In 1944 France, a group of escaped American military prisoners en route to Switzerland volunteers to steal a Nazi V2 rocket warhead for the Allies. Set in Europe during WWII, a group of American soldiers are in the process of being shipped off to military prison for a variety of infractions, ranging from desertion to murder. While they're being transported, a German artillery attack hits the convoy, killing the MPs and enabling four of the prisoners to escape. The group decides their best bet is to head to neutral Switzerland where they can avoid the fighting and prison. As they make their way to what they think will be freedom, they end up volunteering for a commando mission to steal a V2 warhead for the French Underground. Somehow, the team must sneak into the most heavily guarded base in German territory, steal the Nazi's most precious military hardware, and bring it back to the allies without getting arrested again by their own side. The prolific Italian helmer Enzo G. Castellari of "Any Gun Can Play "and "Payment in Blood" not only made terrific Spaghetti westerns, but he also made one of the best European B-movie World War II thrillers. This half-dozen "Dirty Dozen" actioneer consists of court-martialed American soldiers and a reckless Air Force fighter pilot. In 1944, they manage to escape from an armed escort of MPs after an enemy aircraft spots them. A German fighter attacks the convoy, and the MP guards actually shoot the prisoners as they jump out of the trucks for cover. Strapping tall blond Bo Svenson is cast as Lieutenant Robert Yeager; he was a pilot who used his P-51 Mustang to visit his girlfriend one time too many. As Private Fred Canfield, Fred Williamson endures racial slurs and prejudice from both sides. Williamson smokes his usual cigar and wears his handle-bar mustache. Once these fellows are free of the MPs, our anti-heroes head for neutral Switzerland. Along the way, they pick up a German deserter who agrees to lead them to Switzerland. Later, he dies tragically when he links up with a group of commandos and then is shot in the back by them. The deserters kill the commandos as revenge for their killing the German. Later, our heroes discover that they have killed Americans masquerading as Germans. Naturally, when the French Resistance come upon them, the Resistance believes that the deserters are in fact the commandos that they gunned down for killing the German. Consequently, they find themselves replacing those commandos to help a stubborn, hidebound colonel (Ian Bannen of "The Hill") accomplish his mission. Along the way, they allow the Nazis to capture some of their number so they can storm a stronghold and acquire motorized transportation. The Colonel and his commandos had trained to steal the gyroscope from the guidance system of a prototype of the new V-2 rocket warhead being transported on a Nazi train. Grudgingly, the Colonel uses them in place of his men. Our heroes are sympathetic and charismatic. "Eagles Over London" composer Francesco De Masi provides an atmospheric musical score, and Castellari orchestrates several machine gun clashes. He does an exceptional job with the firefight at the train, particularly with the use of slow-motion. The last battle displays energy with to spare with Nazis whirling as bullets riddle their bodies. At one point, they blow up a bridge, and one of the deserters makes a desperate "Great Escape" bid on motorcycle to pass along information to his comrades. There are couple of surprises and the guy who survives is not the one that you think will live. The matte work is reasonably well done in the long shots for this low-budget war epic. Five men wrote the screenplay. The train crash in the final quarter-hour is obviously a miniature exploding but looks pretty cool. "Inglorious Bastards" is diverting fun. Unfortunately, Quentin Tarantino's remake is nowhere as entertaining as Castellari's straightforward version. The graphics on the opening and the end credits was done by the same man who did similar graphics on Sergio Leone's "Fistful of Dollars." "Quel Maledetto Treno Blindato" aka. "Inglorious Bastards" of 1978 is a highly entertaining little piece of War/action exploitation cinema brought to you by no one else than cult-director Enzo G. Castellari. This has many similarities to Robert Aldtrich's classic "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), only that this one is pure, awesome late 70s Italian exploitation. The prolific Hollywood stars of "The Dirty Dozen" are replaced with exploitation regulars like Bo Svenson and, most memorably, the great Fred Williamson. In France of 1944, a bunch of WW2 US-Army soldiers are about to be brought to a POW prison for different offenses, when the Military Police truck they are being transported in is suddenly attacked by Germans. Five of them take the opportunity to escape, among them an officer (Bo Svenson) and the super-tough black Pvt. Fred Canfield (Fred Williamson). They decide to flee to Switzerland, which is not easy, since they have both the Military Police and the Germans against them… Basically, the five unite all the characteristics that the twelve members of the "Dirty Dozen" had. Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson basically are the heroes of the pack, Williamson being the tough and super-cool black dude and Svenson the clever Strategist. The rest of the bunch include a trickster with an affinity to jokes and theft, basically the guy responsible for the fun-part, a young wuss who almost wets his pants throughout the film, and a sinister and racist jerk. The supporting cast includes a bunch of familiar faces for exploitation fans, I was especially delighted to see the great Donal O'Brien in a small role. Still, the main reason to watch this is Fred Williamson, who is, once again, coolness personified. The film does not have the great storyline or character-drawing of "The Dirty Dozen", but it makes up for this with lots of action, explosions, bloody battle and occasional female nudity. Even so, the film is not nearly as outrageously violent as I had expected it to be (and neither is it very sleazy). Yet, this is a highly entertaining and great fun to watch War/Action flick that I highly recommend to all my fellow exploitation-buffs!
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