Ken (Attack of the Giant Leeches) Clark stars as a Nazi soldier who is given a top-secret mission with a slim chance of success. He and his team will drop into the African desert disguised as British soldiers. Then, they will move onto Casablanca where they will crash a meeting between Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin and assassinate them. Little does Clark and his men know they’re walking right into a trap.
During the ’60s, Italy churned out many memorable Spaghetti Westerns and horror films. Watching Desert Commandos, it’s easy to see why the nation’s war pictures aren’t remembered as fondly. Written and directed by Italian exploitation maverick Umberto (Nightmare City) Lenzi, the film is workmanlike at best and dull at worst. The big issue of course, is that the “heroes” are Nazis, which makes it tough for American audiences to sympathize and root for them. (One of the soldiers even uses the old, “I was just obeying orders” justification for his actions.) Those fascist Italians probably didn’t have much trouble cheering the characters on, but for us Yanks, there’s very little to hang our hats on, aside from the action.
Since most of the first act is comprised of sweaty guys shuffling through the desert, the film takes a while to settle into a groove. (The subplot about the soldiers kidnapping an Arab warlord is ho-hum, and the ensuing camel chase looks plain silly.) To his credit, once the plot shifts away from the desert, Lenzi keeps the action coming at regular intervals, even if the scenes of warfare and combat themselves are a mixed bag. He does deliver one solid sequence set in a minefield where the soldiers use cigarettes to mark the position of the mines though.
If you’re looking to get into Lenzi's filmography, his action flicks probably aren’t the best place to start. Check out his many horror, gialli, and cannibal movies instead. You’ll probably have much better luck.
AKA: Desert Commando.
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