1967-02-07
N/A
107 min
In September 1942, the German Afrika Korps under Rommel have successfully pushed the Allies back into Egypt. A counter-attack is planned, for which the fuel dumps at Tobruk are a critical impediment. In order to aid the attack, a group of British commandos and German Jews make their way undercover through 800 miles of desert, to destroy the fuel dumps starving the Germans of fuel.
Now there are a few curious casting choices here that do bamboozle a bit, but once it gets going it is quite a decent wartime adventure. Rock Hudson is the Canadian “Craig” who finds himself in North Africa implementing a plan he had thought had been kiboshed by the upper echelons of the British army. Namely, he is to assist “Col. Harker” (Nigel Green) in crossing eight hundred miles of unforgiving Sahara and nobbling Field Marshal Rommel’s fuel supplies - before his Afrika Korps can advance on Egypt. The two don’t exactly see eye-to-eye, and those problems are exacerbated by the presence of squadron of German Jews working for the Allies and led by “Bergman” (George Peppard). There’s not an whole lot of trust around anywhere, here, but off they set facing a few escapades with a Spitfire, some Bedouin and even a couple of Fifth Columnists working for Kesselring before their arrival reveals quite a shock! Now skipping over Peppard and his shocking attempt at ze German accent; Hudson isn’t really the stuff of heroes - but he works well enough here thanks in no small part to a robust effort from Green whose stiff upper lip could easily have been nominated for a BAFTA. It’s the impressive visual effects toward the end that lets all hell loose on the proceedings and brings the whole adventure to a lively and fiery denouement. It’s a solid action film that captures the imagery and toughness of desert warfare, adds a little dark humour to a dialogue occasionally tinged with sarcasm and it passes a couple of hours enjoyably enough if you like the genre.
