See This Movie!!! As for all the nay sayers on this site, it doesn't sound like they actually saw the movie or watched it all the way through.
If you love WWII films or action films, make this a must see. The action is so intense it's difficult to believe this was made way back in 1968. The production quality is very high.
How intense is the action? Well, I've seen this movie twice and I've yet to find a rifle on screen! (no kidding) Every character is armed with a submachine gun. Just as 'Die Hard' tought us, SMGs make for the best action scenes no matter how unrealistic it would be to actually hit a target at 100 feet. (or 50 feet) The plot: October 1942, North Africa. Lee Van Cleef leads a band of New York Italian American paratroopers whom must raid and hold an Axis water supply depot. Most importantly they must be about to pass for Italian solders in order to fool their German comrades.
The oasis depot proves to be a very elaborate but well fortified Axis hotel. There's even a bar and grill and a prostitute.
The GIs do their best to fool the Germans but inevitably the situation cannot hold. Their Italian prisoners escape, more and more German squads keep visiting and worse yet Van Cleef himself is a deranged and unstable veteran of Bataan who hates all superior officers as glory hounds carelessly putting his men at risk.
The final scene is a really great one. I've never seen anything like it in any war movie! It's the perfect conclusion.
For those of you not familiar with the "Spaghetti WWII" film 'Commandos' is a great place to start.
No, "Spaghetti WWII" is not part of the "Nazisploitation" films made in Italy during the 70s and 80s. (remember 'Salon Kitty' 'Last Orgy of the Third Reich' or the Elsa films?) "Spaghetti WWII" films are an overlooked genre that embodied much of what we love about American WWII films. The brotherhood of solders, the hell of war, and the glory of combat. These films were told from either the Axis or Allied side and just like traditional WWII films the Nazis always lose. Even if they are the main characters.
Unlike neutered German WWII films like 'Stalingrad.' The Italians got it right. No drama or romance, just guts and glory.
'Desert Commandos' is a perfect companion piece to this film.
