''Commandos'' a.k.a. Sullivan's Marauders is a 1968 Italian-produced

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 ...

starring

Lee Van Cleef Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of spaghetti Westerns, particularly t ...

and Jack Kelly and directed by Armando Crispino. The film is set in North Africa but was shot in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Dario Argento Dario Argento (; born 7 September 1940) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. His influential work in the horror film, horror and giallo genres during the 1970s and 1980s has led him to being referred to as the "Master of the ...

is credited as co-screenwriter.

Plot

The film is set in the middle of World War II, and in the deserts of Africa, Sgt. Sullivan puts together a group of Italian-Americans into disguise as Italian soldiers in order to infiltrate a North African camp held by the Italians. Sullivan, along with Dino, was one of three that survived from the Pacific War against the Japanese, although Lieutenant Freeman was killed in his last mission. Their Captain in charge of the mission, Captain Valli, has several soldiers with special training.

Cast

as Sgt. Sullivan * Jack Kelly as Captain Valli * Giampiero Albertini as Aldo * Marino Masé as Italian Lt. Tomassini *

Götz George Götz George (; 23 July 1938 – 19 June 2016) was a German actor, the son of actor couple Berta Drews and Heinrich George. His arguably best-known role is that of Duisburg detective Horst Schimanski in the TV crime series ''Tatort''. Early lif ...

Oberleutnant (English: First Lieutenant) is a senior lieutenant Officer (armed forces), officer rank in the German (language), German-speaking armed forces of Germany (Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the Swiss Armed Forces. In Austria, ''Oberle ...

Rudi * Pier Paolo Capponi as Corbi * Romano Puppo as Dino * Ivano Staccioli as Rodolfo, Radio Man * Marilù Tolo as Adriana * Joachim Fuchsberger as

Heitzel Agen (called "Professor") * Heinz Reincke as

Unteroffizier () is a junior non-commissioned officer rank used by the . It is also the collective name for all non-commissioned officers in Austria and Germany. It was formerly a rank in the Imperial Russian Army. Austria , also , is the collective name to ...

Hans * Helmut Schmid as

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

Miller *

Otto Stern :''Otto Stern was also the pen name of German women's rights activist Louise Otto-Peters (1819–1895)''. Otto Stern (; 17 February 1888 – 17 August 1969) was a German-American physicist. He is the second most nominated person for a Nobel Pri ...

Braumann * Pier Luigi Anchisi as Riccio *

Gianni Brezza Gianni is an Italian name (occasionally a surname), a short form of the Italian Giovanni and a cognate of John meaning God is gracious. Gianni is the most common diminutive of Giovanni in Italian. People with this given name * Gianni Agnelli (19 ...

as Marco * Duilio Del Prete as Bruno

Release

''Commandos'' was released in Italy on 19 November 1968. It was released in West Germany as ''Himmelfahrtskommando El Alamein'' in several cities on 8 August 1969.

Reception

In a contemporary review in the ''

Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'', Richard Comb commented that the conclusion of the film was "the kind of meaningless apocalyptic moment much favoured when international producers get together to meditate over mutual insanity in war", and that ''Commandos'' was "rife with such rhetoric, interspersed with all the action cliches of the war movie and fitfully jerking its line with type"

References

External links