HELL COMMANDOS (1969)
DIRECTOR:
Jose Luis Merino
CAST:
Guy Madison, Raffaella Carra, Manuel Zarzo, Selvio Rossi, Enrique Avila, Piero Lulli, Luis Induni, Giuli Carr and Antonio Mayans.
REVIEW:
A surprisingly good and attention-holding adventure from Jose Luis Merino.
Guy Madison, yet again, stars as a commando officer who must lead a special unit to destroy a German bacteria. However, his men are accidentally killed by US deserters out for vengeance on the Nazis. He enlists these men to continue the mission with him in place of the commandos.
Merino brings back a number of actors from his earlier disaster The Battle of the Last Panzer, including ever-familiar Guy Madison (Hell in Normandy) as an ever-cliched tough commando leader. The character has personality and depth, unlike Gianni Garko in Five for Hell and Jack Palace in Battle of the Commandos He's supported by Last Panzer veterans Enrique Avila, Giuli Carr and Stelvio Rossi as the Sergeant; Manolo Zarzo (Suicide Commando) as a knife-throwing Indian; Luis Induni and Raffaella Carra as the obligatory love interest who really does nothing but show off some skin. There are plenty of familiar dubbing voices, too, especially Rossi's, who's dubbed the leads in several similar titles.
The combat scenes, especially near the end, are very well-choreographed with lots of machinegun fire and enemy troops chasing eachother through the woods. These scenes aren't too big - the film was shot on a tight budget - but there's enough action to keep you glued to the screen. Great scenery, too, and some nice mood-fitting music.
The script is full of stuff we don't see too much in 60s Italian war movies, like Gay SS officers, hordes of prostitutes, Wehrmacht men getting eaten apart by the plague, and attack dogs that carry lit sticks of dynamite back to their officers! Sure, these elements rule prison-camp exploitation flicks, but I don't go near those and it was cool seeing some weird elements in a mainstream Italian war film!
Really, this is not a bad movie at all, except for the fact that it makes war look like a lot of fun for the duration and then switches to dramatic, antiwar sentiments for the last 30 seconds.
SGT. SLAUGHTER'S RATING:
4 Bullets
