Commandos

I too picked up Commandos in the budget bin. The movie itself was decent...acting a bit over the top from some of the players, the plot very predictable, and the ending a bit smarmy, intent on teaching us a nice lesson about the horrors of war.

The worst part of the film were the technical details. The US Army dropping paratrooper commandos behind enemy lines prior to Operation Torch (factual error... US Airborne troops were no where near ready for a raid prior to Torch). The obvious use of the 1944 M3 Grease Gun as the weapon of choice for the commandos, a weapon which didn't even see North Africa, let alone North Africa in 1942, the year before it made it to Army usage.

One can forgive the use of US Chaffee and Walker Bulldog tanks repainted in German Afrika Tan (after all, Patton did too), but too many errors upon errors crept into the movie to make it truly enjoyable. For 99 cents and a Saturday afternoon, it will serve. As a great movie, it falls far short.

Commandos is one of those movies I remember watching on the late-late-late show back in the late 70s and early 80s. It aired frequently.

I was quite surprised to find it included in a WWII movie multipack I bought at WM. An entirely different description of Commandos was listed, so imagine my surprise when I saw it was the old Lee Van Cleef movie! This movie isn't going to win any awards. There's no historic accuracy to it at all, other than the Germans and Italians were fighting in North Africa (or the Western Desert, for our British friends). But it's still fun to watch.

(1968) Commandos DUBBED SPAGHETTI WAR

Co-written and directed by Armando Crispino During WWII when Mussolini was in power and still had an army, a group of Italian Americans are selected to partake a dangerous mission whereas they were to take over a fort guarded by Italian soldiers working alongside with the Nazis, and then wait for more US armed soldiers to show up! Lee Van Cleef also stars as the troubled captain.

One of the major problems with Spaghetti Westerns and Spaghetti War films has a lot to do with it's budget, and this one is no exception, whereas Sergio Leone makes scenes look very theatrically credible with it's close- ups and camera angles- this film lacks common sense with a lack of charisma leading to predictable results.

Another fantastic slice of war drama from the Italians, who were at their best filming on a tight budget in the middle of the African desert and blowing up shedloads of jeeps and tanks along the way. Following in the footsteps of dozens of similar offerings post-DIRTY DOZEN, the simplistic plot line tells of a small group of American soldiers who capture an Italian base in the middle of the desert (what for is never quite explained) and then who have to pretend to be Italians when the Germans show up looking for a good time. An excellent script with full-on characterisation, a few moral messages about the nature of war and comradeship, and heapings of suspense (realised through a monotonous but effective chordal note on the soundtrack) make for one heck of a film.

The film is based on a short story by notorious exploitation producer Menahem Golan, with the script co-written (with three others) by none other than Dario Argento, who later found fame as the "Italian Hitchcock". Argento brings his trademark touch of strong characters and violent situations into the story with the direction left in the more than capable hands of genre director Armando Crispino.

The cast is outstanding, with notable performances from all the major players. Lee Van Cleef handles the part of his tough sergeant as well as you would expect, and as a bonus gets extra psychological torment via some Filipino flashbacks. Jack Kelly is equally good as the determined captain who leads the group into disaster. Everyone else is perfect, especially the German actors, and there's a good turn from Giampiero Albertini (ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON) as a loyal fighter. The action sequences are mostly saved for the finale, but what a finale it is: packed with gunfire, explosions, destruction, mayhem and death, this easily rivals much more lavish productions and is the best battle I've seen in a long time. COMMANDOS is a hard film to fault which is why I award it full marks for effort and execution.

As I mentioned in my board comment, I found this film to be entertaining overall and was intrigued by the portrayal of "shell shock" and the "friends vs military obligation" themes. Not to mention Mario Nascimbene's mono-chordal, analog synthesizer sound track that, while annoying at times, really does create a creepy atmosphere of suspense. Lee Van Cleef can really frighten the audience while maintaining a good guy innocence at the same time. Although the Echo Bridge DVD claims the movies are "digitally remastered" and "Enhanced 5.1 Audio", the picture and sound were drive-in quality at best. I managed to butter up the sound with my Sony Surround Receiver, but I can't help but wonder what the experience of a film like this would be like if it were truly restored with the latest in film restoration technology.