Carter's Army

At first glance this gives the impression that it is going to be a laughable blaxploitation flick, and it does contain moments where it veers in that direction. However, the basic story idea is much stronger than might be expected, and is a respectable effort at portraying racial issues in the World War II era Army. The recognizable cast is hit and miss, with Glynn Turman, Richard Pryor and the underused Billy Dee Williams faring best. Stephen Boyd, however, stops just short of twirling his bushy mustache in an overindulgent star turn.

The obviously low budget leads to inconsistency in the production values. The locations are great, the effects and action are weak. Imagine if "Saving Private Ryan" had consisted of half the platoon getting killed exactly the same way Vin Diesel's Caparzo had (except we do get to see the shot because they effects can't handle it), then Hanks, Damon and Burns drove around in a jeep and shot five Germans for the climax. Yet, the denouement, with the heroic soldiers receiving no respect for their accomplishment because they are black, and Boyd's racist Captain being effected by this, is compelling, as are the sequences of of Turman's character writing in a journal of his imagined exploits if the soldiers were allowed to fight instead of digging latrines.

In short, "Black Brigade/Carter's Army" doesn't quite succeed. But it's a respectable failure, not a bad joke. It could be remade as a very good film, and, as it stands, is an interesting effort.

I was damn near ready to turn this movie off when I saw that "B" company, the Black Brigade, was a bunch of back alley fools shooting dice, drinking wine, and acting foolish. Did I mention that this was at an outpost in Europe during WWII? Oh, I forgot to mention that? Now you know. They were so uncouth and ignorant they couldn't behave like soldiers during the war. They looked like F Troop except dumber and lazier. Pretty much every negative stereotype that you'd have about a black soldier: too old, too fat, too scared, too dumb, too shiftless, too lazy, and overall incompetent.

A company of clowns. But, the blame wasn't entirely on them. They were ill-prepared from the start. They never went through basic training, never given duties other than manual labor, they were never even properly screened (one soldier was deaf and another was well over 270 pounds)! So, even though they were a company of clowns it was almost as if they were set up to be so.

Finally, they were given a captain and a mission. Their new captain was a white Georgian named Captain Carter (Hence the movie title Carter's Army). Their mission: take a dam and hold it for reinforcements.

Their captain was a racist to be sure, but he definitely had some valid complaints. He wasn't given soldiers he was given a circus. Nevertheless, he was responsible for taking this band of unprepared personnel on a suicide mission.

This movie wasn't a total waste though. It needed to be longer with more character development, but this is what we got. With actors like Richard Pryor, Billy Dee (sans mustache, lye, and relaxer), Glynn Turman, and Robert Hooks I was expecting something better. They were given so little to work with though. There was a slight redemption for the movie at the end, yet nothing enough to completely rescue this film. The movie plot was a noble one and I can only assume that intentions were good. Still, I think Glory did a lot better with the same concept.

OK, first off I should say that I found this DVD for only $1.00 at Wal-Mart. That alone is scary-- I knew it might stink, but with the cast list, I thought it might actually be OK, and it is. It's a crappy DVD transfer though, but for 1 dollar I can't complain too much! It's what I thought it was, a TV movie originally aired on ABC from 1969 written by TV mogul Aaron Spelling and Produced by the great Danny Thomas Productions, who produced in such classic TV shows as The Dick Van Dyke Show, That Girl, The Andy Griffith Show, etc,.

This film stars Stephen Boyd, a great character actor/leading man known for his roles in such movies as 'Ben Hur' and 'Fantatstic Voyage'. It features young newcomers such as Richard Pryor and Billy Dee Williams & football star Rosie Grier in great supporting roles as members of an all-black WW II US Army company ('B' Company) in France who are doing the 'grunt' work of the Army. Digging latrines, digging graves, dealing with garbage, etc. Basically getting No Respect.

Blacks were considered second class citizens during WW II. The story shows how Racist Redneck Major Carter (Boyd) is asked to go on a dangerous mission to blow up a Dam held by the Nazis and the only company of men to help accomplish the task are 'B' Company, (the all black company). They appear lazy and shiftless to Lieutenant Carter, who doesn't believe they can help him blow up the dam. Little does he know, they are more than up for the job. Carter asks their lieutenant in charge for 'volunteers', and he picks 6 men, including Pryor, Williams & Grier.

It's fairly standard TV movie fare, and it's kind of neat to see Pryor and Williams in early roles, as well as great black character actors Moses Gunn & Glynn Thurman (Cooley High)--as well as Susan Oliver, a great blonde character actress who appeared in lots of TV drama in the 60's on shows like 'Star Trek', 'Mannix', 'The Wild Wild West',etc.

I think it's a nice forgotten addition to black cinema, and shows that black men in WWII could be just as heroic as their white brothers. It's an interesting look at race relations in the late 60's context too, what with the Black Panther movement and all. It's kind of funny how all the black actors have big afros and a few have mustaches/goatees--not typical of WWII U.S.Army standards, but more like1969 fashion. Pryor sports a natty red beret throughout the whole story, too. I guess I recommend it as a piece of nostalgia. Again, The DVD transfer is Horrid, but viewable.

An army officer is given a dangerous mission to go behind German front lines . What makes this WW2 different ? Well it involves some funky black dudes kick some Nazi ass and we are talking right on funky bro , so much so it's almost like the black anti-thesis to THE ETERNAL JEW but that would be a compliment and the first ten minutes are patronising as to be insulting not only to black people but anyone watching THE BLACK BRIGADE . Try and imagine Richard Pryor in a relatively semi serious role and you can see where the film's flaws lie

This is a pity because despite being far from a classic WW2 actioner or even a classic TVM THE BLACK BRIGADE is a much better film than I thought possible once I got past the dreadful first ten minutes . Okay it's not great , it's made on a very limited budget in some woodland in California somewhere and it has that seen it all before usually done better . That said it does make some important points about soldiering . Soldiering isn't all about charging machine gun nests and wiping out the enemy single handed , soldiering you see often involves long period of boredom and mundane tasks like digging latrines . A jobs a job and a soldier is a soldier and someone wearing an army uniform is worthy of respect regardless of what regiment he belongs to and what his tasks are . THE BLACK BRIGADE occasionally touches upon these points and one wishes it had concentrated on these points more rather than being a bit too funky for its own good

Was a kid when I saw this movie first air on ABC television as it introduced me to a World War II U.S. Army that I didn't know existed. Yes, the mysterious, wooden and often referred to obnoxious Stephen Boyd is in it along with superstars Rosie, Richard and Billy Dee. One of Ireland's most famous Hollywood actors, Boyd was a genuine thespian who shines in his role as the angry officer. The wonderful Susan Oliver's not too shabby either. Neat little drama for fans of the "Ben-Hur" and "Fantastic Voyage" guy. It's a sad note that Stephen died before he had successfully comeback into the arms of Tinsel Town after knocking about in Europe doing no-money/no fame work, but that was his thing. See him in "The Oscar" as he's a hoot in the bomb and he'd be the first to tell ya.