Mando perdido (Los centuriones)

Unusual in that the terrorists are the French soldiers and not the natives of the occupied country. Well worth a watch but far less exciting than it should have been. It could have done with being a lot more gritty and the French soldiers not looking like they were constantly on parade and not on dangerous active duty.

An impressive, blood-spattered and historical film in Hollywood style, being based on The Centurions by former paratrooper Jean Larteguy. This big budget Hollywood adaptation begins with a prologue: 'After eight years of fighting between the proud French army and the rebel Vietminh guerrillas in Indochina, the end is near... Dien-Bien-Phum, May 7, 1954. After the peace treaty a group of paratroopers are released and they return to France where Colonel Raspeguy receives the command of a new airborne regiment bound for Algeria. There the French are trying to prevent Algeria from obtaining full independence from France. Colonel Raspeguy (Anthony Quinn) commands his paratroopers (Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet..) in battle against the Algerian rebels led by his former Lt. Mahidi (George Segal). Set when the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) is leading the resistance in Algeria against their French rulers, the FLN that the colonial authorities believe, or want to believe, comprise only a small minority of the Muslim Algerian population in wanting Algerian independence. Subsequently, specifically violent incidents taking place in the battle in Algiers -between 1954 and the final time of independence in 1962- are introduced. Finally , the Évian Accords were a set of peace treaties signed on 18 March 1962 in Évian-les-Bains, France, by France and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic, the government-in-exile of FLN, which sought Algeria's independence from France. The Accords ended the 1954-1962 Algerian War with a formal cease-fire proclaimed for 19 March and formalized the status of Algeria as an independent nation and the idea of cooperative exchanges between the two countries . They lived and loved and fought across three continents ! The French Colonel...who was forced even to torture ! . One of the many women...who stopped at nothing to win! . The Revolt that Stirred the World!

Crisp adventure set in post-WWII North Africa where a French colonel, relieved of his command endeavors to regain power by battling a powerful Arab terrorist with his own specially trained platoon of soldiers. Four years after the end of the Algerian war, in which the African country gained independence from France, this film was made, of American production, but with a mostly European cast. The plot partially moves away from a critical vision of the conflict to present a film of war adventures, mostly set in the deserts of southern Spain, shot on various locations in La Pedriza, Manzanares el Real, Madrid, Adra, desert of Tabernas, Almería, Málaga, Andalucía, Cueva de los Medinas, Almería, and Roma Studios, Madrid. Scenes of incredibly tough paratroops training and sequences of bloodthirsty battles help to take you mind off thinking that the script story of France's war against Algeria. The movie's sympathies are with the tough pragmatism of Quinn's Basque-raised commander, yet at the same time there's room for comrade Delon to decry the use of torture and the point's made that the French military effort is wholment. That's why it contains a mixed message, resulting to be a curious amalgam of bang-bang action and pensive realpolitik so riveting, synthetic French dialogue and overlength notwithstanding. This committed and at times piercing film is a good company to the classic and much better 'The Battle of Algiers', but the latter is seminal semi-documentary style movie well directed by Gillo Pontecorvo; the Algerian government backed adapting Yacef's memoir as a film shot in black and white and experimented with various techniques to give the story the look of newsreel and documentary film.

The Lost Commando (1966) is a decent film which makes use of big-name actors, realistic violence, Robert Surtees' colorful cinematography, Franz Waxman's exciting score and a boldly propagandistic sense of social outrage . The motion picture was competently directed by Mark Robson, though has some flaws , gaps and failures. Rating: 6.5/10.

See it – This isn't a great war movie, but it's a pretty good action movie. Anthony Quinn leads French commandoes against a band of rebels in the Algerian War for Independence. The title is a bit misleading. It's not about a group of men who have gotten "lost" behind enemy lines. It's about Quinn's character, who loses command of his unit after a campaign in Middle China, and is given one last chance in Algeria to redeem himself. Willing to do anything to complete his mission, Quinn and his men tread the path of anti-heroes. The story doesn't flow particularly well, but the action and adventure is definitely there.

Currently a lot of rear echelon commandoes have denigrated the French for not being grateful lapdogs usually with asides about how they folded in WW2, had to be rescued, etc etc. If the brain dead actually read they would've learned that far from being the walkovers these "jokesters" portray the French soldier was and is just as courageous as his ancestors were in the wars of Europe and the quest for empire. This movie is a spirited reminder of that. Anthony Quinn as the peasant born French para officer has to fight the military politics as well as the armed enemy first at the doomed fort of Dienbienphu and later in Algeria. He's playing for keeps and he and his officers are going to to be ruthless. Good battle scenes and the luscious Claudia Cardinale make this a see it anytime movie for me.

It's 1954. Lt. Col. Pierre-Noel Raspeguy (Anthony Quinn) is in command at Dien Bien Phu. They would be captured by the Viet Minh marking the end of French involvement in Indochina. Captain Phillipe Esclavier (Alain Delon) is one of the few who survived a volunteer parachute drop into the doomed garrison. Rasepguy's reputation is saved by Escalavier's glowing review after the war. He is to lead a newly formed 10th Parachute Regiment in Algiers with volunteers and rejects from other regiments. His trusted subordinate Lt Ben Mahidi (George Segal) is an Algerian paratrooper who has gone missing. It turns out that Mahidi faced difficulties after returning home and has switched sides to fight for independence.

Algeria gained independence in 1962 after a referendum a year earlier. I can imagine that 1966 would be too soon and too late for this subject matter. The world probably moved on but it's also too soon to dissect this historically. I like the road traveled by Raspeguy and Mahidi. Esclavaier needs a bit more calibrating. He's too naive in some parts and too strident in other parts. He needs to say less. I'm fine with Raspeguy winning the battle. The movie needs to end with terrorist bombings to show that they are actually fighting a small battle in the wider war. There is also the ethnic problem with Segal playing an Arab. Quite frankly, Quinn would be closer in skin color. Their performances are fine but Segal does stand out in his crowd. While I like the slow progression of Raspeguy's descend, it does need more of the horrors. This is a compelling French history drama. I do want it to hit on the brutality a bit harder.