User Reviews

This movie is great for probably none of the reasons that the makers of the movie intended. The beginning has a documentary kind of feeling. Then it moves on to feeling like a spoof of war movies. It goes on to suspense. At this part I am watching now Palance says "Lets put the pieces of the puzzle together." So now it is a mystery like Scooby Doo. And now the build up to the final battle this is the best part of the movie. The movie is unintentionally funny with the seriousness the actors take on their roles vs the trite writing. But, the ending is disappointing turns into a sermon about the value of human life. The sermon may have had more impact had there been enough character development to leave one with a feeling of lose when a character was killed.

"Attack Force Normandy" director León Klimovsky's "Hell's Brigade: The Final Assault" sends Jack Palance with a quartet of robust American officers masquerading as Wehrmacht soldiers behind enemy lines deep in the heart of Germany on a secret mission. This entertaining but far-fetched Spanish/Italian World War II thriller is ostensibly about a conspiracy to kill Hitler involving Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. As contrived as this formulaic saga is, the screenplay by "Companeros" scribes Massimo De Rita & Arduino Maiuri, "Battle of the Last Panzer" writer José Luis Merino, and Manuel Sebares of "Hell Commandos" deals with the dire necessity of following orders without question during war-time to achieve an objective. Indeed, few World War II movies emphasize this military cliché as strenuously as "Hell's Brigade" does to the point that nothing our heroes do appears improvised, no matter how impulsive their behavior. Klimovsky stages the bullet-riddled action with sufficient competence while "The Valachi Papers" composer Armando Trovajoli provides a charismatic orchestral score to accompany the heroics.

Anybody who can dismiss obvious errors in military equipment and uniform insignia may find this pugnacious, larger-than-life actioneer entertaining. The insubordinate sermon delivered by Palance at fade-out to his commanding general about the ideals worth dying for in war is pretentious but well-intentioned. Face-to-face with a newly decorated two-star general, Major John Heston observes, "There will always be different ideals, general, and I suppose men who will die for them. At least, until they (the military) stops giving medals and promotions in exchange for men's lives." Whereas many World War II combat films of the 1960s concentrated solely on one side, "Hell's Brigade" alternates between the Allies on their mission and the Germans as they try to thwart them. Basically, this movie qualifies as a traditional World War II opus. Not only do the Americans refrain from trying to kill their own superior officer, but also the Gestapo are shown as the greater of two evils. Klimovsky and his four scenarists depict the military-minded German officers with notable sympathy, and they present Rommel as a martyr sacrificed for a cause. Furthermore, Klimovsky orchestrates two significant set-pieces: a massacre aboard a German train as well as a full-blown battle sequence at the end.

When he briefs them, Major John Heston (Jack Palance of "Shane") informs the four officers selected for this mission because each possesses an "excellent memory" and they all speak German. According to Heston, the mission's objective is to contact the German military leaders who want to overthrow Adolf Hitler and bring the war to an end. "Before I go any further," Heston advises them, "let me stress that this is a particularly dangerous mission." Nevertheless, not even Heston knows the overall plan, just the general outline. He hands out sealed envelopes containing their separate orders. "Once you've read these instructions, you will be obliged to see the mission through to the end." Heston confesses that "if I were in your shoes, I'd refuse without hesitation. The commandos that he will supervise include Captain Agamemnon Geeves (Andrea Bosic of "The Greatest Battle"), Lieutenant Steve Bloom (John Gramack of "Kill a Dragon"), Captain Stuart Latimore (Carlos Estrada of "The Tyrant of Castile") and Lieutenant Thomas Mulligan (Antonio Pica of "Mission Phantom"). No sooner has Heston completed his briefing than we find our heroes aboard a C-47 transport plane flying over enemy country. The first thing that surprises Heston's men is the revelation that a German officer, Major Hermann Traniger (Alberto de Mendoza of "Gunman of Ave Maria"), is accompanying them as the sixth man on the mission. Initially, the Americans object to the presence of a Nazi, but Heston explains that Trangier is essential to the mission. Trangier will infiltrate the German Army where they are going to serve as their liaison. After Heston's men accept Trangier, they bail out. Before he jumps, Heston follows his orders and pushes a red button by the door that blows off the tail section of the C-47. The pilot, Lieutenant Robert Mills (Mirko Ellis of "Battle Force"), has to jump, too. No sooner has Mills landed than a German patrol captures him. Under interrogation, he cracks and reveals that contacting Rommel constitutes part of the mission. What Mills has no way of knowing is that General Moore, who devised the mission, meant for this to happen. Our heroes proceed to halt a train and liberate a number of high-ranking officers implicated in the Hitler bomb plot. During the assault on the train, Heston catches a bullet in the arm. Meanwhile, Trangier contacts Rommel with a microfilm message with instructions for leaving Germany and finding asylum in a neutral country. Heston and his men wipe out the heavily fortified Kesselberg Pass and halt a Panzer attack.

If you're a hard-core European World War II movie fanatic, you will loathe the VHS copy of this above-average actioneer. The Interglobal Home Video release presents the widescreen action (2.35.1) in full frame (1.33.1) so often you see only the space between the two individuals having a conversation. Occasionally, you can tell Klimovsky set-up two cameras for the massive final battle because the same stunt man performs an acrobatic forward flip. As usual, the M-48 tanks stand in for actual German tanks. Remember, virtually all of Hitler's war equipment was either destroyed or stuck in a museum so Klimovsky, like so many World War II movie makers has to resort to anachronistic equipment, but most casual viewers either won't care or won't know the difference. One thing that makes "Hell's Brigade" stand out is the number of tanks that were used. Since this combat epic was produced before the advent of computer generated special effects, you know that the filmmakers must have called on the use of some government's tanks because there is simply no way that this medium budget melodrama could afford this extravagance. Altogether, "Hell's Brigade: The Final Assault" is a good, but far from great, World War II adventure.