war movie gravitas.’ John Huston will direct.” 

While the idea might seem ridiculous, the movie actually works. 

“Victory” (released as “Escape to Victory” overseas) tells the story of a group of Allied POWs in World War II who agree to play an exhibition soccer match against a team made up of German military officers. 

What starts out as a friendly proposal by German Major Karl von Steiner (Max von Sydow) to English Captain John Colby (Michael Caine) soon becomes an overblown propaganda stunt.

The climactic soccer game at the end of the movie ultimately serves as a metaphor for World War II and humankind’s triumph over authoritarian regimes (a common theme in movies of the 1980s).

I love this movie and have watched it dozens of times over the years. In terms of “realism,”  however, the plot has all sorts of holes in it. But that doesn’t ruin the fun at all. 

One of the primary strengths of “Victory” is the rousing score by composer Bill Conti (who had composed the heady soundtrack for “Rocky” during that era). 

I know it might seem odd to lavish praise on a soundtrack, but many of my favorite films feature a strong musical score. Another popular 1981 sports movie — “Chariots of Fire” — was a better experience because of Vangelis’s amazing synthesizer score. 

“Victory” has the distinction of being the first time I saw a Sylvester Stallone movie in the theater. I was 8 years old at the time, and his performance as Canadian Army Captain Robert Hatch stuck with me long after the end credits rolled. 

Stallone’s films in the 1980s heavily influenced males of my generation. A number of my favorite movie-going memories involved seeing Stallone’s larger-than-life persona on the big screen during those years. 

While “Victory” might not rank among his best-known roles, his performance is affable and interesting. It was also nice to see him in more of supporting role. 

“This friggin’ game is wrecking my life,” says Hatch when he learns his plans to escape the POW camp are being thwarted by the soccer game. 

WARNER ARCHIVE’S NEW BLU-RAY OF “VICTORY” 

One of the first DVD’s I purchased in the late 1990s was “Victory.” It was one of Warner Bros early “flipper disc” releases (with the 2.40:1 letterbox version on one side, and a cropped version to fit 4:3 TVs on the other). 

It was a long wait for a high-definition version on Blu-ray. 

The Warner Archive Collection specializes in niche releases on DVD and Blu-ray. 

Warner Archive has brought a number of hard-to-find movies to Blu-ray, and is the only place you can find the A&E/Netflix series “Longmire” on Blu-ray (something I’ve written about before on this blog). 

(Warner Archive Collection titles are sold exclusively through online retailers such as the Warner Archive website and Amazon.com). 

Being a film of 1980s vintage, I was impressed with the overall video quality of the new “Victory” disc from Warner Archive. The image is generally crisp and clean (movies of that era tend to be a bit on the soft side — and that softness is seen at certain points in this transfer — but it is far superior to the DVD I own). 

Overall, the image looked better than ever on my 50-inch Vizio D50-E1 4K UHD TV.  

I mentioned the orchestral score by Bill Conti. The musical stylings sounded solid on the disc’s serviceable DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track emanating from my Vizio SmartCast 5.1 Soundbar System.

I’d like to thank the Warner Archive Collection for finally giving the film the treatment it deserves on physical media. 

The only bonus feature included on the Blu-ray is the theatrical trailer. In that regard, this new version of “Victory” is a fairly spartan release. 

That said, I’m just happy to have the movie on Blu-ray. 

In my quest to find additional information on the film, I did find this interesting interview from halftime at “Soccer Bowl 80” on ABC where Stallone and Pelé discussed the movie: 

Here’s hoping the folks behind Warner Archive decide to bring 1985’s “American Flyers” to Blu-ray in the near future (read my 2018 blog post on that entertaining sports movie). 

FINAL THOUGHTS

I know I write a lot about *new* movies, books, and TV shows on this blog. Be that as it may, there is something oddly comforting about consuming old favorites.  

I’ve considered adding a “retro movies” feature to the blog, and I might have to do that in the future. 

Watching “Victory” always takes me back to a simpler time in life. Sometimes that’s just what you need... 

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