- Film Review
- Reviewed By Tony Sloman
-
4 out of 5
One of the smash hits of its year, this action-packed war movie is violent and amoral, and fans would say all the better for it. Whatever your tastes, there's no denying director Robert Aldrich's consummate skill with such material or the powerhouse impact of the starry all-male cast headed by Lee Marvin, factors that have helped maintain the film's popularity. The violence is in fact mild by today's standards, but it nevertheless leaves a nasty taste in the mouth as a group of sociopaths is released from jail on a suicide mission to murder Nazis, and the movie rightly earned its original X certificate. John Poyner won the best sound effects Oscar for his superb work here.
Plot Summary
Second World War adventure starring Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Major Reisman's mission to lead a covert operation behind enemy lines and destroy a specified target is a tough one; especially when his team is to be made up of 12 prisoners convicted for murder, robbery and other violent crimes.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Major Reisman
- Lee Marvin
- General Worden
- Ernest Borgnine
- Joseph Wladislaw
- Charles Bronson
- Robert Jefferson
- Jim Brown
- Victor Franko
- John Cassavetes
- Sgt Bowren
- Richard Jaeckel
- Maj Max Armbruster
- George Kennedy
- Pedro Jiminez
- Trini Lopez
- Capt Stuart Kinder
- Ralph Meeker
- Col Everett Dasher Breed
- Robert Ryan
- Archer Maggott
- Telly Savalas
- Vernon Pinkley
- Donald Sutherland
- Samson Posey
- Clint Walker
- Colonel Denton
- Robert Webber
- Milo Vladek
- Tom Busby
- Glenn Gilpin
- Ben Carruthers
- Roscoe Lever
- Stuart Cooper
- Corporal Morgan
- Robert Phillips
- Seth Sawyer
- Colin Maitland
- Tassos Bravos
- Al Mancini
Crew
- Director
- Robert Aldrich
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