Commando de guerre

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.

I recently watched Carter's Army (1970) on Prime. The storyline revolves around a racist officer tasked with leading an all-black brigade to capture a bridge from the Germans. Can the troops and the officer overcome their differences to achieve this challenging mission?

Directed by George McCowan (Frogs), the film features Richard Pryor (Harlem Nights), Glynn Turman (Super 8), Billy Dee Williams (Return of the Jedi), Paul Mooney (Bamboozled), and Stephen Boyd (Ben-Hur).

Despite a stellar cast, this wartime picture is a bit of a mixed bag. The cinematography falls short, and many lines come off as cliché. However, Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor deliver solid performances, and witnessing a young Glynn Turman is enjoyable. The depicted animosity feels authentic, and Pryor's action scenes add a touch of humor. While the mission execution and final sequence lack impact due to a low budget, the characters' charm makes it worth a watch.

In conclusion, Carter's Army isn't a great film, but the characters' charm is worthwhile. I would score this a 4.5-5/10 and recommend giving it a watch at least once.

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.

So-so wartime movie deals with captain Carter (Stephen Boyd ) , a tough but racist commandant , he is assigned by General Matt Clark ( Paul Stewart) a dangerous mission whose aim is avoid to blow up a dam vital to the Allied in 1944 . Carter is parachuted and contacts ¨B¨ company formed by Africo-Americans who dedicate labors on kitchen , cleaning and latrines in trenches. The outfit is formed by a motley group , as the leader lieutenant (Robert Hooks) , a coward ( keep an eye out Richard Pryor) , a hight and corpulent (Grier), , an intelligent professor and cooker ( Moses Gunn ) who knows the German language , a N.Y. Harlem young (Billy Dee Williams) expert on knifes , an idealist and imaginative young ( Glyn Turman ) who writes in his bloc the following : ¨ The company fought magnificently , killing 23 of the enemy before taking the machine gun nest . Lieutenant Wallace cited 3 men , myself included for bravery under fire . I am continually awed by the heroism of this company , under the severest of battle conditions . I will receive medal of honor when we reach Berlin . The fighting has been hard , the strain almost exhausting . I will receive the medal of honor from General Eisenhower but the heroism of ¨ B ¨ company will be preserved by the men who have seen the fight and die ¨. Captain Carter along with Lieutenant Wallace as leaders of the all-black commando assigned to the suicide mission behind enemy lines must prepare the useful unit . After that , the saboteurs contact their allied partisan (Susan Oliver) at a farm . They wreak havoc and kill Nazis to earn the respect of military higher-ups in an exciting final .

This low-budgeted and short-runtime warlike Telefilm concerns about an incredible lesson of courage set in WWII ; retelling the racial background problem in the US army . The TV movie produced by Aaron Spelling packs thrills, suspense , lots of action sequences and climatic ending , but doesn't quite hang together . The film belongs to Commandos sub-genre whose maximum examples result to be the classics as ¨Dirty dozen¨ , ¨Guns of Navarone¨ , ¨When eagles dare ¨, ¨ and ¨Kelly's heroes¨ and group of movies that were made during the 60s and 70s regarding warlike adventures about special forces in risked missions . The motion picture is badly realized by George McGowan . He's an usual television director ( Returns to Fantasy island , Murder on flight 502 , Savage run ) and occasionally for cinema ( Frogs , The magnificent seven ride ) . Rating : Below average .

The writers probably had no experience in the army, and probably never glanced at a history book, but I still give this cheaply produced war film some credit for taking a long-needed look at the role of black soldiers in the second world war.

The action is confused and unbelievable--any episode of Combat! has better production values, but the cast is interesting. Seeing New York Giant Rosie Greer was worth the buck I paid for this. The art direction is fifth rate--the men wear Korean War uniforms, and it was pretty lousy weather by the time the U.S. Army reached Germany in 1944, not sunny as they show here, and I don't think the terrain resembled Northern California. The script never does make clear why the black support troops are used as combat soldiers. There is a nice touch that shows some of the men carrying Springfield rifles instead of M-1s, which second rate troops probably would have been issued with.

This basic story idea(racist southern officer commanding black troops) should have been expanded into a big budget production back then, and its not too late to try it now. You have to take this for what it is, and I admire the creators of this film for making the effort.

I remember seeing this a while ago and thinking it was set in Italy, which would have made more sense because there were black combat troops operating there in 1944.