A friend and I watched this movie back-to-back with the Italian flick "The Inglorious Bastards", as a part of our 'crazed rampaging soldiers' theme-night and it was a terrific ride throughout the two whole movies. The Italian cult classic one, directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring Fred Williamson, is undoubtedly more outrageous and spectacular, but the main conclusion actually was that both films share practically the same plot; only seen from the two opposite war fronts. Obviously both productions are imitations of the legendary war film "The Dirty Dozen", but personally I always treasured a bigger weakness for cheap knockoffs than for the acclaimed originals. "The Misfit Brigade" is adapted from a novel from Sven Hassle; who was a former Nazi Soldier and thus a bit of a questionable and slightly controversial figure himself. Regardless of his background, "The Misfit Brigade" definitely isn't pro-Nazi and actually quite blunt and uncompromising in the expression of its political opinions. The protagonists in this movie are anti everything and that's probably why this is such a good and plausible film. And by plausible I do not necessarily mean the depicted events in the film, but the characterizations of the rejected SS-soldiers and deserters. The plot introduces the questionable members of the 27th Panzer Regiment; a gathering of overly opinionated soldiers convicted in court martial and downright expandable criminals. They spent their days driving around in their tank, drinking heavily and playing vicious pranks on each other. Mostly active near the Northern front lines and Russians borders, the 27th Regiment unmercifully kills Russians but drive their tank over German soldiers just as easily. When the vicious Colonel Von Weisshägen promises them amnesty in return the fulfillment of a special and dangerous assignment, the boys go far beyond Russian enemy lines in order to blow up a train chock-full of oil and military equipment. As much as it is a harsh and realistic war epic, "The Misfit Brigade" is also a subtle and blackly humorous parody about the people forced to fight for a cause that is not necessarily their own and, as you can guess, their number is far more plentiful than the heroic patriots. Some sequences are near-brilliant and overwhelming (like the tank fights, the screening of the discouraging propaganda film, and the encounter with the exhibitionist deserters), but other footage is dreadfully tedious and misplaced, like the scene in the brothel for example. The best element about "The Misfit Brigade" is unarguably the character drawings. The members of the 27th Panzer Regiment aren't friends or soul mates. They're cold and emotionless bastards that do not mourn when one of their colleagues is killed in action and they definitely don't philosophize about the senselessness of warfare. The Yugoslavian filming locations add a great deal of realism to the film and the scenery (those tanks and Luftwaffe attacks!) are excellent. Director Gordon Hessler – known from the early 70's Vincent Price horror movies "The Oblong Box" and "Cry of the Banshee" – does an admirable job as well and he could rely on a fantastically devoted cast, including Bruce Davison as the uncrowned leader of the bunch, David Patrick Kelly as the eloquent and provocative Legionnaire and Jay O. Sanders as the big & dumb kamikaze freak Tiny. David Carradine is sublimely nefarious as the power-hungry Colonel Von Weisshägen; complete with his glasses for one eye only to make him look extra evil. Oliver Reed receives top billing but only makes a cameo appearance during the hectic and extremely cool climax. The role, however, is perfect for him and he gives his absolute everything in only five lines of dialog. Recommended!
Review of The Misfit Brigade
