Paratroop Command

"Paratroop Command" is not a typical sort of war film. It's from the ultra-cheap studio, American International Pictures. And, it's not really about a company or squad of men...more the story of one hard luck soldier during WWII.

When the story begins, Charlie (Richard Bakalyan) shoots a member of his own company....though it really isn't his fault. After all, the dead guy was dressed as a German soldier and was waving his fun about as if he was going to shoot Charlie's fellow soldiers! But one member of the company hounds Charlie...telling him that he murdered this man! And, through the course of the film, Charlie works had to overcome this distinction.

Despite the film being cheap and obviously filmed in California instead of North Africa and Italy, the story itself is sound and works because of it. While not a brilliant film by any means, it's a good example of a cheap movie done right.

Charlie (Bakalyan) joins the paratroops because he has failed at everything else in his life. When he accidently kills another GI, things really take a turn down. The cast of relative unknowns does a fine job, and Bakalyan shows flashes of brilliant acting ability that thus far have gone undiscovered. This one is low-buck all the way, puts stock war footage to good use, but well worth catching on the late show.

This film was screened on Sony Movies Action the other evening, so I recorded it. I gave up after 15 minutes (so I missed the skinny-dipping scene mentioned by another reviewer). The battle scene (actually just a skirmish) went on and on, and it was difficult to distinguish who was who, not helped by none of the actors being familiar.

It's good to see veteran character actor Richard Bakalyan in pretty much anything, and he gets to show his stuff in this low-budget WW II "epic" from American-International and action specialist William Witney. Ken Lynch, a familiar face who specialized in playing tough cops and soldiers, is also quite good as an officer who leads his squad of paratroopers in a jump behind enemy lines. Unfortunately, the film itself isn't up to the talents of Bakalyan, Lynch or Witney. The supporting performances range from sub-par to embarrassing--not particularly surprising considering the hack script by producer Stan Shpetner--and the action scenes are poorly handled by the usually reliable Witney. The film is worth a look if you're a Dick Bakalyan fan, but otherwise there's not much else to recommend it.

This is the type of b movie you would love when you were a kid . Soldiers just shooting at each other a lot 😂😂. If Quentin terrantino thinks it's great then what do those other reviewers know?