Maybe halfway through, I stopped counting the idiotic, unrealistic mistakes this squad of French (Foreign :Legion, maybe?) paratroopers made as far as infantry tactics. Early in the flick, they magically have a flamethrower available (which never reappears thereafter)...yes, I believe paratroopers on a behind-the-lines special ops mission would ALWAYS carry something like that, right? Then there's the refusal to hit the ground, time after time, when engaging the Viet Minh (who are always in identical, neat black pajamas and red-starred "coolie hats"), many of the troops choosing to scream loudly and routinely fire full-auto (because you, of course, have LOADS of ammo with you on a multi-day mission like this...) during the engagements.
As they proceed through jungle and rice paddies, their bunched-up marching technique -- and no point man far out front -- was ludicrous.
At least the blonde playing the captured nurse they rescue was pretty, and had a couple topless scenes (she'd been in even more "exposed" scenes in other French T&A movies back in the 1970s/80s).
Interesting elements: there's a punji-stick impalement that was a nice touch and fairly realistic, and another "spiked weight on a rope" impalement that was harder to believe, but interesting. Likewise, they had a radio that required a hand-cranked generator to power, which you rarely see. However, the most mind-blowing event -- which I've NEVER seen in a war movie -- occurred towards the end, when one trooper is dying and asks a "special last favor" of the nurse...who refuses, but which the LIEUTENANT then provides (!). Incredible, but high points to the director for breaking new film-making boundaries, I guess!
Watch this one for laughs.
As they proceed through jungle and rice paddies, their bunched-up marching technique -- and no point man far out front -- was ludicrous.
At least the blonde playing the captured nurse they rescue was pretty, and had a couple topless scenes (she'd been in even more "exposed" scenes in other French T&A movies back in the 1970s/80s).
Interesting elements: there's a punji-stick impalement that was a nice touch and fairly realistic, and another "spiked weight on a rope" impalement that was harder to believe, but interesting. Likewise, they had a radio that required a hand-cranked generator to power, which you rarely see. However, the most mind-blowing event -- which I've NEVER seen in a war movie -- occurred towards the end, when one trooper is dying and asks a "special last favor" of the nurse...who refuses, but which the LIEUTENANT then provides (!). Incredible, but high points to the director for breaking new film-making boundaries, I guess!
Watch this one for laughs.