Ski Troop Attack: Difference between revisions

Ski Troop Attack
Ski Troop Attack
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roger Corman
Written by	Charles B. Griffith
Produced by	Roger Corman
Starring	Frank Wolff; Michael Forest;
Cinematography	Andrew M. Costikyan
Edited by	Anthony Carras
Music by	Fred Katz
Distributed by	Filmgroup
Release date	April 8, 1960;
Running time	63 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English; German;

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Ski Troop Attack is a 1960 American war film directed by Roger Corman and starring Michael Forest, Frank Wolff, Richard Sinatra and Wally Campo. Filmgroup released the film as a double feature with Battle of Blood Island (1960).

Plot

In 1944, five American soldiers led by Lt. Factor are skiing on a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines in Germany's Hürtgen Forest during World War II. Sgt. Potter has ordered the Americans to attack the Germans, to the annoyance of Lt. Factor, who wants the patrol to be for reconnaissance only.

The next morning, the troops see a large German unit with tanks. Factor radios the information and is informed that the Allies are under attack. The patrol encounters some Germans and a fight ensues in which an American is killed. The group find a cabin and order a young woman named Ilse to cook for them. She tries to poison the men's coffee, but Factor stops her. Ilse tries to shoot the soldiers and they kill her.

Factor orders the men to make camp at a nearby cave, where they celebrate Christmas. Factor decides to destroy a railroad trestle vital to the Germans. The men meet resistance from the Germans and a fight begins. The men succeed in destroying the rail line, but Jocko and Herman die.

Cast

Michael Forest as Lt. Factor
Frank Wolff as Sgt. Potter
Wally Campo as Pvt. Ed Ciccola
Richard Sinatra as Pvt. Herman Grammelsbacher
Roger Corman appears in an uncredited role as a German soldier entering the cabin
James Hoffman
Chan Biggs
Tom Staley
David Markie
Skeeter Boyer
Wayne Lasher
Sheila Carol as Ilse

Production

The script was written by Charles B. Griffith, who had previously worked for Corman. Griffth was inspired in part by the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest.^[1]

The film was shot in Deadwood, South Dakota in the Black Hills over ten days.^[2] Corman selected the location because he could hire a crew from Chicago for lower rates than he would have paid a Los Angeles-based crew. To consolidate costs, Corman's brother Gene produced another film titled Beast from Haunted Cave at the same time on the same location, and with the same screenwriter and lead actors. The two films took five weeks to shoot, with one day off between films, and Beast from Haunted Cave was shot first.^[3]

Michael Forest was paid $500 a week and later recalled that "what was taking place was tough on us physically."^[4]

Corman hired ski teams from high schools in Deadwood and Lead but could only film them on weekends and after school. One played the Germans and the other played the Americans. He cast a German ski instructor to play the head of the German ski troop, but the instructor broke his leg two days before the shoot, so Corman played the role himself. He had skied occasionally at college and took a one-day skiing lesson prior to filming.^[3] Corman recalled the shoot as "a very tough challenge. It was unbelievably cold and snowed all the time.^[3]

The film's musical score, written by cellist Fred Katz, was originally written for A Bucket of Blood. According to Mark Thomas McGee, author of Roger Corman: The Best of the Cheap Acts, each time that Katz was asked to write music for Corman, Katz sold the same score as if it were new music.^[5] The score was used in a total of seven films, including The Wasp Woman and Creature from the Haunted Sea.^[6]

Reception

Variety liked the action sequences but found the characterization clichéd and the lack of establishing shots to be a weakness.^{[citation needed]}

Monthly Film Bulletin called it "a crude war film which just about gets by when it sticks to action. But the attempts at deeper meaning and characterisaton ends in cliches flying thick and fast."^[7]

References

^ Aaron W. Graham, 'Little Shop of Genres: An interview with Charles B. Griffith', Senses of Cinema, 15 April, 2005 accessed 25 June 2012
^ Roger Corman on Ski Troop Attack at Trailers From Hell
^ ^a ^b ^c Corman, Roger; Jerome, Jim (1998). How I made a hundred movies in Hollywood and never lost a dime. Da Capo Press. p. 58.
^ Weaver, Tom (May 2000). "Who Years for Adonais". Starlog. p. 92.
^ Ray, Fred Olen (1991). The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers As Distributors. McFarland & Company. p. 40. ISBN 0-89950-628-3.
^ "Fred Katz filmography". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
^ SKI TROOP ATTACK Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 28, Iss. 324, (Jan 1, 1961): 24.

External links

Ski Troop Attack at IMDb
Ski Troop Attack at TCMDB
Ski Troop Attack at BFI
Ski Troop Attack at Letterbox DVD
Roger Corman on Ski Troop Attack at Trailers from Hell
Ski Troop Attack is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive

[1] Aaron W. Graham, 'Little Shop of Genres: An interview with Charles B. Griffith', Senses of Cinema, 15 April, 2005 accessed 25 June 2012

[2] Roger Corman on Ski Troop Attack at Trailers From Hell

[corman-3] Corman, Roger; Jerome, Jim (1998). How I made a hundred movies in Hollywood and never lost a dime. Da Capo Press. p. 58.

[4] Weaver, Tom (May 2000). "Who Years for Adonais". Starlog. p. 92.

[5] Ray, Fred Olen (1991). The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers As Distributors. McFarland & Company. p. 40. ISBN 0-89950-628-3.

[IMDb-Katz-6] "Fred Katz filmography". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 13 October 2007.

[7] SKI TROOP ATTACK Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 28, Iss. 324, (Jan 1, 1961): 24.

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[2]

[3]

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@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 {{Infobox film
 | name           = Ski Troop Attack
+| image          = Ski Troop Attack FilmPoster.jpeg
-| image_size     =
-| image	         = Ski Troop Attack FilmPoster.jpeg
 | caption        = Theatrical release poster
 | director       = [[Roger Corman]]
-| producer       = [[Roger Corman]]
+| producer       = Roger Corman
 | writer         = [[Charles B. Griffith]]
 | narrator       =
-| starring       = [[Michael Forest]]<br/>[[Frank Wolff (actor)|Frank Wolff]]<br/>Richard Sinatra<br/>Wally Campo
+| starring       = {{ubl|[[Frank Wolff (actor)|Frank Wolff]]|[[Michael Forest]]}}
 | music          = [[Fred Katz (cellist)|Fred Katz]]
 | cinematography = Andrew M. Costikyan
 | editing        = Anthony Carras
 | distributor    = [[Filmgroup]]
-| released       = 8 April 1960
+| released       = {{Film date|1960|04|08}}
 | runtime        = 63 minutes
 | country        = United States
-| language       = English<br>German
+| language       = {{ubl|English|German}}
 | budget         =
 | gross          =
-| preceded_by    =
-| followed_by    =
-| website        =
 }}
-'''''Ski Troop Attack''''' is a 1960 [[United States|American]] [[war film]] directed by [[Roger Corman]] and starring [[Michael Forest]], [[Frank Wolff (actor)|Frank Wolff]], Richard Sinatra, and Wally Campo. [[Filmgroup]] released the film as a [[double feature]] with ''[[Battle of Blood Island]]'' (1960).
+'''''Ski Troop Attack''''' is a 1960 [[United States|American]] [[war film]] directed by [[Roger Corman]] and starring [[Michael Forest]], [[Frank Wolff (actor)|Frank Wolff]], Richard Sinatra and [[Wally Campo]]. [[Filmgroup]] released the film as a [[double feature]] with ''[[Battle of Blood Island]]'' (1960).
+== Plot ==
-[[Joe Bob Briggs]] called it "the best movie ever made in Deadwood, South Dakota."<ref>{{cite book|first=Joe Bob|last=Briggs|page=10|title=Joe Bob goes to the drive-in|year=1987 |publisher=Delacorte Press }}</ref>
+In 1944, five American soldiers led by Lt. Factor are skiing on a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines in Germany's [[Battle of Hürtgen Forest|Hürtgen Forest]] during [[World War II]]. Sgt. Potter has ordered the Americans to attack the Germans, to the annoyance of Lt. Factor, who wants the patrol to be for reconnaissance only.
-== Premise ==
-In 1944, five American soldiers lead by Lt. Factor are skiing on a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines in Germany's [[Hurtgen Forest]] during [[World War II]]. The film starts with a fight between the Americans and Germans which has been ordeed by Sgt Potter, to the annoyance of Lt Factor, who wants the patrol to be reconnaissance only.
-The next morning the troops see a large German unit with tanks. Factor radios back the information and discovers the Allies are under attack.
+The next morning, the troops see a large German unit with tanks. Factor radios the information and is informed that the Allies are under attack. The patrol encounters some Germans and a fight ensues in which an American is killed. The group find a cabin and order a young woman named Ilse to cook for them. She tries to poison the men's coffee, but Factor stops her. Ilse tries to shoot the soldiers and they kill her.
+Factor orders the men to make camp at a nearby cave, where they celebrate Christmas. Factor decides to destroy a railroad trestle vital to the Germans. The men meet resistance from the Germans and a fight begins. The men succeed in destroying the rail line, but Jocko and Herman die.
-The patrol runs into some Germans and a fight ensues in which an American is killed.
-The group finds a cabin, and order a young woman, Ilse to cook for them. She tries to poison the men's coffee, but Factor stops her. Then Ilse tries to shoot the soldiers, and they kill her.
-Factor orders the men to make camp at a nearby cave, where they celebrate Christmas. Factor decides to blow up a railroad trestle vital to the Germans. They run tino some Germans and a fight begins.
-The men succeed in blowing up the rain line, but Jocko and Herman die.
 == Cast ==
 *[[Michael Forest]] as Lt. Factor
 *[[Frank Wolff (actor)|Frank Wolff]] as Sgt. Potter
-*Wally Campo as Pvt. Ed Ciccola
+*[[Wally Campo]] as Pvt. Ed Ciccola
 *Richard Sinatra as Pvt. Herman Grammelsbacher
 *[[Roger Corman]] appears in an uncredited role as a [[Germany|German]] soldier entering the cabin
@@ Line 54: / Line 45: @@
 == Production ==
-The script was written by [[Charles B. Griffith]], who had worked a number of times for Corman. Griffth says he inspired in part by the [[Battle of the Hurtgen Forest]], adding "Roger wanted the train thing. I forget which picture it was copying, but it was done in Hemingway’s ''A Farewell to Arms''. They blew up a train and bridge in that one, and it was done all the time in Westerns. It was a pretty bad script. I remember nothing about that film but Roger skiing with the local ski club in Deadwood, North Dakota. All these teenagers who were playing Nazis, you know? [Laughs.]".<ref>[http://sensesofcinema.com/2005/35/charles_b_griffith/ Aaron W. Graham, 'Little Shop of Genres: An interview with Charles B. Griffith', ''Senses of Cinema'', 15 April, 2005] accessed 25 June 2012</ref>
+The script was written by [[Charles B. Griffith]], who had previously worked for Corman. Griffth was inspired in part by the [[Battle of the Hurtgen Forest]].<ref>[http://sensesofcinema.com/2005/35/charles_b_griffith/ Aaron W. Graham, 'Little Shop of Genres: An interview with Charles B. Griffith', ''Senses of Cinema'', 15 April, 2005] accessed 25 June 2012</ref>
-The movie was shot in [[Deadwood, South Dakota|Deadwood]] in the [[Black Hills]] over ten days.<ref>[http://trailersfromhell.com/ski-troop-attack/ Roger Corman on ''Ski Troop Attack''] at [[Trailers From Hell]]</ref> Corman did this because he could hire a crew out of Chicago for lower rates than an LA crew.
+The film was shot in [[Deadwood, South Dakota]] in the [[Black Hills]] over ten days.<ref>[http://trailersfromhell.com/ski-troop-attack/ Roger Corman on ''Ski Troop Attack''] at [[Trailers From Hell]]</ref> Corman selected the location because he could hire a crew from Chicago for lower rates than he would have paid a Los Angeles-based crew. To consolidate costs, Corman's brother Gene produced another film titled ''[[Beast from Haunted Cave]]'' at the same time on the same location, and with the same screenwriter and lead actors. The two films took five weeks to shoot, with one day off between films, and ''Beast from Haunted Cave'' was shot first.<ref name="corman" />
+[[Michael Forest]] was paid $500 a week and later recalled that "what was taking place was tough on us physically."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-274/page/n91/mode/1up/search/%22ski+troop+attack%22?q=%22ski+troop+attack%22|magazine=Starlog|page=92|title=Who Years for Adonais|first=Tom|last=Weaver|date=May 2000}}</ref>
-To amortize costs, Corman's brother Gene produced another film, ''[[Beast from Haunted Cave]]'' at the same time on the same location, utilising the same screenwriter and lead actors. The two films took five weeks in all the shoot, with one day off between films, and ''Beast'' was shot first. The unit was based at the Ben Franklin Hotel.<ref name="corman"/>
+Corman hired ski teams from high schools in Deadwood and [[Lead, South Dakota|Lead]] but could only film them on weekends and after school. One played the Germans and the other played the Americans. He cast a German ski instructor to play the head of the German ski troop, but the instructor broke his leg two days before the shoot, so Corman played the role himself. He had skied occasionally at college and took a one-day skiing lesson prior to filming.<ref name="corman" /> Corman recalled the shoot as "a very tough challenge. It was unbelievably cold and snowed all the time.<ref name="corman">{{cite book|page=58|title=How I made a hundred movies in Hollywood and never lost a dime|last1=Corman|first1= Roger|last2=Jerome|first2= Jim|year=1998 |publisher=Da Capo Press }}</ref>
-Michael Forest says he was paid $500 a week and recalls "what was taking place was tough on us physically."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-274/page/n91/mode/1up/search/%22ski+troop+attack%22?q=%22ski+troop+attack%22|magazine=Starlog|page=92|title=Who Years for Adonais|first=Tom|last=Weaver|date=May 2000}}</ref>
+The film's musical score, written by cellist [[Fred Katz (cellist)|Fred Katz]], was originally written for ''[[A Bucket of Blood]]''. According to Mark Thomas McGee, author of ''Roger Corman: The Best of the Cheap Acts'', each time that Katz was asked to write music for Corman, Katz sold the same score as if it were new music.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ray |first=Fred Olen |title=The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers As Distributors |year=1991 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=0-89950-628-3 |page=40 }}</ref> The score was used in a total of seven films, including ''[[The Wasp Woman]]'' and ''[[Creature from the Haunted Sea]]''.<ref name="IMDb-Katz">{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0441711/ |title=Fred Katz filmography |access-date=2007-10-13 |publisher=[[Internet Movie Database]]}}</ref>
-Roger Corman hired ski teams from Deadwood and Lead High Schools; one played the Germans and one played the Americans. He had to shoot them on weekends and after school. He cast a German ski instructor to play the head of the German ski troop, but the instructor broke his leg two days before the shoot. Corman decided to play the role himself, having skiied occasionally at college; he took a one day skiing lesson prior to filming. <ref name="corman"/>
-Corman recalls the shoot "as a very tough challenge. It was unbelievably cold and snowed all the time.<ref name="corman">{{cite book|page=58|title=How I made a hundred movies in Hollywood and never lost a dime|last1=Corman|first1= Roger|last2=Jerome|first2= Jim|year=1998 |publisher=Da Capo Press }}</ref>
-The film's musical score, written by cellist [[Fred Katz (cellist)|Fred Katz]], was originally written for ''[[A Bucket of Blood]]''. According to Mark Thomas McGee, author of ''Roger Corman: The Best of the Cheap Acts'', each time Katz was called upon to write music for Corman, Katz sold the same score as if it were new music.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ray |first=Fred Olen |title=The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers As Distributors |year=1991 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=0-89950-628-3 |chapterurl= |page=40 }}</ref> The score was used in a total of seven films, including ''[[The Wasp Woman]]'' and ''[[Creature from the Haunted Sea]]''.<ref name="IMDb-Katz">{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0441711/ |title=Fred Katz filmography |accessdate=2007-10-13 |publisher=[[Internet Movie Database]]}}</ref>
 ==Reception==
-[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] liked the action sequences but found the characterization cliched and the lack of establishing shots to be a weakness. [[CEA Film Report]] found the movie to have little excitement and while the bridge explosion effect was good, it did little to help the movie.
+[[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'']] liked the action sequences but found the characterization clichéd and the lack of establishing shots to be a weakness.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
+''[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' called it "a crude war film which just about gets by when it sticks to action. But the attempts at deeper meaning and characterisaton ends in cliches flying thick and fast."<ref>SKI TROOP ATTACK
+Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 28, Iss. 324,  (Jan 1, 1961): 24.</ref>
-[[Monthly Film Bulletin]] called it "a crude war film which just about gets by when it sticks to action. But the attempts at deeper meaning and characterisaton ends in cliches flying thick and fast."<ref>SKI TROOP ATTACK
-Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 28, Iss. 324,  (Jan 1, 1961): 24. </ref>
 ==References==
 {{reflist}}
@@ Line 79: / Line 68: @@
 *{{IMDb title|id=0054315|title=Ski Troop Attack}}
 *[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90379/Ski-Troop-Attack/full-credits.html Ski Troop Attack] at [[TCMDB]]
-*[https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a5cec19 Ski Troop Attack] at BFI
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20171031043336/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a5cec19 Ski Troop Attack] at BFI
 *[https://letterboxd.com/film/ski-troop-attack/ Ski Troop Attack] at Letterbox DVD
 *[https://trailersfromhell.com/ski-troop-attack/ Roger Corman on ''Ski Troop Attack''] at [[Trailers from Hell]]
@@ Line 89: / Line 78: @@
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ski Troop Attack}}
 [[Category:1960 films]]
-[[Category:American films]]
+[[Category:1960 adventure films]]
-[[Category:1960s adventure films]]
+[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
-[[Category:English-language films]]
+[[Category:1960s German-language films]]
-[[Category:German-language films]]
 [[Category:American black-and-white films]]
-[[Category:Skiing films]]
+[[Category:American skiing films]]
 [[Category:Western Front of World War II films]]
 [[Category:Films directed by Roger Corman]]
 [[Category:Films produced by Roger Corman]]
 [[Category:Films with screenplays by Charles B. Griffith]]
+[[Category:Films shot in South Dakota]]
+[[Category:1960s American films]]
+[[Category:English-language adventure films]]
-{{war-film-stub}}

v t e Roger Corman
Filmography
Director	Five Guns West (1955) Apache Woman (1955) Day the World Ended (1955) The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955, uncredited) Swamp Women (1956) The Oklahoma Woman (1956) Gunslinger (1956) It Conquered the World (1956) Naked Paradise (1957) Carnival Rock (1957) Not of This Earth (1957) Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) The Undead (1957) Rock All Night (1957) Teenage Doll (1957) Sorority Girl (1957) The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957) I Mobster (1958) War of the Satellites (1958) Machine-Gun Kelly (1958) Teenage Caveman (1958) She Gods of Shark Reef (1958) A Bucket of Blood (1959) The Wasp Woman (1959) Ski Troop Attack (1960) House of Usher (1960) The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) Last Woman on Earth (1960) Atlas (1961) Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) The Premature Burial (1962) The Intruder (1962) Tales of Terror (1962) Tower of London (1962) The Young Racers (1963) The Raven (1963) The Terror (1963) The Haunted Palace (1963) X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (1963) The Masque of the Red Death (1964) The Secret Invasion (1964) The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) The Wild Angels (1966) The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) The Trip (1967) A Time for Killing (1967, uncredited) The Wild Racers (1968, uncredited) Target: Harry (1969) De Sade (1969, uncredited) Bloody Mama (1970) Gas-s-s-s (1970) Von Richthofen and Brown (1971) Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
Producer only	Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954) The Fast and the Furious (1954) Dementia 13 (1963) Devil's Angels (1967) Boxcar Bertha (1972) Unholy Rollers (1972) I Escaped from Devil's Island (1973) Cockfighter (1974) Big Bad Mama (1974) Capone (1975) Death Race 2000 (1975) Fighting Mad (1976) Eat My Dust! (1976) Thunder and Lightning (1977) Deathsport (1978) Avalanche (1978) Saint Jack (1979) Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider (1979) Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) Smokey Bites the Dust (1981) Galaxy of Terror (1981) Forbidden World (1982) Space Raiders (1983) Love Letters (1984) Cocaine Wars (1985) Big Bad Mama II (1987) Munchies (1987) The Terror Within (1989) Two to Tango (1989) Bloodfist (1989) Lords of the Deep (1989) Time Trackers (1989) Overexposed (1990) Watchers II (1990) Immortal Sins (1991) Kill Zone (1993) Dracula Rising (1993) Hellfire (1995) Scene of the Crime (1996) Black Scorpion II (1997) A Very Unlucky Leprechaun (1998) Running Woman (1998) The Haunting of Hell House (1999) White Pony (1999) Enemy Action (1999) The Suicide Club (2000) Stray Bullet II (2000) Moving Target (2000) Aladdin and the Adventure of All Time (2000) Nightfall (2000) Raptor (2001) When Eagles Strike (2003) The Hunt for Eagle One (2006) The Hunt for Eagle One: Crash Point (2006) Saurian (2006) Cyclops (2008) Splatter (2009) Dinoshark (2010) Sharktopus (2010) Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader (2012) Palace of the Damned (2013) Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda (2014) Fist of the Dragon (2014) Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf (2015) Death Race 2050 (2017)
Related	Julie Corman (wife) Gene Corman (brother) Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel Roger Corman Presents New World Pictures The Filmgroup New Concorde American International Pictures Millennium Concorde Anois New Hollywood