As allied P.O.W.s prepare for a soccer game against the German National Team to be played in Nazi-occupied Paris, the French Resistance and British officers are making plans for the team's escape.
In World War II, a group of Nazi officers come up with a propaganda event in which an all-star Nazi team will play a team composed of Allied prisoners of war in a soccer (football) game. The prisoners agree, planning on using the game as a means of escape from the camp.—John Vogel <[email protected]>
During World War II, when some Swiss inspectors inspect one of the camps, one of the Germans accompanying them sees that the inmates play football (soccer), and when he recognizes one of the men, Colby, as a former player for England, he suggests that his men play against a team of Germans. Colby agrees provided that his players be provided with certain amenities. At the same time, one of the prisoners, an American named Hatch, is planning to escape. But his plan hits a snag because of the football game. He joins the team because it's the only way his plan can work. The officers at the camp want him to go to Paris, where the game will be held, so that he can contact the underground and see if it's possible for the team to escape. Hatch makes it, and after meeting them, they think there's a way, but Hatch has to get caught, so that he could be sent back to the camp, so that he can inform the team of the plan. Which he does, but unfortunately, the Germans are keeping him in isolation, so Colby must convince the Germans that he needs Hatch for the team, so that he could be released.—[email protected]
A team of Allied prisoners of war (POWs), coached and led by English Captain John Colby (Michael Caine), a professional footballer for West Ham United before the war, agree to play an exhibition match against a German team, only to find themselves involved in a German propaganda stunt.The German PoW camp is well guarded, and no-one has managed to escape despite several attempts.Colonel Waldron (Daniel Massey) is the CO of the prisoners, assisted by Wing Commander Shurlock (Julian Curry) & Major Rose (Tim Pigott-Smith).Germans are headed by Major Karl Von Steiner (Max Von Sydow) & Oberleutnant Strauss (David Shawyer).
Steiner is a football fan and knows Colby from his performance in the English football leagues. Steiner watches Colby organizing informal games inside the camp and challenges him to an international game. Colby agrees if the team is provided special football gear and special rations to train for the match.
Colby is the captain and essentially the manager of the team and thus chooses his squad of players. Another POW, Robert Hatch (Sylvester Stallone), an American who is serving with the Canadian Army, is not initially chosen, but eventually nags the reluctant Colby into letting him on the team as the team's trainer, as Hatch needs to be with the team to facilitate his upcoming escape attempt.Hatch's plan, approved by Waldron is to use the shower room vent to get into the storeroom and from there escape outside the compound.Steiner informs Colby that his superiors have approved the idea, but the match will be between the German national team and a team of all allied prisoners (British, French, Nordics and Canadians), at the National Stadium in Paris. Hauptmann Rainer Mueller (Gary Waldhorn) will coach the national team. Colby agrees but negotiates for Polish players to be assigned to the squad from their labor camps (Officially Poles do not exist as PoWs)
Colby's superior officers, including Waldron, repeatedly try to convince Colby to use the match as an opportunity for an escape attempt (and hopefully get the entire team to escape), but Colby consistently refuses, fearing that such an attempt will only result in getting his players killed.Hatch is angry as Steiner changes the guards to watch over Colby's allied football team. Hatch forces himself into Colby's team as a trainer and threatens to expose him if he refuses. The Polish players arrive but are impoverished badly. They have to be treated for lice and fed, to keep them barely alive. Meanwhile Waldron is angry that Germans are using their propaganda machine to advertise the match as a demo of Aryan superiority.Colby discovers that Hatch is an excellent goalie due to his American football training. Meanwhile, Hatch has been planning his unrelated escape attempt, and Waldron agrees to help him (with uniforms and keys to the various locks he is likely to encounter on the way. A passport photo taken from an improvised lamp), if he in return agrees to journey to Paris, make contact with the French Resistance, and try to convince them to help the football team escape.
Hatch succeeds in escaping the prison camp (Using the vents in the shower room), travelling to Paris, and finding the Resistance; at first, the Resistance decides that the plan to help the football team escape is too risky, but once they realize the game will be at the Colombes Stadium they plan the escape using a tunnel from the Paris sewer system to the showers in the players' changing room. They convince Hatch to let himself be recaptured, so he can pass information along back to the leading British officers at the prison camp.
Hatch is indeed recaptured and is put in solitary confinement. Because of this, the prisoners do not know whether the intended escape has actually been planned with the underground. Waldron pleads to Colby that all he has accomplished is give 2 extra weeks to some Polish players, unless he agrees to let the entire team escape from Paris. Colby understands and tells the Germans that he needs Hatch on the team because Hatch is the backup goalkeeper, and the starting goalkeeper has broken his arm. Colby actually has to break the existing goalkeeper's arm because the Germans want proof of his injury before they will agree to let Hatch onto the team.
In the end, the POWs can leave the German camp only to play the match; they are to be imprisoned again following the match.The match starts after a large parade and a propaganda show. The radio transmits huge crowd applauds at every German goal, when in reality there is absolute silence. Within no time at all, Hatch has conceded 4 goals. Allies are down 4-0. Luis is badly injured, and Colby decides to press on with 10 men. In the bruising last few minutes of the first half, the allies pull one back with brilliant passing of the ball.The resistance's tunnelers break through to the showers in the dressing room at halftime, in an escape Hatch leads. But the rest of the team (led by Doug Clure (Russell Osman) saying "but we can win this") persuade him to continue the game, despite being behind 4-1 at halftime. Luis says that the game means a lot to the players and Hatch cannot abandon them now.
Despite the match officials being heavily biased towards the Germans, and the German team causing several deliberate injuries to the Allied players, a draw is achieved after great performances from Luis Fernandez (Pelé), Carlos Rey (Osvaldo Ardiles) and Terry Brady (Bobby Moore). Luis comes back on with a broken rib to score the equalizer. Hatch plays goalkeeper and makes excellent saves including one last save from a penalty kick as time expires to deny the Germans the win, drawing the game 4-4. An Allied goal had been blatantly disallowed earlier in the match, so the POW team should have won 5-4.The POWs do manage to escape at the end of the game following the original plan, amid the confusion caused by the crowd storming the field (shouting "Victoire") after Hatch preserved the draw.
