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Ski Troop Attack (1960)

User reviews

Ski Troop Attack

18 reviews
4/10

Won't stand out, but watchable

This is a very average war film. We follow a small group of soldiers on skis.

For low budget, this works very well. Of course, what Corman and others call low budget is still much more than most of us will ever get our hands on.

We get the story of 5 men, but it soon becomes 4, so 4 characters are followed through. They stray just slightly off the common stereotypes, but not much. We have the leader and second in command at some odds, with a split between the other two men aligning with the two leaders.

We get the excitement of the film feud with the two other men as well, much as minor characters cajole each other in films like "Escape From Fort Bravo" and "Warpath". This one has the Norhterner-Southerner reference, and we feel either both will perish, or both will survive.

The uniforms and vehicles are different, and the scenery makes this unique in war films. Not a great film by any stretch, but not close to the worst.
  • drystyx
  • Feb 8, 2010
  • Permalink
3/10

A Roger Corman Shoot In Dante's Ninth Circle

In the Battle of the Bulge, four American ski troopers try to avoid the Germans and win the war.

It's a typical cheap Roger Corman picture from the period. The sound is bad, the music for the score screams it's the 1960s, and cinematographer Andrew Costikyan struggles in vain to get some interesting shots of men in white ski outfits against the snowy lands of the Dakotas. It was a trouble-plagued shoot; one snowbank that was supposed to collapse on cue did so prematurely, leading Corman to order his crew to stop it.

War movies had certainly changed since the 1940s, with their Willie-and-Joe attitudes of "Let's get it done so we can get home alive" to bickering with the Military Academy lieutenant, and shooting the German fräulein in her Midwestern kitchen. Film-making for Corman in this period was a matter of looking under sofa cushions to find money for film stock, and his ability to hold his crew together was predicated on the hope that if they got through this shoot, somewhere down the road someone would see they had worked on a movie before, and ask no further questions. the only thing sustaining Corman was that the big studios had eliminated the programmer, so teenagers could either stay home with their parents and watch TV or go to a Corman picture and make out with their girlfriends.
  • boblipton
  • Nov 12, 2019
  • Permalink
5/10

Simple but serviceable wartime cheapie from low-budget maestro Roger Corman.

  • barnabyrudge
  • Jul 30, 2015
  • Permalink

Good

Ski Troop Attack (1960)

*** (out of 4)

Ultra low-budget Roger Corman flick about a group of Americans (on skis) stuck behind German lines. The film is certainly very silly but at the same time it remains very interesting throughout. Considering Corman only took two weeks shooting this thing it's rather amazing at how good it came out looking. There's some very nice cinematography and the locations are great. There's really nothing overly special about this film but it does contain some nice action and a rather unique story.
  • Michael_Elliott
  • Mar 10, 2008
  • Permalink
2/10

Great scenery and decent premise undone by cheapness

In a snowy German forest, stranded GI's observe stock WWII footage and evade the enemy. Aside from some testy exchanges with a frosty fraulein, the stick-figure characters bark war-comic banalities (though the script's feverish dialogue and structure might have made a swell comic!). The troop's captain is constantly baited by his smug, war-happy sargeant. One assumes a showdown will ensue, but the budget must not have allowed for even modestly choreographed fistcuffs. The equally anticlimactic finale has the soldiers destroying a bridge that's "an impossible target from the air." (??!) Bereft of stuntwork or even a passable master shot, the lucky viewer is left with a jumble of grimacing-face close-ups and mismatched model train footage that even Al Adamson would disown. Roger Corman always blames this dog's shortcomings on production snafus...yet a rookie director employed most of the same cast,crew, and locations for BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE (shot back-to-back with SKI TROOP), and that schlocker turned out OK. Corman's apparent strategy was to grab as much footage in as little time possible and hope to cobble together something watchable in post. As a result, many scenes look interchangeable, and there's little dramatic flow. You can make a good cheap war flick with a tiny cast (BATTLE OF BLOOD ISLAND, '60) and scant action (UNDER FIRE, '57), but this sucker should be avoided like a cloud of mustard gas.
  • Zontar-2
  • Jan 13, 2005
  • Permalink
3/10

Pretty dull...but it made money

Roger Corman has a track record that no other filmmaker can match. While he's produced and directed well over 500 films, mostly VERY cheap ones, only one of his movies ever lost money*...so he is an expert at economical filmmaking as well judging the taste of the viewing public.

This is a WWII action picture filmed, of all places, around Deadwood, South Dakota in the Black Hills. It looks good in the movie but is an odd choice that's awfully far from Hollywood. Corman chose this place because he was offered financial incentives by the local government to film there. It stars Michael Forest, a guy who is still making pictures into his 90s, as he recently appeared in a Star Trek fan fiction film that is surprisingly watchable ("Pilgrim of Eternity") as well as a film released in 2020...though I have to admit that "Unbelievable" is total garbage and Forest must have needed the money!

As for the film, it's just okay...at best. While Forest is pretty good, the rest of the cast is pretty forgettable and the story never is all that interesting. I see it as a time-passer or film Corman-lovers should see...all others...you could do better.

*Amazingly, the only film Corman made that lost money was "The Intruder"....one of his BEST films. I strongly recommend you see it!
  • planktonrules
  • Jul 26, 2021
  • Permalink
3/10

Monogram and PRC war dramas get the Corman treatment...which means more violence.

  • mark.waltz
  • Jan 6, 2021
  • Permalink
4/10

Ski Troop Attack in WWII

Roger Corman both directed and produced this WWII film set in late 1944 on the snowy mountains of Germany where the Allied Ski Troop (led by Michael Forest) are ordered to attack a trestle where an Axis train will be crossing, and the efforts of the local Nazi ski troops to stop them blowing it up, and the friction between the men as well.

Mediocre film has nice location filming in the snowy Black Hills of South Dakota but little character identification or involvement, limiting viewer story interest in the brief (73 minute) runtime. Still a cult favorite to some though. Made concurrently (with much of the same cast and in South Dakota) as the more well known "Beast from Haunted Cave."
  • AaronCapenBanner
  • Oct 25, 2023
  • Permalink
1/10

Ski Soldiers

'Ski Troop Attack' must be one of the lousiest war war movies ever made, and it is by far the worst Roger Corman's movie. The film is incoherent and sloppy (not unusual traits for Roger Corman's film), but at the same time it lacks that unique taste of cheese and sleaze. The film is not laughably bad, by that I mean 'Ski Troop Attack' don't fall into beloved category of 'so bad it's good' - that particular film is just bad. By the time the film reaches it's climax you don't even care anymore.

The story in general is not that bad - in a snowy German forests and mountains US Army ski patrol has to cross behind enemy lines to blow up strategically important railroad bridge. The squad have to defend themselves against constant attacks of German troops. Within the group there are conflicts between young lieutenant (Michael Forest) and hard talking sergeant (Frank Wolff), but these quarrels stay too calm and never grow into real competition. Basically, nothing that much different compared from other war movies. There was one interesting scene between American troops and a wife of a German soldier that promised something different, but that opportunity was left fully exploited.

I don't call any movie a waste of time ever (not even in this particular case), but I wouldn't recommend that movie to anyone. 'Ski Troop Attack' is suitable watching only for hardcore Corman fans who are interested of how dull and dreary snore-fest on of the most interesting and entertaining filmmakers can produce. Sloppily directed, poorly written, badly edited. Well, what did you expect, some might ask - I expected to be entertained.
  • hrkepler
  • Jun 2, 2018
  • Permalink
7/10

Christmas 1944 in the land of the Christmas Trees

A central paradox of the Battle of the Bulge was that with all that snow it was the most photogenic but probably the most miserable to actually participate in. It's characteristic of the sardonic tone of Corman's war movies that the obligatory female turns out not to be a sweet young fraulein but a fervant Nazi who still believes the war was started by the Poles.
  • richardchatten
  • Jun 14, 2022
  • Permalink
4/10

Men on a Misson

A man on a mission film made in a couple of weeks after the wrapping of Beast from Haunted Cave, sort of like how She Gods of Shark Reef was made in the remainder of time in Hawaii after Naked Paradise wrapped, Ski Troop Attack is pretty much the refuse of a production schedule. That it's narrative ambitions are fairly modest ends up being a benefit to the whole thing, though. I mean, get a group of dudes, put them on a mission, carry out mission is not a hard formula, right? Well, Corman and Charles Griffith don't do it particularly well, but...there are worse out there.

Lieutenant Factor (Michael Forest) is leading a small group of American soldiers deep into German territory in the middle of winter to do reconnaissance on the area. His second in command, Sergeant Potter (Frank Wolff) is a hothead who starts the film opening fire on a passing German patrol, killing them all despite Factor's orders that the mission shouldn't involve fighting unless necessary. That's...about the limit of characterization we're going to get. The other members of the troupe never have any real imprint or prominence.

The core issue with the film isn't the characters, though, it's the haphazard structure. There's no actual mission other than recon. They have a couple of encounters, but there's no building to anything. There eventually is something, the blowing of a bridge, but it doesn't appear as an idea until very late in the film. Until then, it's a series of mechanical events as the group finds a bit of trouble and gets themselves out. This could work fine if the character work was detailed and the vignettes were designed to bring out their characters in new and interesting ways. But, that's not really what happens. It's really just scenes that happen in war movies with thin characters playing around in them.

The biggest is when, after an attack, the men find an isolated house where Ilse (Sheila Carol), a dedicated German wife to a German officer. They have to hide. She doesn't want them around. Things are tense. They end up...killing her. It could be a whole thing about harshness and realities in war, but nothing is given any time to consider any consequences, and we're off to have more adventures. Including the boys having Christmas in a cave.

The plot, such as it is, eventually develops when Factor decides that they've finished reconning the sector they're supposed to but wants an answer as to how German tanks are getting to American lines. Factor decides to attack a key bridge in the next sector, and the men have a mission. Really, this should have been the mission from the very beginning. Each event should have been a step towards their goal. Instead, most of the film is just a series of random, war-related events with cardboard characters.

The finale of the film is an extended bit of suspense and a chase in the snow that feels like a predecessor to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and it's all decently well done. Corman was always good for a well-filmed chase and action sequence to finish a film. It's just kind of an empty exercise, the biggest emotional catharsis we get when Factor gets to have an "I told you so" moment with Potter when it's all over.

Is this good? I wouldn't say so. It's too thin, the structure too random, and almost none of the events actually feed from one to the next. Performances are fine, nothing to write home about, and when the film finally does get something like a plot, it's decent. Thin, but decently executed.

As a leftover to fill a few days in a schedule, there are worse things out there. This isn't good. It's not even okay, but it's far from the worst.
  • davidmvining
  • Feb 27, 2025
  • Permalink
10/10

Best of Corman's early dramatic efforts.

Another moment when the low rating for a film at IMDb doesn't make sense.

A tight, taut, tough-minded little war movie, this is Corman on a low budget at his absolute best. Most of Cormans problems in his early years derived from a lack of knowing where to cut scenes and move on, and a fatal dependence on the performances of inadequate actors. The editing here is very crisp - even the use of documentary footage is handled well, although its grain admittedly never meshes with that of the film as a whole. And while the acting remains unexceptional, it never becomes excessive in an amateurish way, and it fits with the overall gritty realism of the picture.

Corman benefits here from a surprisingly strong story and script that leaves its thematic issues open to interpretation. The issues receive temporary resolution by the end the hard way - through combat, as is most often the case in a war.

I'm not saying this is a forgotten masterpiece, but it is certainly worth a view, and at 63 minutes hardly threatens to tax one's patience.
  • winner55
  • Jan 16, 2009
  • Permalink
6/10

I like it even though its a cheapo production

  • dbborroughs
  • Nov 13, 2009
  • Permalink

Short and tense war drama

And not only drama, but also action flick. Yes it is very short, one hour and three minutes, and character study very effective for such a short length time. I spent a good time. Roger Corman will do it again in the war film genre, several years later, with SECRET INVASION, with a bigger budget - because Corman did not make only small budgets features - so this one could be seen as a kind of first draw for SECRET INVASION; though the plot is not the same. The woman character is surprisingly good, with an unexpected sequence with her. I guess this film should be more shown to audiences. Corman fans or not...
  • searchanddestroy-1
  • Sep 25, 2023
  • Permalink
6/10

Turning a white hell red with enemy blood.

The heroes in this low budget WWII feature are normally a reconnaissance unit, but eventually decide that they can do a lot of good by destroying a bridge vital to the Nazis. The story deals with the camaraderie between the guys, as well as the tensions between them: the lieutenant in charge (Michael Forest) often butts heads with his problematic sergeant (Frank Wolff).

Always looking to save money whenever he could, producer / director Roger Corman filmed this one in South Dakota after the production of "Beast from Haunted Cave" finished shooting. He utilized much of the same cast & crew that worked on "Beast", including stars Forest and Wolff. While the story is not a bad one, per se (the script is by Corman collaborator of the period Charles B. Griffith, and you could usually expect some good dialogue from him), it's largely an unremarkable one. It's not lacking in atmosphere, fortunately, and the action scenes are decent. Despite the efforts of a capable cast (also including Sheila Noonan, Richard Sinatra, and Wally Campo from "Beast"), the scenery is the real star of this thing. You do get a true sense of people working against not just human opponents, but the elements, as well.

All in all, "Ski Troop Attack" is passably entertaining, but not as memorable as other Corman / Film Group pictures around this time.

Corman himself appears on screen, uncredited and dubbed, as the leader of the bad guys.

Six out of 10.
  • Hey_Sweden
  • Jan 21, 2024
  • Permalink
9/10

Suspenseful war film

Considering Roger Corman shot this in two weeks, it's an amazingly good- looking film. Quite suspenseful and action-packed with a unique setting -- the ski troops we had in the German mountains. Holds interest all the way through and never betrays a low budget. Very worthwhile.
  • D-co
  • Nov 15, 2002
  • Permalink
6/10

"Supposing they make 2 bullets with your name on it..."

A small troop of U.S. soldiers on skis (was that a thing?) in WWII Germany come across Axis activity & sort of stalk them & devise a plan to blow a bridge to stop the advance. They end up battling a small group of Germans on skis who are trying to stop the Americans from stopping the Germans.

Corman's first attempt at a war movie I believe. Not bad, actually a lot of elements and scenes that are reminiscent of Saving Pvt. Ryan. Not saying that they were originally Corman's ideas, but definitely similar.

Good character sketches and some development. Reasonably good acting and action.
  • alminator1
  • Nov 9, 2018
  • Permalink
6/10

Ski.... all that you can ski.... in the Army!

A five-some of army-type ski dudes tries to thwart evil forces behind enemy lines.

It's 1944 and the 'good' Americans must defeat the 'bad' Germans. To accomplish this goal, our heroes slaughter scores of the enemy, steal a civilian woman's chickens, shoot her in the back, then leave her for dead. This is an Ameican film, right? Not particularly inspiring in any way, but the movie does have the novelty of being different (soldiers on skis).

Sometimes exciting war/adventure film, albeit quite short at about 65 minutes.
  • Matthew_Capitano
  • Jan 4, 2014
  • Permalink

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