6/10
Passable Macaroni Combat with the ordinary mission : to destroy a Luftwaffe air base , co-produced by Spain and Italy and shot in Madrid surroundings
21 August 2020
Italian/Spanish War about a reckless commando assigned a dangerous mission behind enemy lines . A group of two-fisted soldiers formed by five peculiar characters are drafted to go on a near-suicide mission and attempt to eliminate a German base . ¨Suicide commandos¨ is an entertaining film with Aldo Ray as a tough Sergeant along with the ordinary team of renegade soldiers of World War II whose mission is to pull off the destruction an enemy position , as they are tasked by parachuting in enemy territory to destroy an airfield that's been used as a base where execute massive air attacks against Allied . As Aldo training a group of rebel and eclectic soldiers for a dangerous assault on a Nazi airport . In the hands of hardboiled director Camillo Bazzoni and a tough-as-leather cast , that's all the plot that's needed to make one rip-roaring wartime flick . Aldo's mission is two-fold and in violent, cynical style : first turn his G.I.s into a valiant , skilled fighting unit and then turn them loose on the perilous countryside where they run into strongly armed Nazi troopers. The diverse characters include the following ones : Alleya (Tano Cimarosa) is a separated Maltese soldier from his wife (Pamela Tudor) who brawls at a Pub . Harper (Ugo Fangareggi) is a Boy Scout who trains children by hunting for butterflies . Sam (Luis Davila) is an ex-commando who lies down sick on bed . And Sorrel (Manuel Zarzo) is an imprisoned Gypsy awaiting a court martial and when greeting his superior for the risked assignment he robs him the watch , along with a veteran pipesmoking soldier Ortulay (uncredited Frank Braña) . And they're all under the thumb of Sergeant Derrick Cloadec (Aldo Ray) who's taking them on a hard-working training . The first half of the film allows the colorful cast of character actors to have their fun as they get their tails whipped into shape and develop shaky relationship with their leader . The final part is all action , as the brave commando wreak havoc and then run for their lives . Despite the fact that few of the "heroes" survive the bloodbath, the message here isn't that war is hell . Rather, it seems to be: war can be a hell of a good time... if you've got nothing to lose . The dangerous mission includes a selected group formed by a motley and varied squadron played by usual of Italian B-series . They are a squadron of dispensable characters with no past and no future . Ray reprieves a bunch of soldiers , forges them into a two-fisted fighting unit and leads them on a deadly assignment into Nazi territory . The Privates are oddballs , rag-tag and undisciplined gang , under command a stiff Sergeant and the team is hardly trained . At the end they must participate in the suicidal mission behind the enemy lines , to wipe the German group by means of a violent assault over the strongly protected aerial position .

Acceptable Spaghetti/War film about a misfit team led by Aldo Ray who carry out a suicide mission behind enemy lines . As a British commando squad is tasked with attacking the "secret" German airfield from which German fighters have been attacking bombers which are attempting to stop German tanks from reinforcing the D Day defences . Aldo Ray as French Sergeant Cloadec assumes the character of commando leader in this ordinary wartime movie regularly directed by Camillo Bazzoni . This moving film packs frantic thrills , perilous adventures , choreographed crossfire , sneering evil Nazi Waffentroops , and buck-loads of explosive action and violence . However , it doesn't matter what they are after, because the point of the film is not to educate spectators about actual facts that their textbooks didn't cover , but to amuse people with an outrageous story , kinetic stunts , relentless feats , blowing up and goofy physical action . The noisy action is uniformly well-made, especially deserving of mention the rip-roaring final scenes on the airfield , including some spectacular shootouts and bombing , though the explosion on the planes are badly made with lousy scale models. Apart from the values of team spirit , cudgeled by Aldo into his misfit group , the film is full of feats , suspense , and thrills . Rough Aldo Ray is pretty good as leader of the motley pack together thwart the Nazi schemes, as well as the largely secondary cast . This is a wartime typical vehicle and it belongs to the ¨warlike commando genre¨ , in USA style which also are the American classics as : ¨Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich) , ¨Where eagles dare¨(Brian G. Hutton) , ¨Navarone Guns¨ (J.Lee Thompson) , ¨Kelly's heroes¨ (Hutton ), ¨Tobruk¨ (Arthur Hiller), ¨Devil's Brigade¨ (Andrew V McLagen) and many others .

Atmospheric and functional musical score by Daisy Lumini and mediocre cinematography in Technicolor , Techniscope filmed by cameraman Francisco Sánchez , though being necessary a perfect remastering . Shot on location in Cuatro Vientos military aerodrome, Cuatro Vientos, Alcalá de Henares , Madrid, Burgos, Castilla y León, El Espinar, Segovia, Castilla y León, Spain . The film is middling but professsionally directed by Camillo Bazzoni . He was a good cameraman who photographed varios movies as Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno, Man, Pride & Vengeance, Ernesto , Double life of Matias Pascal, The Case Moro , Cavalli si nasce , Un bambino di nome Gesù , La Bone , Tenerezza , The Charterhouse of Parma, among others . And a craftsman filmmaker directing only 3 films : Black Lemons or Those Who Kill , Shadows Unseen and this Suicide commandos .
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