Raid on Rommel (1971)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writer:

Richard M. Bluel (writer)

Release Date:

12 February 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War | Action

Plot:

Captain Foster plans on raiding German-occupied Tobruk with hand- picked commandos, but a mixup leaves...

Plot Keywords:

Dust | Sergeant | WWII | Explosion | North Africa

Cast

Richard Burton	...	Capt. Alex Foster
John Colicos	...	Sgt. Maj. Allan MacKenzie
Clinton Greyn	...	Maj. Hugh Tarkington
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Gen. Erwin Rommel
Danielle De Metz	...	Vivianne Gagliardo
Karl-Otto Alberty	...	Capt. Heinz Schroeder
Christopher Cary	...	Cpl. Peter Merrihew
John Orchard	...	Dan Garth
Brook Williams	...	Sgt. Joe Reilly
Greg Mullavey	...	Pvt. Ed Brown
Ben Wright	...	Admiral
Michael Sevareid	...	Cpl. Bill Wembley
Chris Anders	...	Tank Sergeant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ron Berkeley

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

German | Italian | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1971) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Average Shot Length (ASL) = ~4.9 seconds. Median Shot Length 4 seconds.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Captain Foster fires more than the maximum magazine load of 8 shots from his Walther P38 pistol when he kills Captain Schroeder.

Quotes:

Maj. Hugh Tarkington: You know Rommel?
Capt. Heinz Schroeder: Yes. He loves the Sahara. We all do. By "we", I mean the professional military.
Maj. Hugh Tarkington: I'm not a military man, captain. War holds no romance for me. The side effects are repulsive.
Capt. Heinz Schroeder: Here there are no side effects. No women, no children, no towns to get in the way, just men, my doctor.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gamera vs. Guiron (#4.12)" (1991)

A really bad movie

The history is wrong. The props are inaccurate. The story is over the top derring do nonsense. It was the presence of Richard Burton that drew me to this turkey. Alas, it must have been his worst role. I fail to see how any film maker can be so careless with his subject and so contemptuous of his audience. The Germans did not use flying boats and certainly not in the desert. The Wehrmacht did not use the type of campaign ribbon shown on the German uniforms. There are no puffy white clouds over the Libyan desert. Edward R. Murrow's CBS broadcasts could not have been heard in Africa. And on and on and on. Nor have we even approached the absurd plot, complete with an Italian bimbo and a philatelic Erwin Rommel. Or the very chintzy special effects. Nope. My one line summary says it all. A really bad movie!