It's interesting that this film came out in 1964--several years BEFORE "The Dirty Dozen". In other words, the later big-budget film actually was a knock-off of a cheap film--and this must be a first---usually it's the other way around. However, although this also involves a bunch of prisoners having their sentences commuted in order to get them to participate in a suicide mission, it's still a pretty cheap little film and only a shadow of the later film. A very low budget, cheap sets (which look circa 1964 instead of WWII vintage), one-dimensional characters and acting that can't come close to the stellar cast of "The Dirty Dozen" will make it VERY easy to tell the two films apart! Like 1450342 other Roger Corman films, this one is very economically made. This guy has had an AMAZING record for making films that always, or almost always, made money. His one flop ("The Intruder") was actually one of his best films and his crappiest films (like "Wasp Woman") made a bundle! I am sure that this taught him the lesson to make films entertaining but don't try too hard to make great art!
The film involves this motley international group sneaking into Yugoslavia to rescue an Italian general from a German prison. That's because the man is an anti-Nazi and they want him to lead his troops into battle against the Germans. This is especially important because the Italian soldiers LOVE this guy and are very loyal to him. Once they do sneak the guy out, the film starts to get pretty silly. For every one of the group that is shot in the escape, 100 Germans dies--and the German soldiers just seem to march en masse to their deaths! And, the last 20 minutes of the film is one scene like this after another after another--with lots of mindless scenes of killing. Oh, and by the way, most of the group are killed and you see them die. What about Mickey Rooney? He just disappeared late in the film--what happened to him?! Overall, rather superficial but not terrible--but also only a shadow of the classic "Dirty Dozen".
The film involves this motley international group sneaking into Yugoslavia to rescue an Italian general from a German prison. That's because the man is an anti-Nazi and they want him to lead his troops into battle against the Germans. This is especially important because the Italian soldiers LOVE this guy and are very loyal to him. Once they do sneak the guy out, the film starts to get pretty silly. For every one of the group that is shot in the escape, 100 Germans dies--and the German soldiers just seem to march en masse to their deaths! And, the last 20 minutes of the film is one scene like this after another after another--with lots of mindless scenes of killing. Oh, and by the way, most of the group are killed and you see them die. What about Mickey Rooney? He just disappeared late in the film--what happened to him?! Overall, rather superficial but not terrible--but also only a shadow of the classic "Dirty Dozen".