During World War II, a tough officer Major John Heston (Jack Palance) is assigned by Gen. Moore (Giuseppe Addobbati as John Douglas) to organize a commando raid into Germany . Heston leads a group of expert officers on a risked as well as strange assignment , these are the followings : Captain Agamemnon Geeves (Andrea Bosic) , Lt.Steve Bloom (John Gramack) , Capt.Stuart Latimore (Carlos Estrada) , Lt. Thomas Mulligan (Antonio Pica) , Lt.Robert Mills (Mirko Ellis) . The relentless and complex assignment is set against strong training , risked adventures and hazardous feats . The mission: search out Rommel (Manuel Collado and his wife played by Maruchi Fresno) and to destroy enemy , after the D-Day invasion . The volunteer commandos , misfits from the American army do not care how its done and will run over anyone who gets in their way .
Jack Palance as Major Heston assumes the character of commando leader in this ordinary wartime movie regularly directed by Leon Klimovsky . 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 officer with only one thirst : to carry out the dangerous and puzzling mission . Palance played several exotic/historical characters in ¨The Silver Chalice¨, ¨Attila¨ , ¨Rosmunda and Alboino¨, ¨The horsemen¨ , ¨Barrabas¨, ¨The Mongols¨ , among others . As well as the largely secondary cast formed by a lot of Spanish/Italian secondaries , all of them ordinary from Peplum and Western such as: Antonio Pica , Mirko Ellis , Carlos Estrada , Alberto De Mendoza , Gérard Tichy , Rosanna Yanni and with special mention for Jesus Puente as nasty German General . This one belongs to Klimovski's trilogy about WWII , including tarnishing Hollywood stars , such as ¨The legion of no return¨ with Tab Hunter , and ¨Command attack¨with Michael Rennie . Atmospheric and functional musical score by Armando Trovajoli , adding an attractive but repetitive leitmotif . Mediocre cinematography in Eastmancolor filmed by Vicente Minaya , a perfect remastering is extremely necessary . Being filmed on location in Casa de Campo, Madrid , Getafe airport , Getafe , Madrid, Navacerrada mountains , and Pelayos de la Presa , Madrid, Spain . This is a wartime typical vehicle and into the ¨warlike commando genre¨ , in USA style which also belong the American classics as : ¨Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich) ¨ Where eagles dare(Brian G. Hutton) and Kelly's heroes(Hutton), Tobruk (Arthur Hiller) , Devil's Brigade (Andrew V McLagen) and many others .
The motion picture was middlingly directed by Leon Klimovsky . This Argentina born but nationalized Spanish filmmaker was a craftsman who directed all kind genres , as Terror for Paul Naschy (Marshall of hell , Rebellion of dead one , Orgy of vampires , Werewolf shadow,Dr Jekill vs. the werewolf) , Warlike (June 44 attack force Normandy, A bullet for Rommel, Bridge over Elba) and Western (Badland drifter , Some dollars for Django , Torrejon city , Death knows no time, Two thousand dollars for Coyote). Rating: 5 ; regular but entertaining.
