La patrouille du diable

This no-frills account of a squad of GI's, separated from their outfit in the North African campaign during World War 11 peels away the glamor of soldiering and leaves one only with its desperation and misery. Yet, it is not depressing, as it shows how human beings go on in the face of apparent hopelessness. The climax is gripping. Ironically, I came upon the film by accident, since there was an error in the program listing in the paper.

Before the studio became known for Beach movies and counter-culture hippie films, American International Pictures was known for angry delinquent and war films. The commonality to all these movies are low budgets and mostly casts of unknowns. "Hell Squad" is just chock full of unfamiliar faces and cheapness.

The story is VERY simple and the cast very, very small. Supposedly these American soldiers are in North Africa during WWII but they are separated from their unit and must make their way back to the front. Along the way, they meet up with all sorts of Germans...and ALL of them are lying scum who either wear American uniforms or make fake radio broadcasts.

So, you've got about a dozen actors in total and almost no script and you run around the California desert playing soldier. There just isn't much to this one and it's awfully dull. The only interesting thing to me is that one of the Germans was played by a man named Curtis Loser. Nice moniker...and rather apt for this film.

Possibly inspired by 'Fear and Desire'. This psychological war movie seemingly shot entirely on location comprises an impressive writing-producing-directing debut by Burt Topper.

Topper was plainly no Kubrick - who was? - but does a sound job wearing all three of his hats; and gets good performances out of all his cast, led by bearded Wally Campo (also given an 'introducing' credit).

This "B" war film has "A" credibility for realistic drama in war.

A typical motif done well. The motif is a small unit of soldiers stuck behind enemy lines.

There is a lot going for this film. A good script is the chief reason. We get some realistic emotion in a situation of deadly danger that is no game.

Best of all, we get a "roll the dice" or "let the cards fall where they may fall" story here. There's no "contrived Hollywood predictability of bullets only finding good guys and underlings. There's no "ticket" to immortality by being the usual creep, officer, or man with a secret that means a bullet can't find you. The bullet or grenade can hit anyone at any time.

In other words, the viewer doesn't feel like the writer and director is prancing around behind the hill. It's a "natural and uncontrived" chain of events.

Which sets this apart from the usual Hollywood formula movie that owned the industry after about 1965. Cleverly done, which is probably why the bubble boys won't care for this one.

They just don't make movies like this anymore. Very entertaining and realistic. It always seemed that these old films were always technically accurate even though their budget had to be minuscule. Maybe it was because the cast and crew had all served in the military during WWII and it wasn't necessary to do a lot of research on equipment, events, etc. Appealing in its own way just as "Saving Private Ryan" is another. Would love to see again.