A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE is another men-on-a-mission war film to follow in the wake of THE DIRTY DOZEN. This is along very much the same lines, albeit with a much bigger cast, and once again it concerns an officer training up a platoon of men for a suicide mission. This time around, the orders are to capture a bunch of Germans and later take a mountain occupied by German forces in Italy.It's obvious from the outset that this is a highly entertaining picture just from the level of talent involved. The familiar faces are endless and the pacing never flags despite the lengthy running time. The first half of the movie is taken up with training but it doesn't feel slow, thanks to the conflict arising from the Canadian troops and the dregs of the American jails forced to join forces with them. Later, when the action hits it does so impressively, mixing quietly taut peril and suspense sequences with all out battle warfare.William Holden headlines the cast as the ultra-tough lieutenant colonel while Cliff Robertson and Vince Edwards play the two opposing majors under him. Elsewhere we get good character parts from the actors playing the privates such as Claude Akins, Richard Jaeckel, and Richard Dawson, and a scene-stealing turn from Jack Watson as the tough Scotsman Corporal Peacock. THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE is an entertaining war flick in that inimitable 1960s style.

When it comes to the sentiment that it is a wonderful tribute to those in the Devil's Brigade I have to take my grandfather's opinion... "All a bunch of Hollywood BS" The reason for this is he was part of this elite unit.He never talked about his time in this unit but only one time... when he was interviewed by the paper about the release of this movie. He was lucky to survive as this unit had the highest casualties and was severely wounded just shy of the liberation of Italy. He has been gone now for almost 20 years (Oct. 1992) and when I miss him the most I put this movie on, it may be almost all fictional but at least I take comfort in the fact I have something of him to keep me from missing him too much and gives me a sense of pride he was part of this unit and fought for our freedom. Also they were trained as paratroopers as comment above, but after his time in Devil's Brigade he would never ever step foot on a plane again.

This is the true story of how a group of American misfits were mixed with a first rate Canadian outfit, and how the leadership of Col. Frederick molded them into one of World War II's most effective fighting forces. Col. Frederick (William Holden) is one of the most inspirational officers ever portrayed in film, and can serve as a great role model for anyone looking to mature. The film contains more positive American values than any I've seen lately. This is an excellent big-movie treatment to a story well worth the telling --- now on DVD.In 1968 I might have scored this movie slightly lower, but not anymore. Back in 1945 and well into the 1970's, Hollywood was loaded with real life war hero's -- both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Most pictures reflected positive values and could inspire the young as to how to live their lives.In contrast, in 2007 we have a pathetic bunch of airheads and drug-heads with no knowledge (or contempt for) mainstream American values, now generating at least 9 movies intended to give aid and comfort to America's enemies in wartime --- and trash the memories of those who died in the September 11th terrorist attack.Compare William Holden's inspirational role in Devil's Brigade to on-again-off-again drug abuser Charlie Sheen (his name stolen from Bishop Fulton J Sheen) dazed and confused on TV -- ranting about toy airplanes crashing the World Trade Center. Yeegads!

By 1968, the public was becoming less enchanted with World War II movies as news footage from Vietnam spilled into their living rooms, and films like this one paid a price. Reading a contemporaneous review in the New York Times, it's hard not to feel the sneering contempt at Andrew V. McLaglen's engaging if light take on a group of American and Canadian commandos. But which has dated more, the film or its critics?It's hard to judge "The Devil's Brigade" fairly when you grew up watching it as I did on television, courtesy of Channel 7's "4:30 Movie" in New York City. If you watch a war movie that thrills you as a kid, you try your best to overlook its flaws as an adult. Fortunately, "The Devil's Brigade" is still a good film when you realize it is meant to be a piece of entertainment and not a true depiction of war a la "Saving Pvt. Ryan."Yes, there are weaknesses, including the Wehrmacht's employment of Patton tanks and blind and deaf sentries. The only Canadian that sounds like Richard Dawson does here is Michael Myers when he's playing "Shrek." As the unit commander, Lt. Col. Frederick, William Holden seems disengaged from the rest of the film, dyspeptic and hung over, which he may well have been. Maybe his mind was on that new Peckinpaugh script in his trailer…But what you get here is better than you might expect, delivered by McLaglen with a near-expert blend of mounting tension and comic finesse. We are introduced to a lot of individual soldiers in "The Devil's Brigade," Canadians and Americans, and the film gives ample space to their interesting and divergent story arcs.Good performances abound. Cliff Robertson as Major Crown is the straight arrow Canadian commander who escaped Dunkirk and longs for a second crack at the Germans. If anyone but McLaglen was directing, Crown would be a thankless role, but McLaglen was in tune with the straight and narrow and gives Robertson the room and tone to play the part well, which Robertson does.Other Canadian characters shine, too, like the gruff but lovable Cpl. Peacock (Jack Watson) and Jeremy Slate as a self-defense instructor whose impromptu demonstration at the expense of Claude Akins is a comic highlight. On the American side, Akins does a nice job keeping a degree of audience sympathy even as he belittles "the Canucks," as he calls them, setting himself up for Slate's humility lesson, while Andrew Prine pulls you in as a troubled and sensitive soldier who wants the chance to prove himself but finds the business of killing hard.The first hour of the film is the best part, as the brigade is trained to Frederick's exacting standards while its American and Canadian components learn to deal with each other. It all comes together in a raucous bar fight which is a McLaglen specialty and the film's highlight, a rousing celebration of Canadian-American togetherness at the expense of a few bigmouthed lumberjacks who pick the wrong time to kid Dawson about his kilt."I know nobody invited the Canadians," Akins sneers. "But what burns me up is just who the hell invited you?"Alas, when we get to the war itself, we are initially treated to a silly combat sequence involving the capture of an Italian village by a patrol. It all comes too easy, and McLaglen's attempt to marry the comedy of the first half with some gritty battle reality is miscalculated. Are we supposed to believe an elite battalion of Germans can be captured by a dozen Devils without anyone firing a shot?There are lots of shots fired at the film's concluding battle, at once rousing and heart-wrenching, especially as McLaglen and scripter William Roberts make use of all the characters we had invested ourselves in by putting them in harm's way and not letting them all out. After the bar fight, it is the film's best section, especially with William H. Clothier's sterling cinematography making ample use of a blue-mountain vista.Maybe I am too prejudiced in favor of movies that thrilled me when I was young. Maybe "The Devil's Brigade" isn't as good as "Lawrence Of Arabia." But it's a solid adventure film that makes me happy I had the good luck to see it when I was a little more naive.