Giugno '44 - Sbarcheremo in Normandia

Following the huge international success of Robert Aldrich's "The Dirty Dozen", Italian and Spanish directors began to crank out very similar-looking action flicks. "Commando Attack" is probably among the worst of the slew of commando movies to "grace" the late 1960s, distinguishable only because of the appearance by screen legend Michael Rennie (!) and a superb Bruno Nicolai score.

American commandos are given three days to locate and destroy a radio station in Normandy. The "commandos" are all volunteers, mostly misfits and off-kilter types, immediately bringing to mind the dregs of the famed "Dirty Dozen".

Director Klimovsky doesn't seem to care much for accuracy in any aspect of his film. All he wants to do is deliver enough action to satisfy any blood-hungry viewer and rip-off "The Dirty Dozen" to make a fast buck as quickly as possible. The Americans wear surplus NATO uniforms, the only accurate thing about them being the helmets. One officer is seen to bearing a post-WWII Air Force blue uniform, even though the Air Force didn't exist as an independent branch of the armed forces until WWII was over. Americans and Germans alike are armed with modern weapons, including Beretta sub-machine guns and G3 assault rifles.

For an action-based movie, one would think the director would at least make sure his combat scenes looked decent. Instead, Klimovsky disregards any realism. The Americans wander about the French countryside, killing off dozens of German soldiers who conveniently show up whenever the pace lags, as well as blowing up a few tanks, trucks and halftracks! And the German area command doesn't realize that enemy commandos have landed in their territory? The German soldiers are total incompetents, who can't seem to raise, aim or fire their weapons and simply allow themselves to be mowed down by substantially smaller and insufficiently armed Allied troops.

What ought to be a climactic ending turns into a blatant Dirty Dozen rip-off, as the commandos assault a huge French château in a halftrack, shooting up the place and killing hordes of onrushing German soldiers. This sequence probably features the most unintentionally funny scenes in the movie, the first being a shot of an animated (!) château exploding and the second being a scene of a German soldier running by the camera, his body ablaze, screaming in agony – but the fire looks face and the scream sounds fake, the whole shot just looks staged.

The film is set in occupied France, but where are the cobblestone villages and French peasants who make up most of Normandy? As in "Battle of the Commandos", our heroes wander about a deserted countryside, dotted by rock quarries and scrub brush. It's evident that the film was shot in back lots of Spain, and doesn't look a thing like occupied France.

The characters are poorly developed and run together throughout. The commando leader is Sgt. Blynn (Michael Rennie, "The Battle of El Alamein"), who actually seems to be taking himself seriously. He's got some lines to utter which are supposed to be powerful, and he delivers them with conviction, despite how corny the surroundings are. His performance in the final shots is way over the top, and not to be missed for pure unintended hilarity. Bob Sullivan – a European pseudonym whom I can't tie to another film – as well as Guido Lollobrigida, Aldo Sambrell, Juan Luis Gagliardo and Jose Manuel Martin offer some fair support, but never get to do much because of weak scripting.

The editing is poor, the direction sub-optimal and the scenery weak. Action sequences are badly shot and poorly staged, and there is no human drama to offset this. Bruno Nicolai's awesome score is the only good thing about this movie, besides a sincere performance by Michael Rennie. Director Klimovsky would do much better in "Hell's Brigade: The Final Assault" soon hereafter.

3/10

Pepperoni/Paella WWII film co-produced by Italy/Spain upon a commando assigned a risked mission behind enemy lines , starred by Michael Rennie as a veteran , stiff-upper-lip sergeant called Blynn who leads a group of convicts in France . The assignment : search out and destroy a radio station in Normandy before the D-Day invasion , it threatens the imminent allied landings . It is a suicide mission , that's why the brave army sergeant takes convicts on his next objective . The misfit squadron on a dangerous aim : to explode a radio station before it's used against the Allied forces about to land in Normandy , and that could have changed the course of WWII . These are the followings : the two-fisted Rob (Juan Luis Galiardo) , the sex-crazed Alan (Guido Lollobrigida as Lee Burton) , a very young Cliff (Bob Sullivan) , the violent Aldo Sambrell , José Manuel Martín and Alvaro De Luna . Along the way they meet some partisans (José Bódalo , Mónica Randall , Verónica Luján) . As the bunch of guys on the run racing against the clock to complete their assignment . The commando force is ambushed by the nasty Nazis and traitors and Blynn becomes obsessed with taking on their assignment ; he's got a mission and will stop at nothing to accomplish it , even though it means the death of just about everyone under his command . At the end the brave command assaults the fortress but the German commander and his underlings defend -in blood and fire- the impregnable station . Many of them are killed , but Blynn insists on attempting to complete the commandos' mission.

Set during World War where starring Michael Rennie is assigned by the US command a lethal order : they have decided to blow up a radio station , as the sergeant names six ex-con soldiers who will accompany him to the deadly mission . Thrilling and stirring screenplay by Manuel Sebares and Roberto Gianviti based on a story by Mortimer . It is a combination of the classic US war movies , including the usual themes : impossible mission , rivalry among members , and familiar anti-heroes taken from ¨Dirty Dozen¨ . Michael Rennie assumes the character of commando leader in this ordinary wartime movie regularly directed by Leon Klimovsky . This moving film packs frantic thrills , perilous adventures , relentless feats , and buck-loads of explosive action and violence . This is a Tortilla/Maccaroni Western with machine gun and tanks instead of horses and six-shooters . The frenetic action is mechanically made , and especially deserving of mention the rip-roaring final scenes in which the motley group carry out the spectacular attack , including some noisy shootouts and bombing . The first half of the film allows the colorful cast of character actors to have their fun and confrontation with their leader . The final part is all action , as the brave commando wreak havoc , blowing up the radio station and then run for their lives . The film results to be a typical warfare flick , usual of the sixties . The roles are never really fleshed out , but for a short-budget warlike movie , they have got more dimensionality than we have come to expect . It stars the British Michael Rennie who gives passable acting , brought to Hollywood in 1950 and signed to a contract by studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, Rennie was cast in arguably his most popular role as Klaatu in the classic film ¨ The day earth stood still¨ , and others as ¨Demetrius and the gladiators¨ , ¨Les Miserables¨ and ¨The rob¨ . At the end his career he performed some Italian/Spanish films , such as : "Dracula vs. Frankenstein" , "Naked You Die" , ¨La Battaglia Di El Alamein¨ . Rennie is supported by an acceptable cast plenty of familiar faces . As the largely secondary cast formed by a lot of Spanish/Italian secondaries , all of them ordinary from Spaghetti/Paella Western , such as Spanish actors : Alvaro De Luna , Aldo Sambrell , Monica Randall ; as Italian players : Raf Baldassarre and Guido Lollobrigida , Gina Lollobrigida's brother . This one belongs to Klimovsky's trilogy about WWII , including tarnishing Hollywood stars , such as ¨Hell's brigade¨ with Jack Palance , ¨Bridge of No Returns" with Tab Hunter and ¨Command attack¨ with Michael Rennie . All of them supported by the Spanish Army that lent tanks , weapons , soldiers and extras to make these films . Atmospheric as well as strange musical score by Bruno Nicolai , usual collaborator to Ennio Morricone . Mediocre cinematography in Eastmancolor filmed by cameraman Godofredo Pacheco , a perfect remastering is extremely necessary . Being filmed on location in Casa De Campo , Madrid , Navacerrada mountains , Colmenar Viejo , La Pedriza , Madrid , where in the 60s and 70s were filmed lots of Westerns . This is a wartime typical vehicle and into the ¨warlike commando sub-genre¨ , in USA style which also belong the American classics as : ¨Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich) ¨ , ¨Navarone guns¨ (J.Lee Thompson) , ¨Where eagles dare (Brian G. Hutton)¨ , ¨Kelly's heroes (Hutton)¨ , ¨Tobruk (Arthur Hiller)¨ , ¨Devil's Brigade (Andrew V McLagen)¨ and many others .

This¨Giugno '44 Sbarcheremo in Normandia" or "Commando Attack" or ¨Junio 44: Desembarcaremos En Normandía!!!¨ was middlingly directed by Leon Klimovsky . This Argentina born but nationalized Spanish filmmaker was a craftsman who directed all kind genres , as Terror for Paul Naschy (Marshall of hell , Rebellion of dead one , Orgy of vampires , Werewolf shadow , Dr Jekill vs. the werewolf) , Warlike (A bullet for Rommel, Bridge over Elba) and Western (Badland drifter , Some dollars for Django , Torrejon city , Death knows no time, Two thousand dollars for Coyote). Rating: 4 , inferior WWII movie but entertaining.

I watched this film some time ago, it´s full of bad special effects, bad actors, very, very bad equipment-the G.I.´s carry German G3 assault guns and italian Beretta submachine guns. There is almost no plot. The allied commandos want to destroy a german radio outpost in Normandy, they don´t find it. An old woman tells them where the base is, 5 minutes before the film ends. "Very credible!" Don´t watch this movie if you wanna be entertained! I had to watch it and warn you now not to spend a cent for lending this video!!!