tlfisher-1

If you like Rod Taylor, you'll want to see this one. Probably Jim Brown's best, too, even compared to (far better movie overall) The Dirty Dozen. Also, if you have a strange penchant for movies about mercenaries like I do (having grown up reading Soldier of Fortune magazine in the 1970s), it's a must-see. This one, though it shares some elements with them, is not on the level of The Wild Geese or The Dogs of War. Although Geese and Dogs are also "B" movies with "A" stars, this one doesn't hold together as well. The initial hour is kind of a slowish, procedural build up, which is fine. The action sequences at about that point involving the train and the bar, are fantastic. Too bad they couldn't have drawn those out a bit, and taken a different path in the very end (more in the satisfying Dogs of War direction, for example).

This definitely is not a great movie, but it is an enjoyable "small" film--more like a filmed play. The best part is seeing Ralph Bellamy (as another reviewer said, in a rare lead/tough-guy role), Fay Wray (outside of Kong's clutches), and Melvyn Douglas (in a rare bad-guy role, with hair!) so young and attractive. The copy I watched recently (on Tubi at this writing) is so clear and clean, you can hardly believe the movie is now over 90 years old. To put that in context, it was the year Bonnie & Clyde and Dillinger met their violent ends, and the year Donald Duck made his debut. I won't give it away, but one warning: There is a seen of violence against an animal, which can effectively ruin a movie for some of us.