Footy for freedom: Rooftop Movies World Cup edition!

We're putting the third movie in our planned trilogy of movies from the 80s being remade or sequelled this year in favor of something a little more timely, given the current tournament in South Africa.

Anyone who played any kind of organized soccer in the 80s probably watched Victory multiple times, being one of the few American films about the sport. Despite starring Sylvester Stallone, the film tanked in the U.S., not surprising given our general ambivalence about soccer when it was released in 1981. Still, youth soccer leagues of the decade formed a sort of a natural cult for the film, and everyone I've ever known who played as a kid has a love for the film, even if it is more than a little ridiculous.

I'm not sure how it did internationally, and whether the bizarre sight of Stallone as a footballer was outweighed for the rest of the world by a cast that included a host of international soccer stars, most notably Pelé, along with Michael Caine and Max von Sydow.

Stallone, Pelé, Caine, and all those soccer stars are a group of POWs in a German prison camp in WWII, and they play games of soccer, as a group of foreigners (excluding the one American in the group, of course) might be expected to do with time on their hands in the camp. The Germans decide it'll be a great propaganda opportunity to pit the prisoners against a German team in a massive stadium event, and the prisoners figure this will be a golden opportunity to escape.

Yeah, it's riddled with sports and war movie clichés, but it's still huge fun, directed with a sure hand by John Huston near the end of his career, and featuring some great footage on the field, with all the real players getting to show off their signature moves.

That's this Wednesday, June 30th, up on the roof. We'll get started around 9pm or so.

EDIT! We had to cancel this screening at the last minute. Make up date is now Thursday, July 8. See you there!