With a star-studded cast involved and legendary director John Huston behind the camera, 1981’s Victory looked like a sure-fire hit. Alas, it got decent but not great reviews and failed to find an audience, as it pulled in a mere $10 million in the US.

I vaguely recall the movie from my youth, but I never saw it. With a remake apparently on the horizon and this Blu-ray in my paws, this feels like a good time to see if I missed anything 39 years ago.

Set in Nazi-occupied France circa 1942, POWs play soccer to pass the time. When he visits the camp, Nazi Major Karl von Steiner (Max von Sydow) recognizes English Captain John Colby (Michael Caine), a former professional athlete.

This launches an idea: a soccer game between a ragtag group of POWs and the best Germans the Nazis can find. While the POWs attempt to defeat the Krauts on the pitch, they also use the match as a distraction to allow them to escape.

So in other words, that sounds like The Great Escape with soccer – if Great Escape was slow and lifeless, that is.

With Victory, we get two dueling plotlines, each of which could sustain its own movie. We find the attempts of the POWs to defeat the “master race”, and we see the escape efforts.

Given so much potential drama, Victory feels oddly inert. Perhaps the two storylines cancel each other out, as the film certainly struggles to create interest.

The biggest flaw comes from the movie’s inability to effectively meld the two narratives. Rather than make the escape mesh with the soccer match, the two feel strangely disconnected, as if two separate films were awkwardly edited into one.

Eventually they reintegrate, but the disjointed feel means we find ourselves too disenchanted to care. Honestly, the scenes in which American POW Hatch (Sylvester Stallone) escapes seem to exist mainly to showcase the then-popular actor.

Would the Hatch scenes occupy so much cinematic real estate without Stallone in tow? Perhaps, but they feel largely gratuitous, especially when Hatch engages in an eye-rolling semi-romance with a French woman.

When we shift to Hatch’s escape, we lose balance – not that the pre-escape moments fare much better. The movie simply lacks real drama or development, so we follow some perfunctory elements that fail to become compelling.

Once we get to the climactic soccer match – and a broader escape attempt – matters improve slightly, but not enough to redeem the film. Because we spent so much time with a slow, meandering tale, the big finale seems less lively and interesting than it should be.

Nothing about Victory turns it into a bad movie, as it always remains professional. Stallone hams it up too much, but Caine and Von Sydow offer good work, and it’s oddly fun to see soccer legend Pele attempt to act.

Victory can’t help but seem like a disappointment, though. What should be a rousing tale on multiple levels fails to achieve liftoff.

Victory appears in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I felt mostly pleased with the transfer.

Sharpness was usually fine. Though much of the movie displayed appealing delineation, a few wider shots and interiors tended to be soft. Those weren’t a big concern, though, and the majority of the film provided reasonably good clarity.

I noticed no issues with jaggies or moiré effects, and edge enhancement also failed to mar the presentation. I didn’t sense any overuse of digital noise reduction, and source flaws remained absent.

Colors worked reasonably well. The movie opted for a brown-oriented palette, so it didn’t come with many chances for vivid tones. These looked generally positive, as they suited the story.

Blacks were fairly tight, and shadows were fine. Low-light shots seemed largely clear and visible. While the movie showed its age, the image remained mainly positive.

The DTS-HD MA 2.0 soundtrack of Victory also worked fairly well. In terms of the soundfield, the front channels managed to open up matters in a fairly good manner. Music showed nice spread to the sides and gave us quality stereo imaging.

Effects followed suit. With a fair amount of action on display, we got a good variety of components on the sides.

These moved well and meshed together in a satisfying manner. Of course, the soundscape reflected the limitations of its age, but I thought it presented a pleasing array.

Audio quality had ups and downs but was usually fine. At times, a bit of edginess affected speech, but the lines mostly seemed relatively natural, and the lines remained intelligible at all times.

Effects also suffered from occasional distortion, but they generally sounded acceptably accurate, and they demonstrated decent heft when necessary.

The film’s score fared best of all. The music seemed full and rich, with crisp highs and warm lows. That was the best aspect of this track, a somewhat inconsistent affair that still seemed strong enough to merit an age-based “B-”.

We find a trailer and no other extras.

With a talented cast and crew as well as a compelling story, Victory should deliver an inspiring epic. Instead, it seems oddly dull and disjointed. The Blu-ray brings generally positive picture and audio but it lacks bonus features. The movie fails to achieve its goals.