This film takes the true story of the First Special Service Force and links it up with a fair number of Hollywood clichés. The overall story is pretty standard. You follow the unit from it's inception in Montana to it's first major action. The characters are pretty stock as well. The "Dirty Dozen" take on the American volunteers is completely off-base. All the volunteers for this outfit (Canadian & American) went through a very vigorous screening process. Of course, since was originally envisioned as a "suicide unit," to put it mildly there were plenty of unique individuals running around in this outfit. For example, the American officer who kept snakes under his bed to get over his fear of them is true. It's unfortunate that they didn't mine some historical info to give you a better feel for these guys.
The real focus of the movie is the assault on Mt. La Difensa in Italy. While the movie is pretty standard up to this point, they make an effort to convey here the difficulty of the assignment. This segment is handled pretty well and is worth the viewing.
Overall, if you're a war film buff, you'd probably enjoy this film. The veterans of the "Black Devil Brigade" weren't really happy with it, but at least it brought that unit to life on the screen. Your best bet is to check out the movie, then look for some of the books to tell you what really happened.
The real focus of the movie is the assault on Mt. La Difensa in Italy. While the movie is pretty standard up to this point, they make an effort to convey here the difficulty of the assignment. This segment is handled pretty well and is worth the viewing.
Overall, if you're a war film buff, you'd probably enjoy this film. The veterans of the "Black Devil Brigade" weren't really happy with it, but at least it brought that unit to life on the screen. Your best bet is to check out the movie, then look for some of the books to tell you what really happened.