Commandos (film)

Commandos
Directed by	Armando Crispino
Screenplay by	Lucio Battistrada Armando Crispino Menahem Golan Stefano Strucchi Dario Argento
Story by	Don Martin Artur Brauner
Based on	A short story by Menahem Golan
Produced by	Alfonso Sansone Artur Brauner
Starring	Lee Van Cleef Jack Kelly Joachim Fuchsberger Götz George
Cinematography	Benito Frattari
Edited by	Daniele Alabiso
Music by	Mario Nascimbene
Production companies	P.E.C. C.C.I. CCC Film
Release dates	19 November 1968 (1968-11-19) (Italy) 8 August 1969 (1969-08-08) (West Germany)
Running time	112 minutes
Countries	Italy West Germany

Commandos a.k.a. Sullivan's Marauders is a 1968 Italian-produced war film filmed on Sardinia starring Lee Van Cleef and Jack Kelly and directed by Armando Crispino.

Plot

The film is set in the middle of World War II, and in the deserts of Africa, Sgt. Sullivan (Lee Van Cleef) puts together a group of Italian-Americans into disguise as Italian soldiers in order to infiltrate a North African camp held by the Italians. Sullivan, along with Dino (Romano Puppo), was one of three that survived from the Pacific War against the Japanese, although Lieutenant Freeman was killed in his last mission. Their Captain in charge of the mission, Captain Valli (Jack Kelly), has several soldiers with special training.

Cast

• Lee Van Cleef as Sgt. Sullivan
• Jack Kelly as Captain Valli
• Giampiero Albertini as Aldo
• Marino Masé as Italian Lt. Tomassini
• Götz George as Oberleutnant Rudi
• Pier Paolo Capponi as Corbi
• Romano Puppo as Dino
• Ivano Staccioli as Rodolfo, Radio Man
• Marilù Tolo as Adriana
• Joachim Fuchsberger as Oberleutnant Heitzel Agen (called "Professor")
• Heinz Reincke as Offizier Hans
• Helmut Schmid as Sergeant Miller
• Otto Stern as Sergeant Braumann
• Pier Luigi Anchisi as Riccio
• Gianni Brezza as Marco
• Duilio Del Prete as Bruno

See also

• Euro War
• War Film

Release

Commandos was released in Italy on 19 November 1968. It was released in West Germany as Himmelfahrtskommando El Alamein in several cities on 8 August 1969.

Reception

In a contemporary review in the Monthly Film Bulletin, Richard Comb commented that the conclusion of the film was "the kind of meaningless apocalyptic moment much favoured when international producers get together to meditate over mutual insanity in war", and that Commandos was "rife with such rhetoric, interspersed with all the action cliches of the war movie and fitfully jerking its line with type"

External links

• Commandos at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Commandos at AllMovie
• Commandos at Rotten Tomatoes