Testa di sbarco per otto implacabili (1968)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Alfonso Brescia

Writers:

Maurice De Vries (writer)
Lorenzo Gicca Palli (writer)

Release Date:

13 August 1968 (Italy)

Genre:

War

Plot:

The movie is set during World War II in the days just prior to the D-Day invasion. A special parachute unit is sent to destroy a German flame thrower installation on Omaha Beach. |

Plot Keywords:

Invasion | D Day | Beach | Omaha Beach | Fire

Cast

Guy Madison	...	Captain Jack Murphy
Peter Lee Lawrence	...	Lt. Strobel
Erika Blanc	...	Denise
Philippe Hersent	...	Professor Aubernet
Massimo Carocci	...	Captain Ryan
George F. Salvage		(as G.F. Savage)
Pierre Richard	...	Sergeant Doss
Antonio Monselesan		(as Tony Norton)
Max Turilli	...	Feldwebel Siedler
Giuseppe Castellano		(as G. Castellano)
Renato Pinciroli	...	Denise's father (as R. Pinciroli)
Luciano Catenacci		(as Luciano Lorcas)
Paolo Magalotti
Guido Di Salvo
Gianni Pulone

Also Known As:

Hell in Normandy
Special Forces
Tête de pont pour huit implacables (France)

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

Italy | France

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Norway:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Alcinter

Decent Military Adventure Hampered by Dialog

Peter Lee Lawrence plays a theatrical actor whose mission is to infiltrate and destroy a German flamethrower installation at Normandy Beach before the allied attack there. His mission is only partly successful, but he is able to join up with a squadron of paratroopers sent to finish the job and guides them to the installation. Hell in Normandy climaxes with fairly standard fast-paced war action.

Lawrence was 23 when he starred in this film, and his promising career would be tragically cut short six years later by his suicide. The rest of the cast mixes American and continental European actors and actresses, mostly of the spaghetti western genre. The acting is generally good, though Guy Madison seems a little uncomfortable with his sad-sack paratrooper captain at times. Erica Blanc is excellent as a brave and intelligent member of the local resistance.

Brescia's Hell in Normandy is a cleverly plotted and well-directed military action-adventure centered on events preceding the allied victory at Normandy during World War Two. The film is fictional and makes no pretense at engaging the realities of the battle. But it does remain mostly within the constraints of plausibility. The cinematography is very good - hardly unexpected from an Italian film. But the script is horrendous. The writer included several token American idiomatic clichés - probably at the insistence of the cast - but did way too much exposition through dialog. The version I saw was dubbed. Perhaps the dialog is better in Italian? Recommended for war film fans only.