Tank Commandos (1959)

5/10

richardchatten16 January 2020

You don't see many tanks in this economy-sized AIP war movie (given grandeur as usual by cameraman John Nickolaus), unless you include those worn on the backs of the frogmen who sabotage the bridge used by the stock footage Axis tanks to attempt to cross a river.

Talk being cheaper than action, there's a lot of reflection ("When this war is over I'm gonna have myself one big cry!"), while there's a cute Italian war orphan called Diano who's the subject of a song over the opening and closing credits!!

Wally Campo plays a GI who speaks Italian, and a bit of German is spoken too; but whether it sounds as phoney as English always does when spoken in foreign-language movies I'm not in a position to confirm or deny...

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5/10

Bland but okay.

wingsandsword10 August 2008

This movie is just another WWII drama, one of the countless that Hollywood shoveled out in the 50's. Nothing particularly remarkable about the characters or plot, it's just the simple story of a demolitions group out to destroy a barely submerged bridge that Nazi tanks are using to cross a river. The characters are not particularly memorable, it just seems to blend in with the zillion other WWII movies made over the years.

It's not that it's bad, it's just bland and forgettable. It is very dry and procedural, it has almost a documentary feel to it in places (the heavy use of file footage of tanks and artillery contribute to this).

If I can make any compliment about it, it is that documentary feel to it, it doesn't relish the drama, it's about men on a mission and accomplishing that mission.

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4/10

Tank Commandos review

JoeytheBrit16 April 2020

A unit of WWII demolition experts find themselves increasingly called upon to carry out the work of the infantry amongst the ruins of Italy. Burt Topper's low-budget war picture is dedicated to wartime demolition experts, but until the final scene we see nothing of their expertise. Instead, we're subjected to seemingly endless scenes of third-rate actors hopelessly over-emoting as they pretend to buckle under the pressures of war. The characters are so poorly defined that they're virtually interchangeable

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2/10

Dull as dishwater

JohnSeal21 April 2000

You'll be hardpressed to stay focussed on this boring programmer. AIP make some decent war movies---Hell Squad, also from 1958 and also starring Wally Campo, is one--but Tank Commandos is simply not very interesting. Some good tank footage and little else.

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2/10

Arggg, It's Fast Forward Bad

verbusen6 October 2009

Warning: Spoilers

---SPOILERS--- I DVR'd this from the AMC channel (never watch anything on it unless it's a last resort with all the commercial breaks, but DVRing allows me to fast forward). The thing with watching anything on AMC is they LOAD it up with commercials, and thats a shame because it was about 15 years ago an awesome channel in direct competition with Turner Classic Movies and commercial free, the times change. AMC put 36 minutes of commercials on to this 79 minute movie, ridiculous. Anyway I was slightly encouraged when I saw it was an American International film (meaning bad movie, good cheesy action), but those hopes were dashed when the opening scene promotes a 12 year old Italian kid as the star. The other stars (for me) are all unrecognizable with the exception of one of the guys who gets killed in the beginning (and he's a grade above extra in a regular production). I was willing to go as high as 5 or 6 stars if the ending was "awesome" but it's also a total let down. I mean if your a war film buff like me you'll try to see it, but there is nothing of interest here otherwise. If your a "so bad it's good" fan, you may like it, they use Pershing(?) post WW2 tanks in the film for BOTH the Germans and Americans, talk about not giving a crap! American International does it again, if it doesn't have Vincent Price in it you should best stay away from an AI release! 2 of 10. Make sure it's recorded so you can fast forward... a lot.

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1/10

So bad, it's good!

rlau2905418 April 2009

Movies are meant to entertain. Tank Commandos did that for me, but not in the conventional way. In my opinion, it was so bad, it was good! I wondered if this movie was a weekend project for an amateur theatrical group that had some uniforms and weapons and too much time on their hands. One commodity they seemed to be very much short of, in addition to acting talent, however, was in FILM. This was constantly evidenced by seeing how many of their patrol they could get into the same frame of film. The concept of "don't bunch up" must have escaped these brave G.I.'s or maybe they were sick that day in Boot Camp when it was explained. Not only would a grenade or an "88" take out the whole patrol, a single rifle shot could have had at least two or three of them. Oh... and how about a little "security" when out there in the 'Badlands'? The way they lounged around in a bombed out building in the enemy town, you would have thought they were in the South Bronx. Oh... and how about noise discipline??? Three G.I.'s in a bombed out house are talking so loud about how they were going to do in two German soldiers standing outside, it's a wonder these two enemy combatants weren't on their way to Berlin by the time the plan was put into action. It was so magnificantly bad.... it was good!

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7/10

Simple, no nonsense film about the ugliness of war.

planktonrules11 November 2021

In the 1950s, American International Pictures specialized in films about juvenile delinquents as well as war stories. The one commonality of these films were very low budgets and most no-name actors, though a few went on to excellent careers. In general, these films are not great by any stretch...but a few manage to be timeless and entertaining despite the studio's reputation for cheapness. Is "Tank Commandos" a decent AIP film? Or, is its current score of 4.3 accurate...indicating it's not especially good?

The story is set in Italy in 1944. An American demolition unit is given the task to find out HOW and WHERE the Germans are bringing in reinforcements. For much of the film, the unit searched in vain and suffered significant losses. However, an Italian boy manages to help...how and what happens next, you'll need to see for yourself.

Despite the no-name cast, the film is well made. Of course, some of the stock footage is too grainy....but other than that it actually was well made and emphasizes the ugliness and losses in war. Well worth seeing and NOT a bad film at all.

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8/10

A gritty and sometimes brutal WWII movie set in the Mediterranean Theater of Operation

349th Heavy Weapons Crew1 February 2000

Forty-five Apple, an Ammo and Demolition unit, is assigned to a Recon mission to determine how the Germans are crossing a deep river to refortify an Italian city with tanks and supplies. These combat-weary 'Demo' experts resent doing recon, taking risks and facing the dangers normally left to "mud sloshers" (Infantry). The film focuses on the experiences and reactions of two men: Pvt. Sonny Lazzotti (the group's interpreter) and Lt. Jim Blaine, their commanding officer. Later, after the secret of the hidden route is revealed, the team goes into action and you get to see demolition techniques and procedures that I believe were never before portrayed in earlier WWII movies.

The film makes up for its lack of Star power with exceptionally realistic dialogue, performances, plot, and hard-hitting direction. "Tank Commandos" has a convincing, matter-of-fact feel to it that somehow reminds me of the Korean War movie, "Pork Chop Hill", and the very best of the TV series, Combat!

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6/10

I'll give it a six.

dukeb0y18 March 2023

Warning: Spoilers

Well as other reviewers have mentioned, the budget is low and the direction is not so good. However, the second half of the movie really picks up. We have a nice fight going on in the sewers. And I'd say this reached quite well including some cowardice on the American soldiers part. Which is realistic.

And is another reviewer mentioned the demolition underwater is very good. Using the correct era scuba equipment.

Now right at the end of the movie we have a nice battle going on with a real Sherman tank. Okay the Americans had a Sherman, but the Germans used Walker Bulldogs painted over. So the battle scenes were actually quite realistic at the end. Probably a one-time watch but I'm glad I watched it but I did Fast Forward the slow parts.

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