4 of our '60s favourites (Delon, Cardinale, Ronet, Segal) in 1 forgotten war movie! Let's go ...
LOST COMMAND, 1966. “Anthony Quinn plays a hard-headed officer determined to become a hero at any cost in this dramatic war saga” but what will today’s generation make of this muddled war film dealing as it does with the French army in Indochina and Algeria in the ‘50s?. A Hollywood version of Pontecorvo's THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS? It starts with the battle of Dien Bien Phu in Indochina where the troops surrender to Burt Kwouk.
LOST COMMAND, 1966. “Anthony Quinn plays a hard-headed officer determined to become a hero at any cost in this dramatic war saga” but what will today’s generation make of this muddled war film dealing as it does with the French army in Indochina and Algeria in the ‘50s?. A Hollywood version of Pontecorvo's THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS? It starts with the battle of Dien Bien Phu in Indochina where the troops surrender to Burt Kwouk.
George browns up ... |
LOST COMMAND
bitterly shows man’s inhumanity to man – with questions that still ask
us who is the terrorist? And why are they in Algeria in the first place? A war scenario that still echoes today in different parts of the world.
It’s a serviceable enough war drama with a terrific mid-60s cast in
their prime, but like any film that uses real war situations it raises
more questions that it answers …
I still can’t get over Segal browned up as the Algerian who changes sides (with Claudia as his sister who uses Delon to avoid those military checkpoints). Some exciting moments too with a well-staged roadside ambush (rather like in THE HURT LOCKER) and theres the Hitchcockian frisson as we wait for a planted bomb to go off, and helicopter chases after those rebels in the mountains. It ends with Delon quitting the army while the career guys like Quinn and Ronet ironically get bedecked with medals ....
I still can’t get over Segal browned up as the Algerian who changes sides (with Claudia as his sister who uses Delon to avoid those military checkpoints). Some exciting moments too with a well-staged roadside ambush (rather like in THE HURT LOCKER) and theres the Hitchcockian frisson as we wait for a planted bomb to go off, and helicopter chases after those rebels in the mountains. It ends with Delon quitting the army while the career guys like Quinn and Ronet ironically get bedecked with medals ....
An odd film then, one of those big-cast expensive productions no longer seen now - Delon served in Indochina himself I understand, and Claudia hails from Tunis, next to Algeria, but here they are making "entertainment" out of a real war situation, the French military operations in Indochina and Algeria, mystifying to us now - filmed in Spain, and Segal browned up as the Algerian terrorist would surely never happen today ? Not trashy enough to be a Trash Classic, but Trash all the same ...
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