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.
