This week’s pick is the Tony Richardson 1968 remake of The Charge of the Light Brigade which tells the story of a British expeditionary force sent to the Crimean peninsula in 1854 to halt the spread of Russian dominance over the vastly deteriorating Ottoman Empire. The Crimean War (1853-56) was considered to be the first modern war of the Victorian age. It was also a war fought by those which represented Christendom throughout Eastern Europe and throughout the holy lands.

The film stars some of Britain’s most celebrated actors: Trevor Howard (Maj. Gen. James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan), Sir John Gielguld, (Field Marshal James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron of Raglan), Vanessa Redgrave (Clarissa), Harry Andrews, (Lt. Gen. The Earl of Lucan), and David Hemmings, (Capt. Louis Edward Nolan).

The film opens with beautiful illustration which shows the mighty Russian bear terrorizing a Turkey wearing a fez hat. The other nations of Europe such as Italy, and the French Eagle look towards England, the sleeping Lion which awakens, lets loose a tremendous roar, and puts on a policeman’s helmet as a show of force that England will flex its might in this international affair.

The opening sequence which is done entirely through animation shows how Britain represents progress, industry, might, and the where with all to conduct policy in the name of the queen. It is a fabulous opening sequence which helps to establish the film and to allow the viewer to witness this pivotal time in Victorian history.

The Devil’s Brigade (1968) is the story of the military unit known as the 1st Special Service Force, a unit comprised of American and Canadian commandos which fought throughout Europe and the Aleutian islands during World War II. Director Andrew V. McLaglen brings this story to the big screen about the men known to their enemies as “The Black Devils”, a unit which suffered tremendous casualties in just only two short years of bloody combat (1942-44).

William Holden (Col. Robert Frederick), Cliff Robertson (Maj. Alan Crown), Vince Edwards (Maj. Cliff Bricker), Andrew Prine (Pvt. Theodore Ransom), Claude Atkins (Pvt. Rockwell “Rocky” Rockman), Jack Watson (Cpl. Wilfred Peacock), Richard Jaeckel (Pvt. Omar Greco), Richard Dawson (Pvt. Hugh MacDonald), Carroll O’ Connor (Maj. Gen. Maxwell Hunter), Michael Rennie (Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark), and Dana Andrews (Brig. Gen. Walter Naylor) make up the cast of American misfits and their clean-cut Canadian counterparts.

Col. Frederick (Holden) is chosen as the commanding officer of this unit which was created by Lord Louis Mountbatten as an American/Canadian unit which was to conduct secret commando operations against the Germans in occupied Norway. Having little combat experience and this being his first command, Frederick is concerned with such a bold plan which fails to mention how such a force can be extracted from occupied Norway once the mission is completed.

Paths of Glory (1957) is one of the first masterpieces from acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick. It was loosely based on a rather obscure novel by Humphrey Cobb who published the story in 1935 about an actual group of French soldiers who were tried and condemned to death for cowardice in the face of the enemy during World War I.

The film opens up in 1916 where the narrator informs the audience that after two long years, the war has evolved into a series of trench warfare where victory was measured in precious yards. A series of trench fortifications ran from the Swiss frontier to the English Channel which stopped the advancing German army within thirty or so miles of Paris. Kirk Douglas plays the leading role as Col. Dax who is a company commander and chosen by the General Corp to defend three men who are chosen as scapegoats during a failed attack on an impregnable German position.

Rounding out the fantastic cast is veteran character actor, George Macready (Brig. Gen. Paul Mireau) who is the man behind the court martial of the defendants, Adolphe Menjou (Maj. Gen. Broulard), Ralph Meeker (Cpl. Philippe Paris), Wayne Morris (Lt. Roget), Richard Anderson (Maj. Saint-Auban), Joe Turkel (Pvt. Pierre Arnaud), and Timothy Carey (Pvt. Maurice Ferol) who strikingly looks a lot like John Turturro. If there is ever a remake, Turturro ought to be cast as Pvt. Ferol.

This week is a different kind of war movie, because it’s a war movie on the home front which mirrors the actions and feelings of what the country was going through during the latter half of the Vietnam War. Southern Comfort (1981) is a psychological thriller from acclaimed director Walter Hill (The Warriors, The Long Riders, 48 Hours, Streets of Fire, Geronimo: An American Legend.)

The film centers around a squad of nine National Guardsmen who are on weekend maneuvers in the Louisiana bayous in 1973. The film stars an assortment of fantastic character actors ranging from Powers Boothe (Cpl Hardin), Keith Carradine (Pfc. Spencer), T.K. Carter (Pfc. Cribbs), Peter Coyote (Ssgt. Poole), Brion James (Cajun trapper), Sonny Landham (Cajun hunter), Lewis Smith (Pfc. Stuckey), and Fred Ward (Cpl. Reece).

As the squad of men descend deep into the swamp, Cpl. Hardin (Boothe) and Pfc. Spencer (Carradine) quickly become pals and are the only two level headed individuals in this motley crew of weekend warriors. Hardin is a recent transfer from the Texas Guard who is trying to finish his stint so he can return to civilian life. He has total lack of respect for the Army and for those in charge such as Ssgt. Poole (Coyote) and Sgt. Casper (Les Lannom).

As the film progresses, the squad commandeers a few Cajun canoes in order to make their way to the other side of the swamp. In doing so they seal their fate with a bunch of Cajuns who retaliate due to their canoes being stolen, and after Pfc. Stuckey (as a prank), scares them by opening fire with his M-60 machine gun which is loaded with blanks. Terrified, the Cajuns shoot back killing Ssgt. Cribbs. The men quickly become paranoid as to their fate and have only a few precious live rounds to do battle with the Cajuns who use their knowledge of the terrain to their advantage.

1986’s Where Eagles Dare is a World War II spy/action film which is based on Alistair MacLean’s novel about a group of allied commandos who must break into an impregnable German fortress in the Bavarian Alps and rescue an American General who has vital information concerning plans for the “second front.” They must free him before the Germans can extract this information and change the the course of the war.

Richard Burton (Maj. John Smith), Clint Eastwood (Lt. Morris Schaffer), Mary Ure (Mary Elison), & Ingrid Pitt (Heidi) are the commando squad sent to free the General and uncover a conspiracy involving not only who they were sent to rescue, but what they were really sent to do. Brian G. Hutton (Kelly’s Heroes), directs with amazing style and non stop action with a screenplay adapted by MacLean himself.

The one thing that I have always loved about the film besides the cinematography, and the Ron Goodwin score is that you’re always cold while watching it. When the commandos first parachute into the Alps, they come down during a snow storm and discover that one of their own had his neck broken in the drop.

You instantly feel as if you are there in the snow with them, almost like Sam Peckinpah’s sandy desert landscapes in The Wild Bunch. Smith carefully inspects the injury and discovers that the break was caused by the butt of a rifle or some other weapon. Smith now realizes that one if not several in the group may be possible German agents sent to make sure that the mission fails.

This week’s pick is Richard Attenborough’s A Bridge Too Far (1977) which was based on the Cornelius Ryan novel about the Allied airborne invasion of Holland in September 1944. A Bridge Too Far is a sprawling Hollywood epic, filmed in the same tradition as Ryan’s earlier adaptation The Longest Day (1962) which was based on the D-Day invasion in France. A Bridge Too Far has over thirty of the most acclaimed international stars of the seventies, and even today, as the military and civilian individuals involved in what was known as “Operation Market Garden.”

By September 1944, the German army was in full retreat from France and the low countries (Belgium & The Netherlands) as the allied push from Normandy and Belgium began advancing East towards the German frontier. Due to supply shortages having to be driven from the Normandy beach head, to over five hundred miles away, made the advances come to a screeching halt due to Patton and British General Montgomery needing supplies for both their armies in order for the assault into Germany.

Montgomery proposed an idea to American General Eisenhower (Supreme Commander of the allied expeditionary force in Europe) to invade Holland with over 35,000 paratroopers, and seize a series of bridges over the Rhine, and then advance into Germany to capture industrial factories in the Ruhr, which was the industrial heart of Germany, and where most of their war manufacturing plants were located. Like all battles in the middle of long wars, it was hoped that this bold plan was to end the fighting by Christmas. General Browning (Bogarde) was quoted in a meeting with General Montgomery that they might be going “A bridge too far” with such a plan.

Zulu (1964) directed and co-written by Cy Endfield, is a film which follows in the tradition of such films like The Four Feathers, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and Gunga Din. It is the screen story of a small garrison of British soldiers who defend the mission station of Rorke’s Drift following the British defeat at the battle of Isandlwana on the afternoon of January 22, 1879. Stanley Baker (Lt. John Chard), Michael Caine in his first major role, (Lt. Gonville Bromhead), Jack Hawkins (Reverend Otto Witt), James Booth (Pvt. Henry Hook), Nigel Green (Colour Sgt. Frank Bourne), Patrick Magee (Surgeon-Maj. James Henry Reynolds), and Gert van den Bergh (Lt. Josef Adendorff) star as the defenders who thwart off numerous attacks by over 4,000 Zulu warriors.

Zulu is a fantastic film, shot in glorious Technirama 70mm. It is a film that shows the sweeping African landscape and was shot on actual battlefield locations. Lt. Chard (Baker) is a member of the Royal Engineers who is sent down from the colony to build a bridgehead across the Buffalo River for the invasion of Zululand. Lt. Bromhead (Caine) is the commanding officer of the 24th Regiment of foot (a primarily Welsh regiment), who learn that two Zulu “impis” (armies) are coming to Rorke’s Drift in an attempt to destroy it and to slaughter the British soldiers there.

Rorke’s Drift was used as a hospital facility and a staging area for the invasion into Zululand and would prove to be a second victory for the Zulus.

Fearing annihilation like Chelmsford’s army, Bromhead wishes to dispatch his troopers into the countryside to fight the Zulus in a guerrilla engagement. Lt. Chard takes command due to seniority and has Bromhead’s soldiers set up defenses and wait for the approaching Zulus. Reverend Witt (Hawkins) begins to drink heavily and starts to demoralize the troops telling them that they will all die if they stay at the mission.

This Week’s pick is yet again another World War II classic, the 1969 John Guillerman (King Kong 1976) film The Bridge At Remagen which stars George Segal (Lt. Phil Hartman), Ben Gazzara (Sgt. Angelo), Robert Vaughn (Major Paul Krueger), Bradford Dillman (Major Barnes) and screen great E.G. Marshall as General Shinner.

The film opens in March of 1945 as the American 9th Armored Div began to push elements of the retreating German army back towards the Rhine River. The German high command wants all the bridges over the Rhine destroyed in order to halt the advance of the allies from reaching the heart of Germany.

But one high ranking officer, General Von Brock (Peter Van Eyck) enlists the help of Major Paul Krueger (Vaughn) to keep one bridge, the bridge at Remagen up in order to allow the German 15th Army and its seventy-five thousand men to retreat and avoid capture. Krueger accepts the mission believing that a large force stationed at the bridge will stop the advancing Americans.

The Americans however want the bridge destroyed, but in the end keep it up as a way to help shorten the war. Both the Germans and Americans don’t realize it yet, but Remagen will become one of the last decisive battles of the war in Europe.