Shannon Mullis-Long When it comes to the sentiment that it is a wonderful tribute to those in the Devil's Brigade I have to take my grandfather's opinion... "All a bunch of Hollywood BS" The reason for this is he was part of this elite unit.He never talked about his time in this unit but only one time... when he was interviewed by the paper about the release of this movie. He was lucky to survive as this unit had the highest casualties and was severely wounded just shy of the liberation of Italy. He has been gone now for almost 20 years (Oct. 1992) and when I miss him the most I put this movie on, it may be almost all fictional but at least I take comfort in the fact I have something of him to keep me from missing him too much and gives me a sense of pride he was part of this unit and fought for our freedom. Also they were trained as paratroopers as comment above, but after his time in Devil's Brigade he would never ever step foot on a plane again.

screenman This movie arrived in the year following 'The Dirty Dozen'. The latter focuses upon a small team of misfits, each one a recognised Hollywood actor representing a typical characteristic. Lee Marvin plays the officer-with-attitude who must lead them on a suicide mission. It's a laugh, but it's pretty formulaic.The Devil's Brigade embarks upon a much more lavish production of what is basically the same idea. Many of the faces from 'The Dirty Dozen' reappear in this production, but there's a whole host of other blink-and-miss nobodies who are evidently inserted in the plot for the express purpose of dying dramatically.It's a do-or-die mission, yawn. And as I say, it's on a more lavish scale. But it doesn't seem to have learnt anything from its earlier inspiration. 'Based on a True Story' is a common excuse for making a turkey, and there's a few feathers lying around here. It's hard to decide what actually distinguishes a good movie from a mediocre one. If the formula could be isolated, then they'd all be good. This one's distinctly mediocre. There's a decent cast starring William Holden. Sometimes, he can be really great - check him out in 'Sunset Boulevard' or 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' - but here he's pretty wooden and unsympathetic.There's some great location choice, but camera-work is very unimaginative. The script certainly has nothing to recommend it. And the characters are all by-the-numbers. Plenty of pyrotechnics & slaughter, but the combat sequences are generally unexciting.All in all, it's a flat, formulaic and largely unengaging movie. Can't recommend it myself, though it clearly has fans.

thinker1691 There are not too many films which depicts the military of our Northern neighbor. Their contribution to World War II are manifest and undeniable. Why Hollywood forgets this is a very good question. The movie is taken from the files of the military concerning the First Special Forces also know as the Black Devils. They are also mentioned in another movie called 'Anzio.' This movie is called " The Devil's Brigade " and has so many notable stars it's a wonder they didn't illuminate the entire theater. William Holden plays Lt. Col. Robert T. Frederick (without a mustache), but does give credit to the fact the good Col. was totally without experienced when the brass hats put him command. The Force is unusual in that it consisted of Canada's elite soldiers and Major Crown a survivor of the battle of Dunkirk. (Cliff Robertson) The other half of the famed unit was given by the U.S. army who emptied all their military stockades and sent this group the dregs. Vince Edwards, Claude Akins, Jeremy Slate, Jack Watson, Richard Dawson, Tom Troupe, Luke Askew, Carroll O'Connor, Dana Andrews and of course Michael Rennie as Lt. Gen. Mark Clark rounds out the bill. The film contains both elements of a war movie. It has the questionable decision of combining these two elements, the very best and the very worse and the incredible military results which became the motto of these men. They do the impossible. The acting is exceptional and the end result is the creation of a military Classic. Well done! Recommend to all. ****

figaro911 Liked this movie for the most part. Not overly hammy, and some good action sequences. Had an authentic feel to it. One quibble, was the laughable scaling of La Difensa during the final assault. You have 500+ men scaling a near vertical wall of 1000+ feet, barehanded, with nothing but muscle and rope ( having of course not had any mountain training by the CO's admission ), no safety devices, and ostensibly not a single fall. Simply amazing. Other than that, no complaints. OK, I have to work hard to fill the 10 line minimum for IMDb. So let's see, loved the scenery at the boot camp. Couldn't help but notice that most of the guys in the flick are dead now, but they were plenty lively in the film.