This talky recreation of a massacre of Italian citizens by the Nazis in retribution for the assassination of a unit of German soldiers marching through the city's narrow streets chooses to tell the story mostly from the viewpoint of a German officer who is given the task of selecting the 300-odd unlucky men who must be killed. The officer is played by Richard Burton, a rather unlikely Nazi it has to be said, but he acquits himself fairly well. Marcello Mastroianni plays a priest who becomes involved with Burton's character, but there's not much of a story in that part of the plot, and the Italian actor drifts in and out of the film with very little purpose for much of it.
Although there is much talk and little action, the film isn't as dull as I feared it might become. Burton's a fairly commanding presence, even though you get the impression he's simply going through the motions for the paycheck. Leo McKern is enjoyable as Burton's officious and slightly panicky superior officer. None of the Nazis are painted as outright bad guys as such – Burton's officer goes to lengths to add the names of criminals already sentenced to death and serving long-term sentences, and even snatches ten names from the list of 50 that the Italian chief of police must provide (much to his annoyance), before finally selecting Jews.
Although there is much talk and little action, the film isn't as dull as I feared it might become. Burton's a fairly commanding presence, even though you get the impression he's simply going through the motions for the paycheck. Leo McKern is enjoyable as Burton's officious and slightly panicky superior officer. None of the Nazis are painted as outright bad guys as such – Burton's officer goes to lengths to add the names of criminals already sentenced to death and serving long-term sentences, and even snatches ten names from the list of 50 that the Italian chief of police must provide (much to his annoyance), before finally selecting Jews.