Half-Assed Internet Research
Hungarian source film; death-match story; Gordon Banks's coaching; Pelé's Trinidad backstory; Stallone's training and weight loss; Ardiles's greatest sporting moment; Stallone's injuries; Budapest stadium
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:21Read transcript
- The film is loosely based on the 1962 Hungarian drama known in English as Two Half Times in Hell.
- That film drew on a discredited death-match story in Ukraine; in reality the team played friendlies and four were killed much later.
- Gordon Banks, the 1966 English goalie, was Stallone's goalkeeping coach.
- Pele's character was made Trinidadian because Brazil did not join the war until 1943, and Ardiles's country is never stated.
- Stallone trained on weekends off from Nighthawks and lost 40 pounds to look like a prisoner, staying thin into Rocky 3.
- Ardiles, a 1978 World Cup winner, called the film his greatest sporting moment; the athletes called it the best summer of their lives.
- Stallone refused a body double, separating a shoulder and breaking a finger.
- The Paris stadium was actually Budapest's MTK Stadium.