A US Army lieutenant colonel is tasked with forming an elite commando-style unit from crack Canadian troops and the dregs of the US Army.A US Army lieutenant colonel is tasked with forming an elite commando-style unit from crack Canadian troops and the dregs of the US Army.A US Army lieutenant colonel is tasked with forming an elite commando-style unit from crack Canadian troops and the dregs of the US Army.
- Capt. Rose
- (as Harry Carey)
- Director
- Writers
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Devil's Brigade actually existed; its formal military designation was the First Special Service Force (FSSF), and alternatively known as the "Black Devils". It was indeed a joint American-Canadian unit, was comprised of three regiments of two battalions each, and was envisioned for difficult, cold-weather, mountain-warfare missions. The members were known as "Forcemen". Initially earmarked for Northern Europe, the FSSF was first sent to the Pacific, then to the Italian campaign, before finishing its service in southern France in 1944. During World War II, the brigade suffered casualty rates of 39%. Upon disbandment in 1944, each nations' Forcemen were incorporated into their national armies. Veterans of the Devil's Brigade have been meeting each year since 1945, in Montana, at the former training facility depicted in the movie, although in the movie, filming took place in Utah, as a stand-in for Montana.
- GoofsOn Colonel Frederick's office map, Poland has its post-1945 borders and Germany is divided into the postwar East Germany and West Germany.
- Quotes
Maj. Alan Crown: [after the Canadians finished singing a mocking version of 'Yankee Doodle'] Corporal Peacock, your stripes are not a licence to behave like an ass. There will be no more insulting or derogatory remarks about the Yanks, is that clear?
Cpl. Wilfrid Peacock: Yes, sir.
Cpl. Wilfrid Peacock: [addressing the Canadians] There will be no more insulting or derogatory remarks about the Yanks.
Pvt. Hugh MacDonald: Oh, would ordinary insults be acceptable, sir?
- Crazy creditsThe copyright date in the opening credits is MCMXLVIII, which would be 1948, not 1968, when the film was actually produced.
- Alternate versionsThe TV version of the film plays with subtitles for the Germans; the video version dosen't include subtitles.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Strange Report: Report 2493: Kidnap - Whose Pretty Girl Are You? (1969)
- SoundtracksYou Always Hurt the One You Love
(uncredited)
Words by Allan Roberts and music by Doris Fisher
Sung by Andrew Prine and Gretchen Wyler in the bar prior to the fight.
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.
- slokes
- Apr 24, 2006
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,000,000
- Runtime2 hours 10 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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