This one does not fool around with an introduction as the first scene is an American Patrol being shelled by Nazi Artillery. From here there is a quick attack on the Nazi Artillery spotters nest which is successful, then they get into a German minefield and get captured by the Nazi's by the time they can find their way out. Then, on the way to the Nazis back lines, they escape and get back to fighting.
An addition to their movements behind German lines is meeting 2 ladies, Maria and Teresa and then having them tag along with the escapee trying to avoid recapture. One of these ladies notably is played by Majel Barrett (aka. Mrs. Gene Roddenbury later in 1969). This Star Trek connection has nothing to do with this film, except this is one of the few times she has a movie role outside the TV series. Barrett did do a lot of TV work in many other series.
This movie was made on a shoe string, was filmed in California, yet it has the feel of actually being in Northern Italy. The patrols objective is a Nazi Ammo dump which Allied planes can not bomb. It is capably and visually directed and co-written by a very good television director. One of the main character actors, the late Jon Cedar in this film, has done some work in lots of other films, including an X-Rated film in 2010 known as Sebastian Bulge in Love Shack.
The entire film has many folks who did lots of television work, but this film is a notch above the Vic Morrow TV series Combat! which was also in production at this time. Some of the California sets resemble the sets used in that film for location shooting, though often the lake from the Andy Griffith show opening made several shots in Morrows TV show. The action throughout this film is very realistically shot this is worth a view by anyone who is a world war 2 film fan.
An addition to their movements behind German lines is meeting 2 ladies, Maria and Teresa and then having them tag along with the escapee trying to avoid recapture. One of these ladies notably is played by Majel Barrett (aka. Mrs. Gene Roddenbury later in 1969). This Star Trek connection has nothing to do with this film, except this is one of the few times she has a movie role outside the TV series. Barrett did do a lot of TV work in many other series.
This movie was made on a shoe string, was filmed in California, yet it has the feel of actually being in Northern Italy. The patrols objective is a Nazi Ammo dump which Allied planes can not bomb. It is capably and visually directed and co-written by a very good television director. One of the main character actors, the late Jon Cedar in this film, has done some work in lots of other films, including an X-Rated film in 2010 known as Sebastian Bulge in Love Shack.
The entire film has many folks who did lots of television work, but this film is a notch above the Vic Morrow TV series Combat! which was also in production at this time. Some of the California sets resemble the sets used in that film for location shooting, though often the lake from the Andy Griffith show opening made several shots in Morrows TV show. The action throughout this film is very realistically shot this is worth a view by anyone who is a world war 2 film fan.
