Five for Hell (1969)

U.S. Lieutenant Glenn Hoffmann and a team of commandos go behind enemy lines to steal Nazi documents from a safe inside a well-guarded German HQ villa in Italy.

Director:

Gianfranco Parolini (as Frank Kramer)

Writers:

Sergio Garrone (story), Renato Izzo (screenplay)

Stars:

Gianni Garko, Margaret Lee, Klaus Kinski

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gianni Garko	...	Lt. Glenn Hoffmann (as John Garko)
Margaret Lee	...	Helga Richter
Klaus Kinski	...	SS Col. Hans Mueller
Aldo Canti	...	Nick Amadori (as Nick Jordan)
Sal Borgese	...	Al Siracusa
Luciano Rossi	...	Johnny 'Chicken' White
Samson Burke	...	Sgt. Sam McCarthy (as Sam Burke)
Irio Fantini	...	Gen. Friederich Gerbordstadt

Storyline

John Garko is a fun-loving leader of a bunch of oddball G.I.s whose mission is to steal the German's secret attack plans from a villa behind enemy lines, where they run into a brutal Nazi commander.

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Plot Keywords:

man murders a woman | behind enemy lines | german | commando | betrayal | 

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Taglines:

The Dirty Bunch Are FIVE FOR HELL

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | War

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian German

Release Date:

18 January 1969 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Five for Hell

Filming Locations:

Elios Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ambrosiana Cinematografica, Società Ambrosiana Cinematografica (SAC), Filmstar

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Sound System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

As depicted, the electric fence would not work. It was also unrealistically tall, but my guess that was done to help with the gymnastic component of the film.

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Alternate Versions

The European release has the actors portraying American characters speaking Italian. The actors portraying German characters spoke German with Italian subtitles, or have had their voices dubbed-in by German-speaking actors, also with Italian subtitles. The American release has the actors portraying American characters speaking English, whose voices have been dubbed in by English-speaking actors. The actors portraying Germans have had their voices dubbed in English in most cases. Occassionally, in the German sequences, the Italian subtitles remain in place of dubbed voices. The American release has most of the opening and closing titles translated to English.

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Connections

Referenced in Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the '70s (2012)

User Reviews

Fighting Nazis with trampolines

A cheap and fitfully amusing WW2 film from our Italian cousins. This one riffs on THE DIRTY DOZEN quite extensively in the predictable story of a behind-enemy-lines mission, in which a group of goofs and oddballs are sent to retrieve some vital documents from the Nazis. Will they succeed? Nobody seems to care really, but when the emphasis is on goofy action throughout then you won't either.

The film stars spaghetti western regular Gianni Garko as the protagonist; he plays your usual English dubbed hero, happily mowing down squads of Nazis and performing various feats of derring-do. His adversary is none other than Klaus Kinski, who must have worn more Nazi uniforms throughout his career than even Curt Jurgens and Anton Diffring; what a sigh of relief he must have breathed when he hung his up for the last time.

In a slightly bizarre spin on the usual formulaic action, a lot of comedic scenes involving trampoline action have been inserted into the mix. I'm familiar with this trampoline stuff from THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN film and all the similar ones that followed; unsurprisingly, director Gianfranco Parolini worked on both productions. However, it doesn't really fit into a WW2 movie as well as it did in a superhero film; the result is an odd concoction to say the least...