3/10
Below average Macaroni combat movie with embarrassing action scenes , short budget and lousy director
24 October 2021
In World War II, some soldiers are captured by the Germans and thrown into a prison camp where are mistreated, harassed and punished by a feared commandant (Luciano Rossi) . Finally the soldiers (Ettore Manni as a doctor and Lars Bloch) make a great getaway and after that , they are assigned to a dangerous mission, as they go undercover to attempt to kidnap an evil Nazi general (Klaus Kinski) , but things go wrong.

Ettore Manni is the leader in this ordinary wartime movie about a commando goes in action , shot in very low budget . Being a ridiculous 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 bad made , with rip-roaring final scenes in which the motley group is really besieged , including some spectacular shootouts , bombing and along the way a lot of stock-footage about aviation . 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 a complex and tense relationship . The final part is all action , as the brave commando wreak havoc and then run for their lives . Stars Ettore Manni, here appears a few familiar faces from Spaghetti Westerns, Eurothrillers, Giallos and other sub-genres, such as : Lars Bloch, Luciano Rossi, Garofalo, Attillio Dotessio, Paul Muller, Roberto Dell'Acqua, Rosemarie DeLindt , Prieto Torrisi or Peter McCoy and, of course, Klaus Kinski. This one belongs to a numerous group of Italian/Spanish WWII films , these types of B-war films have never enjoyed enormous popularity in Italy because they were made mostly just to make money , especially with foreign distribution in poor countries and little conviction on the part of the producers. These were films made in De Paolis (Rome), Lacio, Italy , Morocco, Libya, the Egyptian desert or Almeria , Spain. These movies follow the American style and usually directed by José Luis Merino , Leon Klimovsky , Umberto Lenzi , Roberto Montero, Bitto Albertini , Al Bradley 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 local armies that lent tanks , weapons , soldiers and extras to make these films . The typical team was made up of an Italian director, Italo-Spanish technical staff, and a cast of Italian and Spanish actors and sometimes German and French, sometimes a fading Hollywood star. 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)¨, Navarone Guns (J. L. Thompson), ¨Tobruk (Arthur Hiller)¨ , ¨Devil's Brigade (Andrew V McLagen)¨ and many others.

The motion picture was lousily directed by hack director Joe D'Amato or Aristide Massaccessi . He was a prolific cameraman/writer/producer/director who made all kinds of genres . His first directing work was in 1972's low-budget Scansati... a Trinità arriva Eldorado (1972), co-directed by Diego Spataro, under the pseudonym Dick Spitfire, but it was a commercial failure. As he directed hardcore , soft-core, erotic films starring Laura Gemser, such as Emmanuel and francois (1975), Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977), Emanuelle in América (1977), Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade (1978), Erotic Nights of the Living dead , L'alcova (1985) . Gialli and Terror movies : Gomia , Hitcher in the dark , Death Smiles on a Murderer , Buio Omega . Scifi and Sword-witchery : Ator , Ator l'invincibile, Ator 3 , 2020 Texas Rangers , Bronx Endgame, and many others. Rating : 2.5/10 . Inferior warlike movie.
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