Desert Commandos

Desert Commandos
Desert Commandos
	Italian film poster
	Attentato ai tre grandi
Directed by	Umberto Lenzi
Screenplay by	Umberto Lenzi
Story by	Umberto Lenzi
Produced by	Alberto Grimaldi
Starring	Ken Clark; Horst Frank; Jeanne Valérie; Carlo Hintermann; Howard Ross; Fabienne Dali; Franco Fantasia; Gianni Rizzo;
Cinematography	Carlo Carlini
Edited by	Eugenio Alabiso
Music by	Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Production; companies	PEA; Constantin Film; Films Ege;
Distributed by	PEA ; Constantin Film
Release dates	1 December 1967 (Italy); 15 March 1968 (West Germany);
Running time	96 minutes
Countries	Italy; France; West Germany;
Language	Italian

Desert Commandos (Italian: Attentato ai tre grandi) is a 1967 French/Italian/West German international co-production war film set during World War II in Morocco where it was filmed. The Italian title (Attack on the Big Three) refers to a German commando group with a mission to assassinate Churchill, Roosevelt and de Gaulle at the Casablanca Conference.

The film is a character-based drama that focuses on the German soldiers' various drives and conflicts during encounters with Tuareg nomads, and French and American soldiers.

Plot

The grief-stricken Captain Fritz Schoeller has assisted his terminally ill wife with her wishes for euthanasia. A party of men whisk him from his wife's funeral, not for arrest, but to be briefed on a special mission he will lead. The Captain, Lt. Roland Wolf, Sgt. Erich Huber, Corporal Hans Ludwig and Private Willy Mainz are all skilled in commando tactics and have excellent English language skills. They are dressed in British Commando uniforms and parachuted into Morocco where Faddja Hassen, an Arab woman will guide them to Casablanca where they will assassinate Allied leaders.

Cast

Ken Clark: Captain Fritz Schoeller
Horst Frank: Lt. Roland Wolf
Jeanne Valérie: Faddja Hassen
Carlo Hintermann: Sgt. Erich Huber
Howard Ross: Willy Mainz
Franco Fantasia: Major Dalio
Hardy Reichelt: Corporal Hans Ludwig
Fabienne Dali: Simone
John Stacy: Sir Bryan
Tom Felleghy: Colonel Ross
Gianni Rizzo: Perrier

Release

The film was released in West Germany on March 15, 1968, as Fünf gegen Casablanca.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Cowie & Elley 1977, p. 300.
^ "Fünf gegen Casablanca". Filmportal.de. Retrieved July 30, 2017.

Sources

Cowie, Peter; Elley, Derek (1977). World Filmography: 1967. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. ISBN 0-498-01565-3.

External links

Desert Commandos at IMDb

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[FOOTNOTECowieElley1977300-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Cowie & Elley 1977, p. 300.

[2] "Fünf gegen Casablanca". Filmportal.de. Retrieved July 30, 2017.

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