See This Movie!!! As for all the nay sayers on this site, it doesn't sound like they actually saw the movie or watched it all the way through.If you love WWII films or action films, make this a must see. The action is so intense it's difficult to believe this was made way back in 1968. The production quality is very high.How intense is the action? Well, I've seen this movie twice and I've yet to find a rifle on screen! (no kidding) Every character is armed with a submachine gun. Just as 'Die Hard' tought us, SMGs make for the best action scenes no matter how unrealistic it would be to actually hit a target at 100 feet. (or 50 feet) The plot: October 1942, North Africa. Lee Van Cleef leads a band of New York Italian American paratroopers whom must raid and hold an Axis water supply depot. Most importantly they must be about to pass for Italian solders in order to fool their German comrades.The oasis depot proves to be a very elaborate but well fortified Axis hotel. There's even a bar and grill and a prostitute.The GIs do their best to fool the Germans but inevitably the situation cannot hold. Their Italian prisoners escape, more and more German squads keep visiting and worse yet Van Cleef himself is a deranged and unstable veteran of Bataan who hates all superior officers as glory hounds carelessly putting his men at risk.The final scene is a really great one. I've never seen anything like it in any war movie! It's the perfect conclusion.For those of you not familiar with the "Spaghetti WWII" film 'Commandos' is a great place to start.No, "Spaghetti WWII" is not part of the "Nazisploitation" films made in Italy during the 70s and 80s. (remember 'Salon Kitty' 'Last Orgy of the Third Reich' or the Elsa films?) "Spaghetti WWII" films are an overlooked genre that embodied much of what we love about American WWII films. The brotherhood of solders, the hell of war, and the glory of combat. These films were told from either the Axis or Allied side and just like traditional WWII films the Nazis always lose. Even if they are the main characters.Unlike neutered German WWII films like 'Stalingrad.' The Italians got it right. No drama or romance, just guts and glory.'Desert Commandos' is a perfect companion piece to this film.

As I mentioned in my board comment, I found this film to be entertaining overall and was intrigued by the portrayal of "shell shock" and the "friends vs military obligation" themes. Not to mention Mario Nascimbene's mono-chordal, analog synthesizer sound track that, while annoying at times, really does create a creepy atmosphere of suspense. Lee Van Cleef can really frighten the audience while maintaining a good guy innocence at the same time. Although the Echo Bridge DVD claims the movies are "digitally remastered" and "Enhanced 5.1 Audio", the picture and sound were drive-in quality at best. I managed to butter up the sound with my Sony Surround Receiver, but I can't help but wonder what the experience of a film like this would be like if it were truly restored with the latest in film restoration technology.

I'm another one who got in the bargain bin at wal-mart in an 8 "Classic War Movie" package for $5.50.It was enjoyable, especially the battle sequences. FOr me it was entertaining to see how everything seems to go wrong for the Americans. There are some technical problems here and there with weaponry and the producers/scriptwriters' love of submachine guns.It surprised me how halfway through the movie I realized that the Italians and Germans were the ones portrayed sympathetically and the Americans weren't.The Germans are very well portrayed with accurate Afrika Korps uniforms (down to such details as pink piping and skull collar insignia for tankers) as are the Italians. Conversely the American details are off, from the postwar M3A1 submachine guns to the late war "Ike" jackets.The use of US tanks is always excusable for me because where were you going to get real German WW2 tanks in 1970? The M24 Chaffees do have Jerry cans and spare track added to give them a Pzkpfw III look and the M47 Patton II's are similarly modified. Though the AMX-10VCI APC with Afrika Korps palms is laughable. Look closely you'll also see that they are very realistically portrayed with scuffed and worn schemes like real Afrika Korps tanks and not the freshly-re-painted-for-the-movie look like the tanks in Patton.I gotta say it was enjoyable. It ain't a classic but it ain't bad and the little uniform details and sympathetic portrayal of the Germans/Italians made it worth while for me.

i bought this movie on a DVD with two sides with this as the main movie and "five for hell" as the flipside for less than a dollar! for some reason i only played the five for hell side and never got around to watching commandos until today. the movie starts out of nowhere, kinda like they cut out the beginning, like other instances of scene clipping threwout this movie, and like I've seen on many of these older movies i get for less than a dollar. for this jarring start to the movie one would suspect the film to be "el cheap-o", but one look at the mean ass sgt. sullivan and you can tell this film has some pretty good potential to be good. then the opening credits roll and that old school, Italian movie masterpiece symphony music comes on and grips any real hard core war flick fan by the nads! setting pace for a grim, gritty, and surprisingly realistic look into covert operations from a time in warfare one doesn't see too much about in film. there are also several instances of revelation of emotional toll and distress threwout this film. flashbacks and dissent abound, the film at times takes on a hallucinogenic, psychedelic frame of mind stance, and can leave one deep in thought about the effects of war on a mans soul. though the mission the "commandos" are on may seem to be absolutely impossible, for some reason this film makes it all seam possible and looks rather realistic, especially for its 1968 release. and anybody who is a fan of tanks and tank crews in film, such as "the beast", will love the presence of the Germans in their panzer units, riding and fighting threw the desserts of Africa. in my opinion commandos is very much a classic, too bad i cant say the same for "five for hell!"