Probably the worst of the great Henri Verneuil. I expected so much from this adaptation from a superb novel written by Pierre Siniac. This guy was a terrific crime novels author who has never been adapted besides this crap. His novel was outstanding, a men's tale, during WW2, lost in the desert, in the middle of a small town where a bank full of gold asked to be robbed. It was an action flick, violent, dark, and not for sissies of silly audiences for whom Audiard-Verneuil did this big scale crap. And worst, they took great actors, such as Belmondo, Constantin, Villeret...And they wasted it with comedy elements, and above all, the presence of a woman: Marie Laforêt, who had nothing to do in such a tale. The same for some women's tales where men have nothing to do either. Robert Aldrich would have done something awesome with such a story.
Besides the woman in the film, which destroys everything, all the rest, the first part is quite faithful to the book's atmosphere. This scheme, soldiers seeking a shipment of gold during WW2 can remind you another crap: KELLY'S HEROES.
What a waste. A gruesome deception for me, back in 1984.
Besides the woman in the film, which destroys everything, all the rest, the first part is quite faithful to the book's atmosphere. This scheme, soldiers seeking a shipment of gold during WW2 can remind you another crap: KELLY'S HEROES.
What a waste. A gruesome deception for me, back in 1984.