"Darby's Rangers" is the story of an US elite unit during WWII on the European front. We get to see their rough training, initial actions, numerous encounters with women and a final big battle in which they allegedly played a major role : the landings in Anzio, Italy.
The training segment is well done, but again hampered by the love interludes. Things finally seem to get going when they set off for their first landings in Algeria in 1942, when they had to fight French Vichy troops (but as with the Germans, the enemy is hardly seen in this movie). Then it's off to Sicily and then Italy, where they encounter some fierce opposition from Jerry.
I have to admit :I really do not know what to think of this movie : the battle scenes are rather well-staged, although mostly shot an a sound stage. There is a harrowing scene when they have to move between some German panzers, some close combat in an Italian village, etc... So everything is there to make a good typical 50's war drama: the perfect all good-guy commander (Garner), his side-kick sergeant (Warden) and a whole bunch of colorful characters as the dapper Rangers, not to forget a high number of love interests. But unlike some previous efforts by director Wellman in the war movie genre, as the classic "The Story of GI Joe" (on war correspondent Ernie Pyle)and the supremely "Battleground" (on The Battle of the Bulge), this almost drowns in its own clichés. Especially the love interludes come over as rather silly and almost ruin the picture.
What's left is a so-and-so war movie, with all the right ingredients but somehow it just doesn't work. An average time-passer but that's all.
The training segment is well done, but again hampered by the love interludes. Things finally seem to get going when they set off for their first landings in Algeria in 1942, when they had to fight French Vichy troops (but as with the Germans, the enemy is hardly seen in this movie). Then it's off to Sicily and then Italy, where they encounter some fierce opposition from Jerry.
I have to admit :I really do not know what to think of this movie : the battle scenes are rather well-staged, although mostly shot an a sound stage. There is a harrowing scene when they have to move between some German panzers, some close combat in an Italian village, etc... So everything is there to make a good typical 50's war drama: the perfect all good-guy commander (Garner), his side-kick sergeant (Warden) and a whole bunch of colorful characters as the dapper Rangers, not to forget a high number of love interests. But unlike some previous efforts by director Wellman in the war movie genre, as the classic "The Story of GI Joe" (on war correspondent Ernie Pyle)and the supremely "Battleground" (on The Battle of the Bulge), this almost drowns in its own clichés. Especially the love interludes come over as rather silly and almost ruin the picture.
What's left is a so-and-so war movie, with all the right ingredients but somehow it just doesn't work. An average time-passer but that's all.