Anzio

Original title: Lo sbarco di Anzio

1968
PG-13
1h 57m

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

3.9K

YOUR RATING

Anzio: one of WWII's bloodiest battles as the Allies smash through the German lines which have enclosed the Anzio beachhead--four months and 30,000 casualties before the Allies finally march to Rome.

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Drama History War

A war correspondent witnesses errors of the Allied Command after he and a unit of US Army Rangers land unopposed at Anzio, Italy, but later become trapped behind German lines during one of t... Read allA war correspondent witnesses errors of the Allied Command after he and a unit of US Army Rangers land unopposed at Anzio, Italy, but later become trapped behind German lines during one of the bloodiest battles of WWII.A war correspondent witnesses errors of the Allied Command after he and a unit of US Army Rangers land unopposed at Anzio, Italy, but later become trapped behind German lines during one of the bloodiest battles of WWII.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

3.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 1:12

Trailer

Photos37

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Storyline

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Trivia
Peter Falk in his 2006 autobiography "Just One More Thing: Stories of My Life" stated that he didn't like the script for this film, finding it hackneyed and full of cliché; he wanted to leave the film for these reasons. However, producer Dino De Laurentiis encouraged him to stay by giving him film-poster name-above-the-title credit as well as choice of writer for his dialogue. Falk stayed on the picture and apparently actually wrote his own dialogue.

Goofs
Toward the beginning of the film, Cpl. Jack Rabinoff (Peter Falk) is in the back of a Red Cross ambulance with three prostitutes and grabs a shoebox-sized box labeled "Hershey's Milk Chocolate Multi Pack" with a "1968 design" of the Hershey logo. One of the prostitutes reaches into the box and pulls out a "1968 design" box of Brach's Milk Chocolate Stars. In addition to the two anachronisms, Hershey's and Brach's are two separate companies.

Quotes
Dick Ennis: [attending to Rabinoff who went into sudden convulsions] Look, fellows, I think he can use the air more then the company, okay? Anything anybody can do?
Cpl. Jack Rabinoff: No, unless you have a band-aid.
Dick Ennis: Very funny.
Cpl. Jack Rabinoff: Oh, it's murder. The stomach, you see? A Japanese grenade ripped my insides. Got medal in there. Under tension it contracts and all hell breaks loose. I must have been tense.
Dick Ennis: Good thinking. You belong in a hospital, not in a war.
Cpl. Jack Rabinoff: Yeah, that's what they said when they sent me home.
Dick Ennis: You mean you got out, then you went to Canada and joined this outfit?
Cpl. Jack Rabinoff: That's right.
Dick Ennis: How did you get past the doctors?
Cpl. Jack Rabinoff: Lied about my age.
Dick Ennis: You gotta be crazy. Half your guts blown out and you're back here. What for?
Cpl. Jack Rabinoff: Awkward time for a interview.
Dick Ennis: You got something better to do? Why did you re-enlist?
Cpl. Jack Rabinoff: Why? Because I like it, you know. I missed it, Ennis. With all the mud and pain, these clowns giving orders, there's nothing like it. Look, a guy sells shoes for 40 years. I live more in one day, I see more and feel more. I taste more, I think more. I'm more, understand? I'm more. There's more to living than breathing. Capisce?
Dick Ennis: Capisce.
Cpl. Jack Rabinoff: You're the same way, that's right. War is part of you. You belong to it and when this one's over, you'll find another and I hope I'm with you.

Connections
Referenced in The Carol Burnett Show: Nanette Fabray and Steve Lawrence (1970)

Soundtracks
This World Is Yours
Sung by Jack Jones
Lyrics by Doc Pomus
Edizioni Musicali "Dino"

User reviews52

Review

Featured review

6/10

An American patrol fighting Germans in the countryside south of Rome

RELEASED IN 1968 and directed by Edward Dmytryk & Duilio Coletti, "Anzio" (aka "The Battle of Anzio") chronicles the uneventful Allied amphibious landing at Anzio, Italy, in late January, 1944. While a reconnaissance detail offers evidence that there's no serious enemy opposition in the 30 miles between Anzio and Rome, the commander (Arthur Kennedy) inexplicably decides to dig-in, which provides Field Marshal Kesselring (Wolfgang Preiss) the opportunity to marshal his troops against the invasion. This prolongs their capturing Rome until early June.

Winston Churchill was dissatisfied with this, commenting "I had hoped we were hurling a wildcat into the shore, but all we got was a stranded whale." The movie focuses on a war correspondent (Robert Mitchum) who accompanies a small group of Rangers who patrol the Italian countryside and are ambushed at the Battle of Cisterna and try to make it back. The soldiers are played by Earl Holliman, Peter Falk, Reni Santoni, et. al.

The movie's based on real events, but you can tell that the writers pandered to the audience in light of some of the contrived dialogues, e.g. General Lesley quoting Churchill at the end (Lesley, of course, representing the real-life General Lucas). Another negative is the incongruent soundtrack and score, most notably the opening song by Jack Jones, "The World is Yours." Yet it could be argued that this lends the movie a unique charm.

Some armchair critics complain that the movie should have focused more on The Battle of Anzio, as far as the invading Allies fighting Kesselring's counterattack, but that's here to a point (since all the events fall under the umbrella of that battle) and I think they came up with an innovative way to condense 4.5 months into a fairly compelling two hour flick.

THE MOVIE RUNS 117 minutes and was shot entirely in Italy (Naples, Caserta & Rome). WRITERS: H.A.L. Craig (et. al) from Wynford Vaughan-Thomas's book. ADDITIONAL CAST: Robert Ryan has a small role.

GRADE: B-