The ending will win, but a couple of picks from the first 90 minutes are included.
The first von Steiner and Colby scenes are liked: the cat-and-mouse while Steiner watches the soccer, "Can I have my ball back," and the negotiation proposing a friendly match.
Colby objects not on moral grounds but over boots and resources, prioritizing beer and shirts for the players while other prisoners stay caged.
The first big training sequence leads to Pele grabbing the chalk; any time Pele gets to cook, the film is great.
Pele's character being from Trinidad is presumably a wartime workaround, even though Stallone's character is in the Canadian Air Force.
No other pick until the last 30 minutes, which hold five of eight picks.
Pele gets demolished with apparent broken ribs, turns back while walking off to the music, and that leads to the cross, Stallone kicked in the face, and the blurry counterattack; that minute is put up against any minute in a sports movie and named the pick.
The famous tunnel scene is floated as a possible pick: Hatch urging escape, the Scottish player insisting "we can win this," and Pele's speech.
The next two Allies goals are praised; a team down to 10 men scoring unanswered goals never happens, with a disallowed fifth joked about as German VAR.
Pele returns holding his ribs to set up the bicycle kick, and the good Nazi stands up to applaud it.
The penalty stop and crowd-rush escape are loved, though the Germans would surely have opened fire and hundreds would not escape.
Final pick: Pele getting hurt through the first Allies goal is the favorite minute of the movie.
The other pick goes with that, calling the Ardiles goal the favorite goal, with the comeback culminating in Caine walking into the halftime locker room, where one player has a compound fracture and Pele cannot breathe.

Bill Conti's score; the crowd singing the French anthem; the crooked referee; widescreen and HD; Prisoner FC; Pelé's practice scissor kick; POW camps and domesticated British officers; the closing credits; the good Nazi; the announcer; beating Nazis; the soccer; Pelé

In the discussion (14)

Approx. transcript time · 00:38:07Read transcript

The music: Bill Conti is the goat, and this may be the number one sports-movie score, with dire, comeback, celebration and evil themes.
The crowd singing what is believed to be the French national anthem before the penalty gives goosebumps; one sings along without knowing the language.
The crooked referee is in the bag for the Nazis; the Allies play down a man for about 70 minutes and still tie.
Widescreen and HD reinvented the movie; it is a top-five thank-God-for-HD film.
The team calls itself Prisoner FC, noticed on about the 57th screening; someone should make the jerseys.
Pele's scissor kick on Sly in practice is amazing, and his final goal resembles a Champions League scissor-kick goal against Leverkusen.
POW camps are always a killer premise, especially British officers who have domesticated the camp with sweaters, pipes and gardening, like Colonel Waldron.
The closing credits listing each player's country helped a pre-internet viewer learn who the players were.
The good Nazi who just loves soccer is pulled off, though if so, why not manage the team, resign, or escape with them.
The announcer is really good.
Beating Nazis at anything, whether recovering archaeological finds, art or diamonds.
Stallone ends the Cold War and beats the Nazis in two sports movies within five years.
Conti's score is seconded, and the soccer moves feel like 2021 rather than 1943.
Pele: Victory is his testament and legacy, bicycle kick and all.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Pelé's bald patch; retitling to Victory; Ipswich Town's decline; Michael Caine's soccer; Stallone's goalkeeping; no scrimmage scene; Pelé celebrating with broken ribs; Hatch's Paris subplot; Russell Osman's unsold kit

In the discussion (12)

Approx. transcript time · 00:45:13Read transcript

Pele's bald patch looked almost like a toupee; the other host had not noticed it.
Changing the title from Escape to Victory to just Victory.
Everyone being impressed by Pele's juggling is raised, but countered that in the 1940s it would have been mind-blowing.
Ipswich Town kind of peaked here and has fallen on hard times.
Michael Caine the soccer player: per the internet, leg issues meant a stunt player, Kevin Beattie, did his running scenes, and Ardiles reportedly called him awful and unable to run 20 yards.
Stallone's goalkeeping is tough and his team role fluid; the counter is that the film never claims he is good, though holding off the Germans and saving a penalty from a top player is highly unlikely.
There is no good scrimmage or practice scene, while 13 minutes go to Sly and the French woman; the film gets to know only Caine, Stallone and the colonel, unlike The Dirty Dozen or The Great Escape.
John Wark reportedly said Stallone wanted to score the winning goal; a corner-kick version was tried, and the penalty save took six rehearsal takes.
Pele jumping in to celebrate with seven broken ribs.
The German goalie tried to save the bicycle kick for realism, and no wide shot of the actual kick could be filmed.
Hatch's escape and Paris sojourn could be cut entirely; it seems added to introduce a female character, and his capture is never shown, though his shower escape from camp is liked.
Russell Osmond reportedly kept his whole kit, a signed ball and a director's chair; they should go up for internet auction.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Maurice Roëves

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:56:49Read transcript

The two unnamed men in the crowd who help with the escape, one with glasses, are recognizable from elsewhere.
Maurice Roves, the Scottish officer, later has his heart cut out by Magua in Last of the Mohicans; that is called the winner.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Sylvester Stallone

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:57:25Read transcript

Sly Stallone, and it is not even a question.
His scene chasing Caine around the camp shouting that he does not need Colby or his team shows this is not Paradise Alley; it is not a great look with Houston directing.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Anton Diffring

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 00:58:26Read transcript

Nominees are Pele, Ardiles, the German announcer played by Anton Differing, and Werner Roth, with Pele's eligibility questioned.
Differing is the pick; Pele is removed as too important to the movie, and the German announcer wins.
His line lamenting that the Allies resorted to those tactics is quoted.

Apex Mountain

Ipswich Town; two-man sit-ups; Michael Caine saying "bloody"

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:03:55Read transcript

Stallone, Pele and Michael Caine are all ruled out.
Ipswich Town is a yes, repping well in the film amid their trophy run.
Werner Roth is probably not; John Houston, soccer and the Dobermans are no, and Ardiles's peak remains the 1978 World Cup.
Two-man sit-ups are Apex Mountain for old-school calisthenics, with no question.
Good Nazis: Von Sido is great but this is not his Apex Mountain.
Apex Mountain for the word bloody, used in this movie the way fucking is used in Wolf of Wall Street.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Yes, as a basketball series

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:16:23Read transcript

You, me and producer Craig all agree: yes, please.
Switch sports to basketball, since redoing soccer would be sacrilegious, and set it in World War III: Red Dawn meets Hoosiers.
LeBron as Pele; jokes about Maverick Carter, Russell Westbrook changing teams, and Gene Hackman as Popovich.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

Waldron's sweaters; the game-worn Pelé jersey; a signed cast; the crowd-noise radio

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:26:08Read transcript

Some of Waldron's sweaters.
The game-worn Pele jersey.
The signed cast from "Gold Co." (garbled in the transcript).
The radio device that makes crowd noise, to use on podcasts.

Who Won the Movie?

Pelé

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:26:55Read transcript

Sly Stallone is ruled out; the film was not ultimately a win for him.
Pele: he nails the bicycle kick, made soccer seem cool, and the film became his legacy for 40 years.
Michael Caine, for showing he could act under any circumstances, with the film shooting around his soccer limits.
Pele is the second vote, for two Peles and one Michael Caine. — Chris Ryan
Soccer is floated as the sleeper pick and affirmed as a good one, since the film may have gotten people to play soccer like Breaking Away did for cycling.

Podcast choices

Speaker not identified: Pelé
Speaker not identified: Michael Caine
Chris Ryan: Pelé