Inconsistent fare

Rating: 7/10 (22 March 2011)

Taken purely as entertainment this deserves high marks. A sort of Magnificent seven (featuring some of the same actors) set in world war two, with some light hearted training sequences and a bloody finale. This film is not as good as the film it imitates however. Part of the problem is the set up. First we see Lee Marvin witnessing a hanging. Then we are introduced to a gang of reprobate soldiers. Despite it being hinted that some of them may not be guilty, it is hard to feel much sympathy for them. There's a whiner (cassavetes) a smiling idiot (Sutherland) and a religious nut (Savalas) plus the usual short guy and big lummox who doesn't know his own strength. After these grim opening scenes, suddenly things are light hearted. The long training sequences are highly entertaining (Sutherland surveying the troops is a joy) but they seem to come from a different film. One always has in the back of the mind that these men are supposed to have committed brutal and sadistic crimes. As the mission starts, the tone inevitably darkens, back to the mood of the opening only more so. A bloody raid on a château kills many indiscriminately, most notoriously the fire bombing of the basement. After this the brief mildly comic hospital scene is out of place.
A curate's egg of a film, but definitely entertaining.