Deadly Mission Reviews

In 1944, a quintet of incarcerated Yankee soldiers &#151 including a redneck, a con man, a deserter, steely Fred (Fred Williamson) and AWOL fighter pilot Yeager (Bo Svenson) &#151 organize a successful but short-lived escape from military jail. Upon being captured, they learn they can avoid court martials, and possible death sentences, by volunteering for a perilous mission: board an enemy train and steal the gyroscope of a rocket's guidance system. Spearheading this desperate mission, Colonel Bruckner (Ian Bannen) whips his rag-tag recruits into shape. First, Bruckner and Fred allow themselves to be captured by the Germans in order to infiltrate a Nazi fortress and steal a truck. Then, splitting into teams, the brigade must blow up a bridge, sneak aboard the German train, uncouple part of it, and steal the missile gizmo. Not only do external forces threaten their mission every step of the way, it's also jeopardized by bigotry within the ranks. Although Fred Williams still enjoys a cult fanbase, the video cover art for this 1977 Italian production deceptively implies he's the star. Instead, Williams offers stalwart support to Bo Svenson in this poor man's DIRTY DOZEN. As anyone familiar &#151 and who isn't? &#151 with the War-is-Hell formula knows, most of the participants must redeem themselves by dying in the process; since determining the casualties doesn't require much guesswork, you'll have plenty of time to be distracted by the inferior dubbing and hack 2nd-unit work. High on violence, but low on surprises, BRO is like a feature-length episode of TV's old "Combat," only with nastier dialogue and lousier acting.