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Anzio (1968)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 5/24

5/24: Despite the ambitious title, Anzio is another one of these "war is pointless" pictures that have nothing to do with reality.

Forget the fact that Robert Mitchum is in it. He plays the most invincible man alive and has no need for guns or grenades to survive any battle. At one point, he falls asleep in the middle of the barbed wires, and nobody spots him in broad daylight. Further insulting my intelligence is a bright white dog who's next to him and belongs to a German patrolman.

At least, I like the beginning of the film when all soldiers made a bet that the guy (Mark Damon) would fall off within twenty seconds while swinging on the chandelier as they throw tons of stuff at him. By the way, before the Higgins boats landed on the beach, Robert Mitchum's character said, "It was here at Anzio that Nero fiddled while Rome burned." That's not true. The fiddle wasn't invented back then and wouldn't come into existence for another thousand of years, and Nero wasn't in Anzio but Antium when it happened.

I know Wolfgang Preiss had appeared in so many war pictures, but this is the first time ever he gave an impressive performance. It's a pity his screen time is so short. On the other hand, Peter Falk has no business in playing a soldier. He has a glass eye, for goodness' sake! Way more than enough to be declared 4-F. At least, Peter Falk has a good man-to-man talk with Robert Mitchum, and the movie should've included more of it.

All in all, once you've seen one, you've seen them all, and Anzio is just exactly that.

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