When it comes to commando missions in the movies, I thought I'd seen just about every cliche and variation in the book. This Italian war movie goes down a road that I'd never thought of before. It's hard to even come up with a war movie of any nationality that bears any resemblance to this one. Hudson plays Capt. Turner, an American commando dropped into Italy with a demolition team meant to hook up with a group of Italian partisans.
But on the parachute drop, a German detachment led Major Von Hecht (Sergio Fantoni) ambushes the team with Turner the only survivor. Before Von Hecht can get his hands on Turner, a group of local Italian boys rescue the commando and drag him to safety in a cave deep in the forest. Led by 15-year old Aldo (Mark Colleano), the group of 15 boys watched the massacre of their village by a German unit. Their motives are simple; they want this American commando to teach them how to use the machine guns they've stolen so they can exact revenge on the Germans. Aldo kidnaps a German nurse (Sylva Koscina) to help bring Turner back to full health.
Once he's able to move around, Turner finds himself in a power struggle with young Aldo. The commando wants to complete his mission, blow up the monstrous Della Norte Dam, while the boys want to kill as many Germans as possible. He negotiates a deal but begins to realize the only way he'll be able to pull off his objective is with the boys' help. All the while, Von Hecht is hot on their trail looking to kill Turner before he can complete his mission.
The dimension of adding a group of young, scarred refugees to help an American commando in his mission was a great touch. Aldo, at times obnoxious and so completely driven to kill Germans, and the boys with an incredible desire to exact revenge is something that's bizarre to watch. Ranging from six or seven years old to 15, they pick up and use machine guns that are as big as them. And when the shooting starts, they treat it almost like a game, hugging and high-fiving at their victories. In the end, Aldo even goes over the edge in a surprising finale.
As the lone American in the cast, Hudson is probably a little too old for the part of a commando leader, but his presence and size compared to the younger, smaller boys works. Other than an odd-looking, out of place mustache, Hudson fills the role well, trying to encourage and keep reins on the group. Koscina's Bianca, the German nurse, is a somewhat pointless role, but her character brings up some of the moral effects Turner's involvement will have on the boys. As the equally driven Von Hecht, a bleach-blond Fantoni borders on the crazy side in his pursuit of Turner. As the leader of the Italian boys, Colleano delivers a strong performance that never makes it easy to like his character, but when thinking of where he's coming from, he does become at least understandable.
Filmed in Italy, the movie looks good. It sounds obvious, but filming on a soundstage would not have worked. And you know what Italy looks like, even 1970 Italy? It looks like Italy, whudda thunk it? It's a beautiful movie thanks to the Italian countryside the story takes place in. The action is sparse, but still effective as the young commando team helps Turner make his assault on the Della Norte Dam. Lots of use of bloody squibs when the guns do go off but not gratuitiously. The ending does deliver a bit of a surprise as some of the boys get knocked off in the attack.
It's a movie that will be hard to track down because the VHS releases are pricey, and there's no DVD in sight. I taped a widescreen version off of TCM that was as clean-looking as a 40-year old Italian war movie can be. Not well-known but still worthwhile if you stumble across it. Good casting with a good if not great score from Ennio Morricone and a unique spin on the typical commando adventure.
Hornets Nest (1970): ** 1/2 /****
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