Raid on Rommel (1971)

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Guionista:

Richard M. Bluel (writer)

Release Date:

12 febrero 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War | Action

Plot:

Captain Foster plans on raiding German-occupied Tobruk with hand- picked commandos, but a mixup leaves...

Plot Keywords:

Dust | Sergeant | Trash | Sand | Dry

Comentarios de los usuarios:

The Shakespearean Action Hero

Cast

Richard Burton	...	Capt. Alex Foster
John Colicos	...	Sgt. Maj. Allan MacKenzie
Clinton Greyn	...	Maj. Hugh Tarkington
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Gen. Erwin Rommel
Danielle De Metz	...	Vivianne Gagliardo
Karl-Otto Alberty	...	Capt. Heinz Schroeder
Christopher Cary	...	Cpl. Peter Merrihew
John Orchard	...	Dan Garth
Brook Williams	...	Sgt. Joe Reilly
Greg Mullavy	...	Pvt. Ed Brown
Ben Wright	...	Admiral
Michael Sevareid	...	Cpl. Bill Wembley
Chris Anders	...	Tank Sergeant
listado alfabético del resto del reparto:
Ron Berkeley

También conocida como:

Comando en el desierto (Spain) [es]

Duración:

99 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

German | Italian | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sonido:

Stereo

Clasificación:

West Germany:12 (f) | Iceland:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1971) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivialidades:

Average Shot Length (ASL) = ~4.9 seconds. Median Shot Length 4 seconds.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Captain Foster fires more than the maximum magazine load of 8 shots from his Walther P38 pistol when he kills Captain Schroeder.

Quotes:

Maj. Hugh Tarkington: You know Rommel?
Capt. Heinz Schroeder: Yes. He loves the Sahara. We all do. By "we", I mean the professional military.
Maj. Hugh Tarkington: I'm not a military man, captain. War holds no romance for me. The side effects are repulsive.
Capt. Heinz Schroeder: Here there are no side effects. No women, no children, no towns to get in the way, just men, my doctor.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gamera vs. Guiron (#4.12)" (1991)

The Shakespearean Action Hero

Looking at the criticisms of poor Richard Burton for taking a role in Raid on Rommel makes me want to put a word in for him. Acting was a craft as well as an art to him, it's how he made his living. I'm sure he got a good pay day out of Raid on Rommel. I think he also wanted to try the action genre as well. He made a much better choice with Where Eagles Dare though.

It's a poorly conceived story from start to finish. Someone in Allied Headquarters in London had the brilliant idea of freeing a bunch of captive commandos in North Africa and send them on a mission to Tobruk to spike some harbor guns. Same idea as in Guns of Navarone. So Burton gets the job.

But upon executing the escape he discovers he has freed a bunch of medical personnel and hardly enough commandos. Never mind he uses what he has.

His mission is to blow up those guns, but on discovering a fuel depot for Rommel he makes a little side trip to blow it up. Hello, but I think he was compromising the mission he was sent on. Wouldn't it have made a lot more sense to do the job you're assigned to and then when you got out you tell headquarters and they do another mission? That makes more sense to me.

The fuel depot sequences and the finale with the guns at Tobruk harbor are taken from the Rock Hudson film a few years earlier. Burton gives a rather pedestrian performance as does the rest of the cast.

By the way as if our heroes didn't have enough on their hands they're also transporting the mistress of an Italian general. That man wasn't going to sacrifice any of the comforts of the homefront. They keep her all doped up and at one point, one of the commandos decides to sacrifice for king and country and give his all for the mission.

Just who was the dope who thought her up?