Adapted from his own book, as he already did with LA SCOUMOUNE, LA LOI DU SURVIVANT, LE GITAN, LES RUFFIANS, MON AMI LE TRAITRE, this excellent action thriller takes place in settings which José Giovanni was very fond of: mountains, mountain climbing...As Samuel Fuller, he was a writer and director, and also an adventurer, a tough, rough one, very fond of topics such a manhood friendship, deep friendship, deep feelings of all kinds. This story is obviously inspired from DIRTY DOZEN, or the story of a group of outcasts recruited for an impossible and dangerous mission. I loved the book and this film is rather close to it, except maybe the very ending.