Brass Target

A 'maybe it happened this way' WWII thriller from the 70's. A consignment of captured German gold is on its way to its new home guarded by American troops when it's robbed prompting a CID officer played John Cassavettes to investigate what happened. Up the ladder of command Patton (George Kennedy) is grilled by the Russians on the theft so he decides to stick his nose in as well prompting the real thieves to hire an assassin (Max Von Sydow) to take care of 'ol Blood & Guts & anyone else who comes close to finding who did the deed. Not very good w/a bevy of talent, namely Sophia Loren, wasted as window dressing as we're more than a few steps ahead of the investigation than than person assigned to investigate.

Interesting and intriguing tale of murder and conspiracy is set in the closing days of WWII, concerning a plot to assessinate General George S Patton for the sake of 250 million dollars in Nazi gold, being robbed from a train to Frankfurt by an undercover staff involved in the vast gold bars heist .The Germans hid it . The Russians want it . The Americans stole General George S Patton may die for it ...suspense that reaches the highest rank . In December 1945 , America's most controversial General, George S Patton , was killed in an auto accident in Germany . 250 million dollars in gold says it was no accident .

Thrilling robbery movie about a train heist, it contains action, thrills, Bond-style techno-glamour , complex narrative with red herrings and labyrinthine plot, as well as nice cast, but all these things can not find the convoluted story. Pure Hollywood profitable hokum at its most ridiculous premise as General George S Patton was allegedly killed because of a large lot of gold robbed after WWII, being committed by a suspicious staff formed by ambitious subordinates . The film goes for various targets as suspenseful narration with stubborn investigation , historical significanc or hard preparation of an assassination, but missing them all . Mining the boxoffice vein of "Days of the Jackal" by Fred Zinneman with Max Von Sidow in Edward Fox-alike role, and even copying some scenes. Rating PG (Parents Guide) for violence, and moderated language. Main and support cast are pretty good. As trio of protagonists : John Cassavetes, Sophia Loren, Max Von Sidow are very fine, though Loren as the woman with a past holds an unnessary, superflous role . Support cast is filled with familiar faces giving acceptable acting , such as : Bruce Davison, Patrick McGoohan, Robert Vaughan, Ed Bishop, Edward Herrmann, and two historical characters performed by Lee Montague as Lucky Luciano and George Kennedy as George S Patton.

Special mention for the rousing and powerful musical score by Laurence Rosenthal in Jerry Goldsmith style. Cinematography by Tony Imi is passable, though a perfect remastering being really necessary. The motion picture was professionally directed by John Hough, though it has some flaws, gaps and failures. John Hough is a nice British artisan with a long career directing all kinds of genres such as terror, fantasy, thriller, drama, and adventure, in films as Treasure Island, The watcher in the woods, Eye witness, Escape to Witch Mountain, Return from Witch Mountain, The Black Arrow, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Incubus, Triumphs of a Man called House, Biggles, Twins of Evil, Howling 4, Incubus, The legend of hell house, American Gothic, The Lady and the Highwayman, The Dying Truth, Duel of Hearts, Hells's gate, among others.

I remember watching this as a kid when it first came out. And it stuck in my mind. More than 40 years later, I still remember the intricacy of the assassination plot against Patton. "Just make it look like an accident, 007" - well, this scenario does just that. Max von Sydow was in his prime as an unassuming hit man, who could wear any disguise and pull it off spectacularly. That it still sticks to my mind 40 years later is a testament to how impressed I was with the movie.

In this one, george kennedy is patton. Some other big names here... sophia loren and john cassavetes! Robert vaughan, patrick mcgoohan, max von sydow. After world war two, the shipment of gold the nazis had amassed is ordered back to frankfurt. But a corrupt group of united states military officials decide to take the gold and knock off patton. Can they take him out before the investigation uncovers the details of the heist? And how does mara fit in ? How much does she know? Directed by john hough. Novel by fred nolan. It's pretty good. Not the tightest script, but we get the idea. Patton died in december of 1945, and the gold was never recovered, according to the film itself.

If you take Brass Target as a re-imagination of the situation in post-WWII Europe, similar to "Inglorious Basterds"©, this movie is easier to accept. However, any similarity to "Inglorious Basterds"© ends there. I feel this is a film made due to contractual obligations and maintaining SAG membership. The only reason I ever watched this film is because I was an extra in it, and even actually appear on screen for a second. Other than that, I MAY have been tempted to watch it once by some of the names, in particular Patrick McGoohan and George Kennedy, but other than my own one second of film glory, I wouldn't own it. The plot is completely implausible. I feel the actors make the best of it out of sheer professional pride. Here's a trivia point for you IMDb© keepers out there: Many of the extras are actually U.S. Army personnel recruited from troops serving in Munich at the time the movie was shot.