Brass Target

World War II is over, and the Allies set about cleaning up and helping rebuild Europe. The Allies' most famous battle leader, General George S. Patton, continues to alienate the Russians and doesn't like attending to civil formalities of state. So, he gets canned by Eisenhower and is ordered back to the States. But during all this time, some $250 million in Third Reich gold had been discovered and then went missing. Patton launches his own effort to find the thieves and retrieve the gold.

This story line has all the makings of a good action-thriller, and "Brass Target" doesn't disappoint. It has a solid plot – with much conjecture and fiction built around and woven through the real details of Patton's last months. The script is very good for a cast that delivers. There's just enough intrigue to keep us guessing from one scene to the next, as culprits come to light one by one. But amidst this, the one big theme develops – with the hiring of a top assassin to eliminate Patton. There's much more to this, and part of the intrigue for the viewer is wondering what next step in his plan the assassin will lay out and expose to the audience.

George Kennedy is excellent as Patton, and Robert Vaughn turns in a first-rate performance in his role. John Cassavetes does justice as the top intelligence officer digging into the theft. Sophia Loren and Patrick McGoohan give very good performances. And the consummate cool and calculating Max von Sydow excels in the type of role he has played before.

Some comments I've seen about the film are disparaging because of the fictitious plot. But that's precisely what makes it a movie different from the account of Patton's accidental death otherwise. If people don't like fiction in film, they can avoid movies purposely built around fictitious aspects. Come to think of it, they should probably stop watching all movies. But the rest of us can sit back and really enjoy films like this.

"Brass Target" is a rather frustrating film. It begins with a real grabber opening, the tunnel robbery of 250 million dollars in gold from a U.S. Army train. What follows is the story of an assassination contracted by the perpetrators on General George S. Patton due to his involvement in the robbery investigation. This does not make a whole lot of sense, since Patton was ordered back to the States in a few days, therefore the urgency to eliminate him seems rather pointless. Although the cast is strong, the screenplay is murky and confusing. Plot contrivances abound, especially a highly improbable code breaking. In the end, the exciting gold robbery is all but forgotten, making the movie rather forgettable as well. - MERK

Interesting and intriguing tale of murder and conspiracy is set in the closing days of WWII, concerning a plot to assessinate General George S Patton for the sake of 250 million dollars in Nazi gold, being robbed from a train to Frankfurt by an undercover staff involved in the vast gold bars heist .The Germans hid it . The Russians want it . The Americans stole General George S Patton may die for it ...suspense that reaches the highest rank . In December 1945 , America's most controversial General, George S Patton , was killed in an auto accident in Germany . 250 million dollars in gold says it was no accident .

Thrilling robbery movie about a train heist, it contains action, thrills, Bond-style techno-glamour , complex narrative with red herrings and labyrinthine plot, as well as nice cast, but all these things can not find the convoluted story. Pure Hollywood profitable hokum at its most ridiculous premise as General George S Patton was allegedly killed because of a large lot of gold robbed after WWII, being committed by a suspicious staff formed by ambitious subordinates . The film goes for various targets as suspenseful narration with stubborn investigation , historical significanc or hard preparation of an assassination, but missing them all . Mining the boxoffice vein of "Days of the Jackal" by Fred Zinneman with Max Von Sidow in Edward Fox-alike role, and even copying some scenes. Rating PG (Parents Guide) for violence, and moderated language. Main and support cast are pretty good. As trio of protagonists : John Cassavetes, Sophia Loren, Max Von Sidow are very fine, though Loren as the woman with a past holds an unnessary, superflous role . Support cast is filled with familiar faces giving acceptable acting , such as : Bruce Davison, Patrick McGoohan, Robert Vaughan, Ed Bishop, Edward Herrmann, and two historical characters performed by Lee Montague as Lucky Luciano and George Kennedy as George S Patton.

Special mention for the rousing and powerful musical score by Laurence Rosenthal in Jerry Goldsmith style. Cinematography by Tony Imi is passable, though a perfect remastering being really necessary. The motion picture was professionally directed by John Hough, though it has some flaws, gaps and failures. John Hough is a nice British artisan with a long career directing all kinds of genres such as terror, fantasy, thriller, drama, and adventure, in films as Treasure Island, The watcher in the woods, Eye witness, Escape to Witch Mountain, Return from Witch Mountain, The Black Arrow, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Incubus, Triumphs of a Man called House, Biggles, Twins of Evil, Howling 4, Incubus, The legend of hell house, American Gothic, The Lady and the Highwayman, The Dying Truth, Duel of Hearts, Hells's gate, among others.

Brass Target has as its plot premise the fact that George S. Patton's automobile accident which left him paralyzed with a broken neck that eventually killed him was really an assassination. For the more traditional view I suggest you see Patton: The Last Days which starred the most famous Patton of all George C. Scott.

250 million dollars in gold bullion from the Third Reich is robbed and the perpetrators are a group of OSS men headed by Robert Vaughn. These guys were doing this sort of stuff during the war and apparently saw no reason that they shouldn't pull one last job with a heist that would certainly insure them a comfortable old age. The problem is that a whole train load of GIs are killed in a tunnel during the heist.

Which brings in John Cassavetes late of the OSS who was the author of a heist plan that was a dead ringer for what the robbers used. Which gives Cassavetes a good head start in an investigation, but not exactly a smoking gun.

After George S. Patton played here by George Kennedy is called out by the Russians for his laxity, that's something no one can accuse Patton of. He takes personal charge of the investigation and puts himself in an assassin's cross hairs.

I think a lot of good players got wasted here in a film that didn't make sense many times. You have to fill in a lot of gaps. Sophia Loren is in the film, top billed in a supporting role that doesn't make any sense. Max Von Sydow is the professional hit man that Vaughn and company hire sight unseen though on strong recommendation. Von Sydow was interesting and clever and is the best one in the film.

This is one urban legend that truly is a legend. As a film Brass Target is hardly legendary.

A 'maybe it happened this way' WWII thriller from the 70's. A consignment of captured German gold is on its way to its new home guarded by American troops when it's robbed prompting a CID officer played John Cassavettes to investigate what happened. Up the ladder of command Patton (George Kennedy) is grilled by the Russians on the theft so he decides to stick his nose in as well prompting the real thieves to hire an assassin (Max Von Sydow) to take care of 'ol Blood & Guts & anyone else who comes close to finding who did the deed. Not very good w/a bevy of talent, namely Sophia Loren, wasted as window dressing as we're more than a few steps ahead of the investigation than than person assigned to investigate.