Brass Target
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''Brass Target'' is a 1978 American
suspense Suspense is a state of anxiety or excitement caused by mysteriousness, uncertainty, doubt, or undecidedness. In a narrative work, suspense is the audience's excited anticipation about the plot or conflict (which may be heightened by a viol ...
war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...
based on the 1974 novel ''The Algonquin Project'' by Frederick Nolan. The film was produced by
Berle Adams Berle Adams (born Beryl Adasky, 11 June 1917 – 25 August 2009) was an American music industry executive and talent booking agent best known for co-founding Mercury Records in the 1940s and later becoming a senior executive at MCA. Early life ...
and Arthur Lewis and directed by John Hough. It stars Sophia Loren,
John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American filmmaker and actor. He began as an actor in film and television before helping to pioneer modern American independent cinema as a writer and director, often self- ...
, Robert Vaughn, George Kennedy,
Patrick McGoohan Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor of film, television, and theatre. Born in New York City to Irish parents, he was raised in Ireland and England. He began his career in England during t ...
and
Max von Sydow Max von Sydow (; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish and French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...
. The film's plot concerns General George S. Patton's fatal automobile crash and suggests that the crash was not an accident but the result of a conspiracy.


Plot

In Europe, days after
V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...
, General Patton orders that hoarded Nazi gold be transported to the Reichsbank in
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. But before the shipment arrives in the city, the gold train is robbed and 59 U.S. Army military policemen are killed with poison gas in a railroad tunnel. A group of corrupt American officers, led by a colonel, is behind the crime. Patton launches an investigation that initially leads to OSS major Joe De Luca, from whom the thieves took a plan from his wartime operations to steal the gold. De Luca begins his own investigation. He first visits his old wartime commander, Colonel Mike McCauley, who is now living in a requisitioned German castle. Meanwhile, as the investigation gets closer, the corrupt American officers hire a professional
assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
named Webber to kill Patton and halt the inquiry. Soon De Luca meets Mara, a former girlfriend, who can help him find the culprits. But they first discover that Webber is on their trail and is also planning to kill Patton. They race against time across war-ravaged Europe to save the general and catch the villainous officers. Webber, posing as an American soldier, kills General Patton in a staged traffic accident. At the precise moment when a military truck collides with Patton's car, Webber fires a rubber bullet, striking Patton and breaking his neck. De Luca tracks down the assassin and kills him with his own weapon.


Cast


Production


Development

The film is based on the 1974 historical novel ''The Algonquin Project'' by British writer Frederick W. Nolan in which a fictional protagonist tries to stop the assassination of Patton in a staged car accident. For more than thirty years, the death of Patton had been regarded as an unfortunate accident; however, it was noted at the time that the release of this 1978 film had created fresh speculation and dubious interest into the general's death.
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
was accused of hyping the conspiracy theory in order to market the film. Numerous books have since been published on the subject culminating in the "sensationalist" but "widely read" 2008 best-seller ''Target: Patton, The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton''. Although approximately $2.5 billion in German gold, most of which is still missing, was determined to have been pilfered in several separate thefts, no train robbery occurred as depicted in the film. ''Brass Target'', despite a lukewarm reception upon its release, is noted for its attention to historical detail in an early post-war Europe. The
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
had not started but relations with the Russians are shown to have already become frosty.


Casting

Many American soldiers from the 66th MI Group who were stationed in Munich appear as extras in the film.


Filming

''Brass Target'' was shot on location in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
,
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
,
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
and
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.


Release

''Brass Target'' was released in theaters on December 22, 1978 in the United States and March 2, 1979 in the United Kingdom. The film was released on DVD on August 30, 2012 by the Warner Archive Collection.
MGM Home Entertainment MGM Home Entertainment LLC (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment, d/b/a MGM Home Entertainment and formerly known as MGM Home Video, MGM/CBS Home Video and MGM/UA Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of the American med ...
(under license from WB) released ''Brass Target'' on DVD as part of its Sophia Loren Collection.


Reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote in his review: "It is the dubious premise of ''The Brass Target'', a film full of dubiety, that Gen. George S. Patton was assassinated in Germany in 1945 by a motley crew of United States Army officers in an attempt to hide their theft of $250 million in Nazi gold. History says that General Patton died in Germany in 1945 following an automobile accident, but Frederick Nolan, who wrote ''The Algonquin Project'', this film's source material, has connected various unsolved mysteries to make a wobbly case for his conspiracy theory. As historical speculation goes, it's less interesting than wondering where we might be today if Ford's Theater had been playing ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...
'' that fateful night in 1865, instead of '' Our American Cousin''. Would Lincoln have attended, or might he have said, " Mary, I just can't sit through it again"? You may elect not to sit through international claptrap like this film, which doesn't measure up even to '' The Cassandra Crossing'' ... The ''Brass Target'', which has been rated PG ("Parental Guidance Suggested"), contains a lot of violence, all of it simulated but random in the way of simple-minded movie-making."


References


External links

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The Death of General Patton
{{John Hough 1978 films 1978 thriller films American thriller films Films directed by John Hough Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films about the Genovese crime family Films based on British novels Films based on military novels American World War II films Films set in Germany Films set in 1945 Films shot in Germany Cultural depictions of George S. Patton Cultural depictions of Lucky Luciano Films scored by Laurence Rosenthal 1970s English-language films 1970s American films Films about train robbery English-language thriller films