In 1944, in France, the rogue American soldiers Lieutenant Robert Yeager, Private Fred Canfield, the murderer Tony, the thief Nick and the coward Berle are transported to a military prison. However, the convoy is attacked by the Germans and they survive and flee with the intention of cross the border of Switzerland. Along their journey, they fight against a German platoon and capture the German prisoner Adolf Sachs that offers to guide them to the Swiss border. When they meet a German troop, they kill them but sooner they discover that they actually were and American commando in a mission headed by Colonel Buckner to steal a German V2 warhead. Lt. Yeager, Fred, Tony and Nick offer to risk their lives to accomplish the mission. Set in Europe during WWII, a group of American soldiers are in the process of being shipped off to military prison for a variety of infractions, ranging from desertion to murder. While they're being transported, a German artillery attack hits the convoy, killing the MPs and enabling four of the prisoners to escape. The group decides their best bet is to head to neutral Switzerland where they can avoid the fighting and prison. As they make their way to what they think will be freedom, they end up volunteering for a commando mission to steal a V2 warhead for the French Underground. Somehow, the team must sneak into the most heavily guarded base in German territory, steal the Nazi's most precious military hardware, and bring it back to the allies without getting arrested again by their own side. Here's one the lightest, most fun Italian war movies I've come across. It features a top notch cast and some great action scenes.<br/><br/>Bo Svenson stars as an American officer who's thrown into a prison convoy with a murderer, Tony (Peter Hooten), Fred (Fred Williamson), a thief, Nick (Michael Pergolani), and a coward, Berle (Jackie Basehart). The convoy comes under attack by the Germans and the men escape across the French countryside. They enventually become wrapped up in an important Allied mission headed by Colonel Buckner (Ian Bannen).<br/><br/>The movie features a top notch cast. Peter Hooten is especially memorable as the bigot, Tony and Fred Williamson turns in a great performance. Bo Svenson, himself a renegade, still tries to do the decent job as an officer and keep these boys in line. Michael Pergolani has little to do in his role as the hippie/thief; he does have one great motorcycle stunt scene, though, a la Steve McQueen in THE GREAT ESCAPE. Watch for Michel Constantin (THE DIRTY HEROES) as a partisan leader; Donald O'Brien as a German officer and Enzo Castellari himself as a German officer.<br/><br/>The movie has some stunning action scenes; there are plenty of shootouts and explosions. The big gun battle amidst ruined German and American trucks and halftracks is especially impressive. The Partisan raid on the train near the end is well filmed, but features many repeated shots of the same action happening over and over again. The miniature work is not the greatest, but is much better than the later BATTLE OF THE EAGLES.<br/><br/>The plot is basically a combination of THE DIRTY DOZEN and BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS, but it's so fast-paced that you won't really care. Castellari lets only a few minutes go by before something important happens. He really develops his lead characters, which is another important feature we don't get to see much of in typical Italian war films.<br/><br/>Despite all of the good stuff, this movie has a few rough spots. For one thing, it's got a very needless love story sub-plot that never goes anywhere and has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. Another complaint: there are some lengthy conversations between the German characters that weren't dubbed. It's impossible to understand what they're saying.<br/><br/>The movie is not for young kids. It features graphic violence, plenty of profanity and even *full* female nudity in one scene.<br/><br/>The version I saw was from Lightning Video, entitled DEADLY MISSION. The source print was of top quality, with fresh picture and good sound. The opening and closing titles, however, were apparently new material and feature some music that isn't heard anywhere else in the feature.<br/><br/>Overall, this is a fun-to-watch Italian adventure piece. For the great cast, production values and action scenes, I'll give a 6/10. Inglorious Bastards, The (1978) <br/><br/>*** (out of 4) <br/><br/>Italian rip off of The Dirty Dozen has a group of American solders on their way to face a firing squad when they break free and head off to Switzerland to get their freedom. Along the way they kill some German soldiers but it turns out these were American's on a secret mission. The ground of misfits are them given the shot of freedom by carrying out this secret mission on their own. We can just get it out of the way that this film is no where near the classic that The Dirty Dozen is but as with a lot of these Italian cash ins this one here is at least fun and has a great cast of actors. Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson lead the cast and both men are fun watching as they go through one battle sequence to the next, which leads up to the climax where they must try and stop the German's from building a bomb by blowing up a bridge. There's no deep messages or speeches about the evils of war but instead director Castellari just keeps blowing things up and piling bodies up left and right. The movie somewhat gets a tad dry in the center section but this picks up int he final act as the action goes non-stop and doesn't let up for a moment. The special effects dealing with the explosions are very well done and they're certainly good enough to make you forget that this is a rather low-budget film. The stunts are also very nice and it appears that a lot of the cast members, especially Williamson, are doing their own work. There's some nice comedy thrown around but I think this is one area where the film could have been better. There's really no logic to the film and once really shouldn't try thinking too hard because this is clearly a movie where you just turn your brain off and have a good time. By now everyone knows that Quentin Tarantino is a big fan of this film and has decided to remake it for his next movie. I don't think Tarantino will have any trouble making a better movie than this but we'll have to see if it can come anywhere near The Dirty Dozen.
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345 weeks ago