This Italian-Spanish co-production is a war movie about a top-secret Allied mission to destroy an airport deep behind German lines. In order to carry out the exercise the military gather together a motley band of misfit soldiers.This movie is one of many Macaroni Combat films which tapped into the basic premise of the Hollywood smash hit The Dirty Dozen (1967). It almost feels to me that at least 50% of Italian World War 2 flicks seem to use this same basic template. I have now seen so many of them that I have to admit my patience has been worn a bit thin, with this one being a step too far and somewhat of a chore to sit through. Nothing happens here that makes it stand out from the others except maybe for the ludicrous idea of a boy scout leader being recruited for a special forces mission! Needless to say, things pan out as they always do in these kinds of flicks. This one stars the diminutive tache-sporter Tano Cimarosa who appeared in a few notable flicks from the period, such as Renato Polselli's demented giallo Delirium (1972). You'd be better off watching that sex and violence fest that this tiresome war movie I would say.

Calleya (Tano Cimarosa) is an alcoholic and divorced Maltese soldier. Harper (Ugo Fangareggi) is a skilled Boy Scout troop leader. Sam (Luis Davila) is a veteran ex-commando. And Sorrel (Manuel Zarzo) is a Gypsy thief awaiting a court martial. And they're all under the thumb of Sergeant Derrick Cloadec (Aldo Ray) who's taking them on a mission to destroy a Luftwaffe air base in Germany during World War 2. It's your typical "men on a mission" routine. Suicide Commandos is cheaply made and if you're watching for a cerebral workout you won't find much here. But if you just want to relax and be entertained for an hour and a half than this movie will do the trick. It's a fun B-movie and if you're into that sort of thing (like I am) than this will do nicely. It's in the public domain and pretty easy to find. Enjoy.

Any resemblance between "A Long Ride from Hell" director Camillo Bazzoni's World War II mission thriller "Suicide Commandos" and similar combat capers such as "The Secret Invasion," "The Dirty Dozen" and "Where Eagles Dare" is more coincidental than relevant. True, the non-com hero assembles six soldiers best described as misfits, but only one is an actual criminal. The remainder are hard luck soldiers and a civilian. This solid behind-enemy-lines actioneer has our protagonists parachuting into the heart of Nazi Germany, like in "Where Eagles Dare." Unlike both "Where Eagles Dare" and "The Dirty Dozen," however, our heroes find themselves handicapped once they hit the ground because the Germans kill their demolitions expert and confiscate their explosives. Moreover, unlike "Where Eagles Dare," "The Dirty Dozen," and "The Secret Invasion," headquarters dispatches the misfits in "Suicide Commandos" to destroy material objectives rather than kill, recruit, or rescue Allied personnel.A disgruntled artillery private, Calleya (Tano Cimarosa of "The Sicilian Connection"), picks a fight in a pub after his shrewish wife (Pamela Tudor of "Kill Rommel") wants nothing to do with him, and British military police try to arrest him. An MP clubs him to knock a knife out of Calleya's fist, but Calleya head butts the MP in the guts, charges out the door, tangles with another MP that he also head butts before vanishing into the darkness. A Breton Commando Sergeant, Cloadec (Aldo Ray of "The Naked and the Dead") witnesses the private's flight and offers Calleya a ride in his vehicle to elude the military police. Sergeant Cloadec persuades Calleya to join his commando team, and Cloadec's superior officer, a Colonel, orders the sergeant to find five more tigers like Calleya, and train them as commandos and parachutists.Cloadec chooses his most unlikely candidate, Harper (Ugo Fangareggi of "The Treasure of San Gennaro"), a Boy Scout troop leader. The colonel takes one look at the gawky Harper with his jutting jaw and shakes his head in mystification. Cloadec explains to his superior that Harper's Boy Scout have won top orientation awards at every regional and national contest for 10 consecutive years. Harper is a genius at direction finding under the worst imaginable weather conditions. Claims Cloadec to his colonel: "He's not a man; he is a walking compass, a human radar." The colonel believes that Harper is too "fragile" to be useful as a commando, but he concedes to Cloadec's judgment. Cloadec learns that Harper is a crack shot with an automatic pistol but Harper cannot hit a target with a rifle. The sergeant has Harper trained to be a radio operator as well as their guide.As his third candidate, the sergeant calls on a discredited officer, Sam Calloway (Luis Dávila of "Barcelona Kill"), whose suicidal nature has landed him in the hospital and prompted the brass to demote him. Sam is stuck in a hospital under observation, but all Sam wants to do his die in combat. Cloadec assures him, "Come with me, and you won't live long." Fourth, Cloadec selects a former gypsy-turned-soldier, Sorrel (Manuel Zarzo of "The Ugly Ones"), who was once a circus acrobatic. Sorrel is a car thief and a burglar who made the mistake of stealing from an Army General. Cloadec assures Sorrel that all charges against him will be dropped if he joins his team. Sorrel's character is as close as "Suicide Commandos" comes to resembling "The Dirty Dozen." Cloadec's sixth member is an explosives expert, but Bazzoni doesn't sketch in his character like other five, except for the colonel to warn the others that Tulay is crazy.During training, Cloadec has his men practice with their rifles while being suspended by their heels upside down. Before they take off for Germany in a C-47, Cloadec warns his men, "Men, we're commandos and we've been given an order and orders are to be obeyed. Now, let's get one thing straight, it is better to be short a man than to be stuck with a man who cannot take it." It seems that the Germans have built a new Tiger tank and the air force cannot bomb the tanks as they make their way across Europe because Luftwaffe fighters, ME 109s, control the air. As the colonel tells them once they are assembled for take-off, the success of the Allied second front will depend on their mission to destroy an airfield. Once the ME-109s no longer pose a threat to the Allied air force, the bombers can wipe out the tanks before they can reinforce the Atlantic Wall.This mission is not a picnic as our heroes learn quickly enough. The Luftwaffe shoot down the C-47 moments after Cloadec and his men jump and the German shoot their demolitions expert. Cloadec calls in another air drop and they attack an airfield. Sorrel is the first one to die, but his death scene is really good.Predictably, despite the presence of actual World War II era replica aircraft in the same shots as our heroes, Bazzoni had to resort to obvious fake model aircraft and destroy them with clearly obvious butane fires. Aside for the dubbing, this is the most objectionable part of "Suicide Commandos." Indeed, as you might imagine, the dubbing on this combat epic is frankly execrable, but the "Kill Django" lenser Francisco Sánchez's widescreen color photography is truly impressive, especially when you consider that future three-time Oscar winner lenser Vittorio Storaro of "Apocalypse Now," "Reds," and "The Last Emperor" served as Sánchez's camera operator. The copy that I watched was a full-frame VHS tape, but the low angle camera work and the long shots were terrific looking. The strangest thing of all is the music. Composer Daisy Lumini supplies an orchestral score that sounds like a Spaghetti western version of Wagner's music with lots of whistling in it."Suicide Commandos" is nowhere near as good as "Inglorious Bastards," but still worth watching for a Spaghetti World War II thriller.

Here we have yet another Italian/Spanish World War II film, concerning an "impossible mission" taken on by misfit soldiers. How many times did the Italians make this type of WW2 movie in the 1960s and 1970s? There's DIRTY HEROES, BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS, FIVE FOR HELL, COMMANDOS, LAST DAY OF THE WAR . . . this one of the better ones, although it's in no way a classic.The plot: The Germans have built a secret airfield which threatens the D-Day invasion. Flak in the area is so heavy that Allied planes can't get through the bomb the airfield. So High Command calls in French commando Sgt. Cloadec (Aldo Ray!!!, in the same type of role he had in GREEN BERETS) to take on the impossible task of leading 4 misfit commandos behind enemy lines to destroy the airfield. The mission takes on various twists and turns until the climax.Unfortunately we never get to see too many enemy soldiers pursuing the good guys. The lack of extras is only one piece of evidence which suggests the low budget. Besides Aldo Ray, the producers couldn't hire any other easily recognizable actors for the movie. The special effects are the worst I have ever seen. They usually involve burning model plastic aircraft. And I am not kidding; the closeups are just as bad as the awful effects in BRIDGE TO HELL. The heroic "Colonel Bogey-esqe" musical score is rousing at first but soon goes into monotony. But we do finally get to see some action and a little bit (a very little bit) of originality and some good acting. The cinematography is quite decent; the movie was filmed out in the woods some place, for the most part, but resembles France pretty accurately for once. Most Italian war movies are set in France or Germanty, but look like they were filmed in -- well -- Italy or Spain.Overall, the movie is entertaining but really lacks originality and is also undeniably cheap. But, it's well paced, solidly directed and contains some good characters. 5 out of 10 stars.