#152 | Escape to Victory: Deadly Rematch (feat. Ant McGinley)

It may not surprise regular listeners to learn that here at Beyond The Box Set, neither myself nor Harry are exactly what you’d describe as the sport-loving types. So movies based around the beautiful game have remained a bit of a blind spot for the podcast until now. That all changes this week though, as podcast supremo Ant McGinley joins us to discuss the all-star 80s Football drama Escape to Victory. 

Released in 1981, Escape to Victory was something of a novelty at the time for a cast that mixed Hollywood headliners Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone with genuine footballing legends such as Pelé, Bobby Moore and Ossie Ardiles, during a time when sports-star cameos weren’t as widespread as they are today. The film is set in a (suspiciously relaxed) German POW camp during WW2, where a team of captive allied soldiers become drawn into a high-stakes match against the Germans.

Tune into this week’s episode to hear our thoughts on inaccurate movie titles, Sylvester Stallone’s less-than-convincing goalkeeping skills, why Harry would make an excellent Nazi prison guard and much more. After that, we dive into our sequel pitches, which this week feature a high-stakes court martial, a heavily French-accented Jason Statham and an out-of-sequence penalty shoot out as directed by Christopher Nolan.

You can download or stream our Escape to Victory episode right now on all good podcasting services by following the appropriate links at the top of this page, or by searching for Beyond The Box Set on your preferred app. If you enjoy the show, please hit subscribe to receive a new episode every Friday morning, and a five-star review is always hugely appreciated!

You can also check out Ant’s work on the hilarious football podcast On The Left Side, which despite the name is not a stealth Jeremy Corbyn fan-cast, and his recent labour of love, the fantastic UK podcasters conference Pods Up North, where we will be in attendance later this year!

Next week, we’ll be flashing back to last year’s Oscar ceremony and one of our favourite performances from one of our favourite actresses ever. Until then, happy listening and please don’t try to explain to us how the offside rule works…