The Game of Their Lives

Even though we know what happens (so how can you have a "spoiler"?), I found the overall tone of the film a little flat. Yet it's a great introduction to what happened back in 1950, even if not 100% accurate. I'd like for the film to have told me that most of these players had played together before in previous international matches, that the USA had lost all its other games in the pool, and that England did not advance to the elimination round either. Sure that one game is the focus of the story, but I'd like to have seen it in better context. I thought the action was very well done. Gerard Butler certain did Frank Borghi proud and was totally believable as a world-class goalkeeper and team leader. The best scene in the film had to be his slow mo prowl in front of the goal during the practice game in the rain against England's second team. Borghi was justifiably angry at himself for allowing so many goals, even in such horrible playing conditions. I recommend this film to soccer fans and nonfans alike. It has some faults, but its well worth watching.

OK... if ever there was a movie that needs to be taken with a pinch of salt then this is it. In the final present day scenes the voice over actually says "still considered the greatest upset in World Cup history" which actually made me laugh out loud. I'd be interested to know who actually thinks that. So let's get a few facts straight. England (and I do mean England not "the Brits" as they are referred to in the movie) were not considered the best team in the world, that was Brazil. The World Cup in 1950 was not the event it is today. Many of the best teams were not present due to the cost of getting a team over to Brazil. The game was a first round group game, so nobody won anything, or even progressed. In fact the US lost their other two games and England proved they weren't the best by losing to Spain as well. All of this seems to be conveniently omitted from the movie. However I will forgive all of this and focus on the single event, which seems to be the movies intention. "The Game of Their Lives" as a title is somewhat off the mark. A better title might be "The Day England Couldn't Hit A Barn Door", or perhaps "The Keeper Played A Blinder". These kind of games happen all the time in football. The best team hits the woodwork several times, their striker misses a sitter or two, the opposition keeper plays out of his skin. Then the underdogs get a dodgy penalty, or an own goal or (as in this case) a deflected shot goes in. And there we have it 1-0. And that's the problem with the movie, it just wasn't that big a deal. This has happened many times in World Cup history. Korea beating Italy in '66, Algeria beating West Germany in '82, Cameroon beating Argentina in '90, Senegal beating France and Korea beating Italy (again) in '02. All these wins were against World Cup winners and are certainly considered bigger upsets in the scope of World Cup history. Even looking at this from the USA's point of view it's skewed. They made the semi finals in 1930 and in 2002 reached the Quarter Finals beating Portugal and Mexico along the way. Both these performances are more worthy than the 1950 exploits. So if we view the movie as an uplifting piece of fiction it doesn't really work. Nobody scored a miracle goal. The team didn't become champions. So in this sense it fails too. The movie is well made and the cinematography is great. Solid performances but very clichéd characterisations. It just seems to me the screenplay picks and chooses which facts to go with and which ones to blatantly ignore. Including the first game against Spain would have added to the story. At least there would have been the element of winning off the back of a defeat. There are many better underdog movies out there, most of which actually stick to the facts.

Take every sports movie cliché, add a whole lot of annoying, pounding music, and finish it off with some nice depraved Americanisms. Patriotism? Nonsense about "honor" and "respect" (we're talking about a bunch of guys who're playing football here)? Arrogant, haughty stereotypical English? Hilarious comparisons between athletes and state-empowered murderers ("soldiers")? Predictable outcome? No mention of what happened afterwards (US lost remaining games and Korean War)? Even worse is the constant repetition of how great football is. From the very first dialogue to the last, a constant reminder that football is awesome, great, fantastic and the most democratic sport. It's just a crappy sports movie with Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Vasco Rodrigues making some easy money. Please, waste your time on something else.

I'm sure the producers were hoping for "MIRACLE" on a soccer field- but a dream is only a dream. After viewing this film you will find soccer less exciting than golf. The director spends an hour introducing the characters many of whom are underdeveloped and others who are unlikeable. They introduce a negro player who the coach insists can't join the team but the next day he joins and no one offers an explanation as to why it was so easy for him to join but that's o.k. since the coach never explained why he couldn't join in the first place. John Rhys Davies plays the coach and if you find Davies a fairly lame actor you won't be disappointed he is dry and flat here as well. On to the big tune up game- well it was kind of quick and for some reason in the 2 minutes they show of the game they decide the center "must go!!". The audience knows not why since we never saw him play in those 2 minutes nor does the director show/ explain the importance of his role on the team (11 players on the field the center is the reason the team sucks you'd think this would be a nice time to touch on a few points about the role of center in soccer). On to the big game. The first half is 4 minutes then the coach comes in for a lame-o speech proving him the least inspiring leader written for the silver screen(kind of sad when you consider they had days into the shoot for dramatic rewrite- way to go MR. Director) the second half is 3 minutes and the film ends without the audience being lifted by the event! Perhaps the director should have spent less time under developing unlikeable characters and more time on the heart and soul of the game because there was no drama!!! no sign of exhaustion by the players no sacrifice on the field no sign of I assure you this director had no game plan taking on this project!! In fact he had less than that since the 1950 U.S. World Cup team had no game plan but walked away with a victory!! Not even worth a $5.50 walmart dump bin purchase. I gave it a 4 since I could at least see an effort- but it was a bad movie.

Contrary to the comment above, they do not say that they won the World Cup or insinuate that at all in the description (please read it carefully). It's from a couple of great directors and is more about the backbone of the surroundings of the 1950's, family and the wide ethic backgrounds of that era. I didn't find it to be another Hoosiers or Miracle, but it's still a pretty good soccer movie (although Bend It Like Beckam was more entertaining). It's definitely worth a watch if you love sports in general and have any knowledge at all of the 1950's and all that was going on.

First of all I'm not American that does not mean i hate Americans or their movies. I was raised with movies that showed that the underdog could win just once and be proud of it.My own country won the European championship.They were the #1 underdog of the whole championship.So am just saying thats OK to make movies about such great victories but in every sport movie i have watched the team always made to the finals and either won (the most cases were like this ) or lost (a new trend that i first saw in Coach Carter).But here this is just a waste of film and time, the U.S. team won 1 match in the 1950 world cup, that was against England who was a superpower i give you that but lost the other two against Spain and Chille.For further information England never made it to the finals,but Spain did(they won against England 1-0).In my opinion this victory is great but not a reason to make a movie out of it.And just a final reflection there have been many underdogs that accomplished something extraordinary in football history none of them made a movie ,this movie is just the American attitude on film "we are the best in everything"

When I first heard about this movie, I hoped it was a Hollywood version of the 2002 British documentary The Game of Their Lives, which was about a North Korean team's surprise bid for the 1966 World Cup. Even when I found out the 2005 film had nothing to do with the earlier documentary, I gave it a chance. It is definitely for people who like movies like Hoosiers and Boaz Yakin's Remember the Titans, and want to see that kind of movie repackaged over and over and over again. The writer (Angelo Pizzo) and director (David Anspaugh) simply pulled out all the clichés of the underdog sports movie, set it on a soccer field, and then shot it. My gosh, the inspirational locker-room talk before they go attempt to topple the giants was like something you'd hear in a high school locker room (coaches quoting from bad films). Let's see... Anspaugh and Pizzo have applied their formula to basketball and football and now soccer. Set your watches... we should have a stand-up-and-cheer baseball movie from them in about... two years. CAN'T WAIT!!!

Did you know that a Scotsman, Greenock-born Eddie McIlvenny, captained the USA team for that 1-0 win over England in Brazil 55 years ago? Or that another Scotsman managed the USA team? No, of course not, how could you, when Eddie McIlvenny's memory, and that of the team's Scottish manager, has been airbrushed out of the movie. In the movie depicting that game, "The Game of Their Lives", it is an American footballer who wears the Captain's armband. So, even if the game is otherwise watchable, I have voted 1 (awful) just as a reaction against that revisionist historical account of that game.

This could have been a good film but they got it wrong. The football match at the end - or soccer if you like – was OK but the rest missed so many opportunities. England was not the number one team in the world at the time – they never were. This was the first time England entered the world cup. Up to this time they didn't know how they fared against foreign teams as they hardly played them – a couple of years later they played Hungary and got the shock of their lives when they lost 7-2. Football, in England was and is a working class game. In the film they depicted the England players with upper middle class accents. Stan Mortenson was a Geordie and had a Geordie accent. The rest of the team would have had working class accents too. At the time the England players – so called professionals – were earning less than the $100 per week promised to the part time Americans; nothing was made of this irony. These English players would be subsidizing their incomes from football with regular jobs – some of them in the mines, some working behind the counters in shops. It wasn't till a few years later that the maximum wage was lifted and the potential to earn the fortune some of them now earn happened. This film was full of jingoistic music and some of the patriotic lines made me cringe; at one point Stan Mortenson said to the captain of the American team at the coin toss 'there's no need to make it a war out there today' and the American captain said 'if it was a war you'd be dead;' totally unnecessary and not funny. The great football/soccer film will be made one day when someone makes the story of Manchester United and the recovery after the Munich air crash which wiped put most of the team.

This is a super story with lots of human interest and great soccer footage. Teaches you some sports history that most of the world is unfamiliar with -- especially since most Americans don't think the U.S. HAS a soccer history. The acting is pretty darn good. They strayed a bit from some of this historical truth -- the Haitian guy was NOT into voodoo. But I guess that's par for the course in any movie. Would have like to know what happened to everyone following the game that is highlighted in the movie, as well as which team won the 1950 World Cup. But it made me go out and do some research -- always a good thing. Definitely worth watching.