Action-filled movie set at end WWII , it follows the reckless adventures of a valiant platoon , some courageous soldiers during WWII in France to defuse underwater mines and to destroy a giant tank gun . Col. Charley MacPherson (Jack Palance) is angered at his superiors (John Stacy) for a suicide mission as he has just had his squadron of twenty-eight massacred by German troops commanded by Col. Ackerman (Wolfgang Preiss) ; as MacPherson seeks vengeance against him when the German troops slaughtered his last bunch . That's why the brave army colonel takes convicts on his next , on a dangerous mission to explode a German-built cannon before it's used against the Allied forces that could have changed the course of WWII ; these are the followings : Pvt. Sam Schrier (Helmuth Schneider) , Pvt. Tom Carlyle (Guido Lollobrigida as Lee Burton), Sgt. Karim Habinda (Aldo Sambrell) , Pvt. Frank Madigan (Bruno Corazzari) , Pvt. Albert Hank (Antonio Molino Rojo) , Pvt. Bernard Knowles (Lorenzo Robledo). Many of them are killed , but McPhearson insists on attempting to complete the commandos' mission.
Jack Palance as Irish Colonel Charlie McPhearson assumes the character of commando leader in this ordinary wartime movie regularly directed by Umberto Lenzi . Medium budget European war film that lost continuity with US cuts . This moving film packs frantic thrills , perilous adventures , relentless feats , and buck-loads of explosive action and violence . The noisy action is uniformly well-made , especially deserving of mention the rip-roaring final scenes in which the motley group is really besieged , including some spectacular shootouts and bombing . The first half of the film allows the colorful cast of character actors to have their fun as they get their tails whipped into shape and develop shaky relationship with their leader . The final part is all action , as the brave commando wreak havoc and then run for their lives . Apart from the values of team spirit , cudgeled by Palance into his misfit group , the film is full of feats , suspense , and thrills . Rough Jack Palance is leader of the motley pack together thwart the Nazi schemes , he gives an overacting and puts faces and grimaces . Palance dominates this adventure war with his hysterical performance as a merciless Colonel with only one thirst : to carry out the nail-biting as well as puzzling mission and his unforgivable vendetta . Palance played some wartime movies as ¨Halls of Montezuma¨, ¨Ten seconds to hell¨ , ¨A bullet for Rommel¨ and several exotic/historical characters in ¨The Silver Chalice¨, ¨Attila¨ , ¨Rosmunda and Alboino¨, ¨The horsemen¨ , ¨Barrabas¨, ¨The Mongols¨ , among others . Main cast is passable . As well as the largely secondary cast formed by a lot of Spanish/Italian secondaries , all of them ordinary from Pasta/Chorizo Western and Peplum , such as: Antonio Molino Rojo , Aldo Sambrell , Lorenzo Robledo , Luis Induni , Diana Lorys , Guillermo Méndez , Gerard Herter , Robert or Claudio Undari , Franco Fantasia , Guido Lollobrigida , Mirko Ellis , Helmuth Schneider and an American , Thomas Hunter ,as the fornicating explosives technician officer Burke .
This one belongs to a numerous group of Italian/Spanish WWII films , imitating American ones , usually directed by José Luis Merino , Leon Klimovsky , and Lenzi and including tarnishing Hollywood stars , such as ¨The legion of no return¨ with Tab Hunter , ¨Hell's brigade¨ with Jack Palance , ¨Command attack¨ with Michael Rennie . All of them supported by the Spanish Army that lent tanks , weapons , soldiers and extras to make these films . Atmospheric and functional musical score by Marcello Giombini , adding an attractive but repetitive leitmotif . Mediocre cinematography in Eastmancolor filmed by Alejandro Ulloa (Horror Express) , a perfect remastering is extremely necessary . Being filmed on location in Casa de Campo , Madrid , La Pedriza , Colmenar Viejo , Navacerrada mountains , Madrid , Spain . This is a wartime typical vehicle and into the ¨warlike commando sub-genre¨ , in USA style which also belong the American classics as : ¨Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich)¨ ,¨ Where eagles dare (Brian G. Hutton)¨ , ¨Kelly's heroes (Hutton)¨, ¨Tobruk (Arthur Hiller)¨ , ¨Devil's Brigade (Andrew V McLagen)¨ and many others.
This is a regularly conceived WWII with action filled , brief studio character , drama and exciting battles , but nothing special . Packs inaccurate details and an extremely talented though wasted cast make this one an acceptable Italian/Spanish production though failed . The film contains news-reel documentary , stock-shots vignettes and miniatures , however lost continuity with several cuts and zooms . The battle scenes were shot in La Pedriza , Manzanares Del Real , Navacerrada , Madrid where in the 60s and 70s were filmed lots of Westerns . The tale was middlingly directed by Umberto Lenzi , he often used the pseudonym Hank Milestone and Humphrey Logan . He's an expert on wartime genre such as he proved in ¨ Desert commandos¨ , ¨Battle of commandos¨, ¨From hell to victory¨, and ¨Bridge to hell¨.
