Dalle Ardenne all'inferno

The pleasure of seeing some good and dear actors again: Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi, Michel Constantin, Frederick Stafford. Curd Jürgens in the role of a good German general. Helmuth Schneider in the role of a very bad SS officer. The music signed by master Ennio Morricone with Bruno Nicolai is not great.

The Dirty Heroes Completely the worst war movie I have ever seen !!!!! talk about stereotypical,the Germans are all terrible shots and seem to be eager cannon-fodder, as they make little or no effort to take cover, dying in a hail of rounds screaming comic book "aieeeeeeeeeeee's" and thats not to mention the "ve haf vays of meking you talk" SS officer...oh my god !!! Another scene that really must be seen to be believed has Captain O'Connor flying over German lines in a reconnaissance plane which,is suddenly and miraculously transformed into a heavy bomber dropping its payload from wide-open bomb bays and pulverising the Germans beneath, before once more instantaneously reverting to being a small reconnaissance plane again. Since when did Recce planes carry bombs and what about the flagrant disregards of any orders !!!! Imagine if Monty had said " Oh Bugger Alamein, I'll attack Cairo instead...

In summary all I can say is avoid at all costs a complete waste of my time, wooden, NSF acting, terrible production costume design a blatant attempt to jump on the Dirty Dozen bandwagon and the only reason I kept watching was to see if it could get any worse !!!!...

(Talking of worse, the Italian and original title of the movie refers to the Ardennes-since when has Amsterdam, Holland, where the film is set, been anywhere near the bleedin Ardennes?...oh lord)

Possibly the best that I've watched of the "Euro-Cult" variations on Hollywood's war-themed spectaculars of the 1960s (ditto with respect to the films of director De Martino); that said, its overall quality is only comparable to second-tier legitimate efforts like, say, THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE (1968) or KELLY'S HEROES (1970)!

I've watched a few of these during the past year and they mostly emerged to be competent and enjoyable, but also instantly forgettable; being usually co-productions between various European countries, they still managed to attract a number of international stars. In this case, the hero is played by American Frederick Stafford (who later made BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN [1969] and EAGLES OVER London [1969]). Interestingly, the film co-stars four James Bond alumni in leading lady Daniela Bianchi (FROM Russia, WITH LOVE [1963]), Curd Jurgens (THE SPY WHO LOVED ME [1977]), Adolfo Celi (THUNDERBALL [1965]) and Anthony Dawson (DR. NO [1962]); also on hand are Howard Ross, Michel Constantine, John Ireland and, most impressively perhaps, Helmuth Schneider as a nasty SS officer.

What's unusual about this particular title is that it throws in an elaborate diamond caper (with access to the vault gained from under water) amidst the usual Nazis-vs.-Partisans action. Of course, to complicate matters further is the budding romance between Stafford and Bianchi (she's a Jew married to high-ranking German officer Jurgens!) and, besides, virtually all those involved have their own agenda as to what to do with the loot! The action sequences are no less sweeping than those of the typical Hollywood outing, particularly during the (rather protracted) climax – this is then followed by a clumsy attempt to tie up its many loose ends, thus making the whole even more overlong! As a matter of fact, in hindsight it seems that the film doesn't know whether it wants to be a straightforward war actioner, a tongue-in-cheek caper adventure or something a lot more solemn altogether, but at least it does have its moments in each of these facets.

Incidentally, this was one of the few times where composers Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai shared credit for a film score (which is alternately stirring and melancholy); usually, the latter either composed alone or conducted the former's themes.

The film is set in Holland 1945, last days of WWII, with two armies battling , the Montgomery powerful army and the remains of the Nazi batallions . At a concentration camp or Lager occurs two protagonists , Frédéric Stafford and Howard Ross as prisoners , get escaped. They are helped by a German guard, Michael Constantine, . The group team up with a Dutch partísan , Rollman : Adolfo Celi , to rob documents about V1 , V2 rockets and a loot of Netherland diamonds from underwater through the Nazi bowels to the vault safe-box located at the Wehrmacht headquarter . As the bunch looting or loving and they play it dirty . As they fight a dozen dirty different ways . Meanwhile, Frederick Stafford falls for a gorgeous Jew , Daniela Bianchi , married to a German general , Curd Jurgens.

Average warlike movie contains thrills , breathtaking scenes , noisy explosions , busy battles , vicious Nazis, and a spectacular caper . The film is set when the defeat of third Reich is imminent , in its ending confrontation and two armies take on each other , on the one hand the Allied Army and on the other hand the tarnishing garrisons of the third Reich. It is a middling actioner with some decent scenes , a straightforward warfare movie with lots of shootouts , a love story , a diamond caper, fights , twists and turns. Displaying a great number of extras, ships , tanks, machine guns , and soldiers with acceptable production design . In spite of some flaws and gaps , the Wartime action keeps breathless, thanks to tension and intrigue . Notable widescreen scenes , which will suffer on TV small screen and including several zooms , as usual . Main cast is passable . It stars Frédéric Stafford who played Hitcock's Topaz and two war films as Battle of Alamein by Giorgio Ferroni and Eagles over London by Enzo G Castell . Along with the beautiful Daniela Bianchi and Adolfo Celi , both of whom played James Bond movies. Support cast is pretty well formed by ordinary secondaries of the 60s and 70s such as Curd Jurgens , Anthony Dawson , Howard Ross, Tom Felleghy , John Bartha , among others . Special mention for Helmut Schneider as a nasty SS officer and John Ireland as an American pilot, captain O'Connor.

It has an attractive musical score by the great Ennio Morricone , helped by his regular collaborator Bruno Nicolai . Atmospheric cinematography in Technicolor Techniscope by cameraman Giovanni Bergamini, though a perfect remastering being absolutely necessary . Adding the brilliant matte shots and visual effects from Emilio Ruiz Del Rio and Alejandro Ulloa . This is an European coproduction among various countries : Italy , Germany , Holland , France , Spain and in enough budget. The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Alberto De Martino . Martino was a craftsman who directed all kinds of genres, getting some sucessess such as Puma man, Holocausto 2000, The antichrist , Django shoots first , Operation Lady Chaplin , Hero of Rome, Medusa against the son of Hercules , Seven Spartans , Horror , among others.

THis film titled Dirty heroes , or De las Ardenas al Infierno, or Della Ardenne all'inferno , belongs to a numerous group of European coproductions, usually Italian/Spanish , nicknamed Macarroni combat made throughout the late 1960 and beginnings 70s , imitating American ones , often directed by Enzo G Castelari ,Umberto Lenzi, José Luis Merino and León Klimovski , including old Hollywood stars as Hell brigade with Jack Palance , Eagles over London with Van Johnson, Command attack with Michael Rennie , The Legión of no return with Tab Hunter or this Dirty Heroes with John Ireland . All of them were supported by the Italian or Spanish army that lent tanks , weapons, soldiers to make these films.

Just watched this offering on movies4men.

I'm not sure if the first poster was watching the same film as the rest of us!

An unbelievable plot (or lack of it), dreadful script, wooden acting even from stars like Curt Jurgens, awful sets with absolutely no basis on historical reality, comic book Nazis, and so on.

This film was so embarrassingly bad it was captivating viewing. I found myself gasping in amazement at the awful cinematography, poor editing and the final clichéd romantic scene was just ....

Sorry (gulp) I can't take any more.