La battaglia dell'ultimo panzer (1969)

User Rating:

3.4/10   

Director:

José Luis Merino

Writers:

Giuseppe Chiarolla (story)
Giuliana Garavaglia (story)

Release Date:

23 January 1969 (Italy)

Genre:

War

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Italy | Tank | Monte Cassino | German Soldier

Cast

Stelvio Rosi	...	Lt. Hunter (as Stan Cooper)
Erna Schürer	...	Jeanette
Guy Madison	...	Lofty
Rubén Rojo	...	Sgt. Schultz
Roberto Maldera
Carlo Simoni
Enrique Ávila
Mirella Pamphili
Gustavo Rojo
Ida Macchinizzi
Giuliana Garavaglia		(as Giuly Garr)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rafael Hernández
Rufino Inglés
Antonio Mayans
Ángel Menéndez
Ricardo Palacios
Milo Quesada	...	Pierre, Jeanette's husband
Santiago Rivero
Francisco Sanz
José Truchado
Ricardo Valle

Also Known As:

La batalla del último Panzer (Spain)
The Battle of the Last Panzer (International: English title)
The Last Panzer Battalion

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

Spain | Italy

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Certification:

Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Colmenar Viejo, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Prodimex Film

Goofs:

Factual errors: All of the American soldiers in the film are wearing German paratrooper helmets.

Surprisingly serious low-budget war movie

"La Battaglia dell'ultimo panzer" is about a German panzer crew caught behind the American lines in France in 1944. The production values of the movie are very low; the anachronisms and errors concerning equipment and uniforms are actually quite obvious. Nevertheless, the plot is quite intelligent. This is a surprisingly serious war movie and much more reflective than most WW II war movies of the period (such as 'Where Eagles Dare' or 'Kelly's Heroes', or the countless Italian rip-offs of these more 'lighthearted' war thrillers.)

This is mainly because the characters, and in particular the German soldiers, are more than just the kind of cardboard cliches one expects from this type of low-budget movie. Especially the main character, a German lieutenant and commander of the crew, played by Stelvio Rosi, is a surprisingly three dimensional character. While he presents himself as a hardline nazi believer at first, we later see that the horrors of war affect him deeply in an unexpected moment and the final scenes of the movie have a very bitter lesson in store for him. Civilians and their different ways of dealing with the occupation also have a place, giving some surprising nuances which most war movies (including the technically infinitely superior, but plot-wise arguably inferior 'Saving Private Ryan') lack.

The acting is middle-of the road. None of the (quite unknown) actors are really bad, but none really stands out. 8/10 for some of the writing, 2/10 for the production values