I have already seen batches of small budget war films, many, many, and most of them were really greater than this one. The good intents are here, no problem, but from time to time, you have the feeling that the director hesitates which direction he has to choose, drama or light hearted atmosphere. That's what I felt. But it is bearable, there is also far far worse. Acting and directing seem very amateur. Of course, all German soldiers look idiots. That's this kind of things that annoys me; never forget that in Italy Hitler sent his best divisions. The screenwriters did not take care of this kind of details.
7 Reviews
All soldiers are the same. They come to destroy to take to rape to kill!
sol121825 August 2009
Warning: Spoilers
**SPOILERS** More of an anti-war then war movie "Shell Shock" has to be with a hero GI Johnny Wade who loses it during an assault on a German machine gun nest. It's not that Johnny is a coward it's that he's been out in the field so long without being given any R&R, rest & relaxation, that it was only a matter of time before he'd flip out which is exactly what he did.
It's was Johnny's squad leader the busted, by losing his sergeant stripes, ex-sergeant-and now just group leader-Rance who insisted to his battalion commander The Major that Johnny, the best shot in the platoon, go along with him. Rance is slated by The Major to go on a deadly and almost suicidal mission in a deserted graveyard where it's suspected that the Germans had hidden a major ammo dump. With a battle weary johnny freezing up under fire the mission went kaput together with any chance of Rance earning back his stripes!
Even though it's obvious that Johnny isn't yellow but suffering from severe battle & shell shock Rance, who never liked Johnny in the first place, is now determine to have Johnny shot for cowardice under fire even if he's the one to do it! It's Johnny boyhood friend, from the orphanage, and fellow GI Gil Evens who wants to get him help, for his shell shock, in a MASH unit behind the lines but Rance had other plans for him. Have the confused and, because of his condition, mute young man make a run for it and gun him down for desertion under war time conditions.
O.K for a low budget war movie "Shell Shock" does show the Germans, remember the film was made some 20 years after the end of WWII, in a far better light then you would have expected them to be. We get to see a confused and out of it Johnny captured by a German Army unit and treated quite well by his captor with medical attention and even given, in Johnny being bear-foot with severe blisters on his feet, a new makeshift pair of what looked like slippers. There was also a scene in the movie where a what looked like 14 year-old German sniper gun down a member of the patrol looking for Johnny. When he was finally put away, with a bullet to his chest, it was the German you were made to feel sorry for not the GI whom he just killed!
***SPOILERS*** It took a while, like almost the entire film, but in the end Johnny finally got it all together and saved the day by almost single handedly taking out an entire German platoon who were assaulting the house he, as well as Rance & Gil, were hiding in. The irony of all this is that Race who had started to see Johnny in a new light, as an blood & guts fighting GI, ended up getting himself killed by Johnny's Italian girlfriend, who was hiding him from the Germans, Maria who mistook him, when he came barging into the house, for a German!
P.S Despite his small part in the film Max Hebner as The Major was by far the best actor in it. Coming across like like a combination between a John Wayne or Robert Mitchum at their sh*t-kicking and tough talking best Huber was never seen in another movie for some 37 years until he secured the role of Igor in the 2001 comedy "Bomb 'N Venice".
It's was Johnny's squad leader the busted, by losing his sergeant stripes, ex-sergeant-and now just group leader-Rance who insisted to his battalion commander The Major that Johnny, the best shot in the platoon, go along with him. Rance is slated by The Major to go on a deadly and almost suicidal mission in a deserted graveyard where it's suspected that the Germans had hidden a major ammo dump. With a battle weary johnny freezing up under fire the mission went kaput together with any chance of Rance earning back his stripes!
Even though it's obvious that Johnny isn't yellow but suffering from severe battle & shell shock Rance, who never liked Johnny in the first place, is now determine to have Johnny shot for cowardice under fire even if he's the one to do it! It's Johnny boyhood friend, from the orphanage, and fellow GI Gil Evens who wants to get him help, for his shell shock, in a MASH unit behind the lines but Rance had other plans for him. Have the confused and, because of his condition, mute young man make a run for it and gun him down for desertion under war time conditions.
O.K for a low budget war movie "Shell Shock" does show the Germans, remember the film was made some 20 years after the end of WWII, in a far better light then you would have expected them to be. We get to see a confused and out of it Johnny captured by a German Army unit and treated quite well by his captor with medical attention and even given, in Johnny being bear-foot with severe blisters on his feet, a new makeshift pair of what looked like slippers. There was also a scene in the movie where a what looked like 14 year-old German sniper gun down a member of the patrol looking for Johnny. When he was finally put away, with a bullet to his chest, it was the German you were made to feel sorry for not the GI whom he just killed!
***SPOILERS*** It took a while, like almost the entire film, but in the end Johnny finally got it all together and saved the day by almost single handedly taking out an entire German platoon who were assaulting the house he, as well as Rance & Gil, were hiding in. The irony of all this is that Race who had started to see Johnny in a new light, as an blood & guts fighting GI, ended up getting himself killed by Johnny's Italian girlfriend, who was hiding him from the Germans, Maria who mistook him, when he came barging into the house, for a German!
P.S Despite his small part in the film Max Hebner as The Major was by far the best actor in it. Coming across like like a combination between a John Wayne or Robert Mitchum at their sh*t-kicking and tough talking best Huber was never seen in another movie for some 37 years until he secured the role of Igor in the 2001 comedy "Bomb 'N Venice".
Marginal war film with unintentional humor
Hessian49916 August 2003
Shell Shock seems to have been made on a limited budget, and while everyone tries their best this is far from a classic film. Though set in Italy in 1943, it is quite obvious that it was filmed in the Hollywood Hills in the early 1960s and also apparently on a LA beach for one scene. It is quite a laugh to see lots of WW2 soldiers (both American and German) with mid sixties surfer haircuts. Some of the action scenes aren't bad, but the psychological aspects dealing with combat fatigue seem quite unbelievable. Not a totally bad film, but a movie to watch only once.
Well, at least the other film on the DVD is worth watching.
planktonrules17 April 2010
This film has been bundled with "Battle of Blood Island" by Something Weird Video and they both have a lot in common. Both were made with minuscule budgets. Both had tiny casts. And, both were WWII war films that were made during the late 50s to mid-60s. However, while "Battle of Blood Island" proved you could still make a half non-way decent film with next to no money, "Shell Shock" would almost seem to prove the opposite.
"Shell Shock" is a very dull film. What makes it much worse is that, according to the movie, WWII must have involved a dozen or so men TOTAL on both sides! That's because you never see more than three or four or five guys at any one time in the film and the action is almost non-existent. To make matters worse, the German soldiers look like American college students from 1964---and I truly believe that's what they are. The black rimmed 60s nerd style glasses and hairdos are clearly NOT German circa 1944! As for the plot, it isn't bad but overacting all around really sink the production. The story involves a soldier who has just been decorated for bravery going nuts because he's so badly in need of a break from the action. Ultimately, however, the guy snaps out of it and single-handedly wins WWII...or something like that.
Overall, it's just amazingly dull from start to finish. Seeing a very few guys wearing army surplus uniforms and running around the hills outside Los Angeles isn't my idea of fun...and I doubt if it would be yours.
"Shell Shock" is a very dull film. What makes it much worse is that, according to the movie, WWII must have involved a dozen or so men TOTAL on both sides! That's because you never see more than three or four or five guys at any one time in the film and the action is almost non-existent. To make matters worse, the German soldiers look like American college students from 1964---and I truly believe that's what they are. The black rimmed 60s nerd style glasses and hairdos are clearly NOT German circa 1944! As for the plot, it isn't bad but overacting all around really sink the production. The story involves a soldier who has just been decorated for bravery going nuts because he's so badly in need of a break from the action. Ultimately, however, the guy snaps out of it and single-handedly wins WWII...or something like that.
Overall, it's just amazingly dull from start to finish. Seeing a very few guys wearing army surplus uniforms and running around the hills outside Los Angeles isn't my idea of fun...and I doubt if it would be yours.
Beach Dickerson as a bad guy!
reptilicus18 February 2006
I recently learned that Beach Dickerson passed away on 7 Dec, 2005. This review is dedicated with deepest respect to his memory.
You know you're watching a low budget movie when the ubiquitous Bronson Canyon stands in for Northern Italy during WW2. Johnny (Carl Crow) is a new guy in the combat unit of tough guy sergeant Rance (Beach Dickerson). Rance has been busted 3 times and it's beginning to look like he'll never get his stripes back. This has made him mad at the world and he rides the soldiers under him without letting up. While trying to take a machine gun nest Johnny freaks out big time and has a mental breakdown. Rance thinks he's faking it just to get some R & R in a nice quiet hospital so he lets Johnny "escape" just for the fun of hunting him down and (maybe) shooting him for desertion. So is Johnny headed for a psycho ward? Is Rance going to gun him down? Has anyone remembered that there's a war going on and the real enemies are the German soldiers who are out there someplace? Is this movie ever going to end?
You wouldn't think a low budget war movie would have an undercurrent but SHELL SHOCK has a motif of losing and recovering ones own humanity. Without revealing too much Johnny finds a few moments of tenderness with an Italian farm girl (Pamela Grey) and Rance gets back in touch with his sensitive side when he meets and Italian-American expatriate (Delores Faith, who deserved way better parts than she got in her short career) who offers him a slow dance and a hamburger.
Okay so some of the people in this picture couldn't act their way out of an empty room; most of this movie is fun and many of the characters are very believable. I enjoyed watching this and I think many of you will too.
We miss you Beach, thanks for everything.
You know you're watching a low budget movie when the ubiquitous Bronson Canyon stands in for Northern Italy during WW2. Johnny (Carl Crow) is a new guy in the combat unit of tough guy sergeant Rance (Beach Dickerson). Rance has been busted 3 times and it's beginning to look like he'll never get his stripes back. This has made him mad at the world and he rides the soldiers under him without letting up. While trying to take a machine gun nest Johnny freaks out big time and has a mental breakdown. Rance thinks he's faking it just to get some R & R in a nice quiet hospital so he lets Johnny "escape" just for the fun of hunting him down and (maybe) shooting him for desertion. So is Johnny headed for a psycho ward? Is Rance going to gun him down? Has anyone remembered that there's a war going on and the real enemies are the German soldiers who are out there someplace? Is this movie ever going to end?
You wouldn't think a low budget war movie would have an undercurrent but SHELL SHOCK has a motif of losing and recovering ones own humanity. Without revealing too much Johnny finds a few moments of tenderness with an Italian farm girl (Pamela Grey) and Rance gets back in touch with his sensitive side when he meets and Italian-American expatriate (Delores Faith, who deserved way better parts than she got in her short career) who offers him a slow dance and a hamburger.
Okay so some of the people in this picture couldn't act their way out of an empty room; most of this movie is fun and many of the characters are very believable. I enjoyed watching this and I think many of you will too.
We miss you Beach, thanks for everything.
Cheap but effective
dcole-210 January 2004
Considering that it was obviously shot in and around Hollywood and that the German soldiers look like crew members pressed into service, this still has some very effective scenes and some decent performances. Good to see Dickerson play a bad guy for a change.
The Intentions Were Well... The Film Not
Michael_Elliott8 January 2018
Shell Shock (1964)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Set during WWII, Rance (Beach Dickerson) loses out on a promotion and is outraged that someone under him, Johnny (Carl Crow) gets a metal for bravery. After an event in the field has Johnny freaking out, Rance decides to try and prove that he's actually a coward.
Director John Hayes would later make GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE, which is probably the film he will always be remembered for. He made several exploitation pictures in his time and those films are better remembered than SHELL SHOCK. This film is a pretty boring one and that keeps it from reaching any sort of entertainment but at the same time I can at least tip my hat to the director for at least trying to do soemthing different.
The movie is trying to take a look at battle fatigue and the impact that war can have on someone's mind. All of that is well-understood but sadly the film just doesn't capture any of that for a number of reasons. For starters, the budget is so low that it's obvious they are shooting in California and this hurts the picture. What hurts it even worse is that everyone, whether they are American or Germany, are being played by American actors. Realism is certainly taken away.
Dickerson is decent enough in his role and it's nice seeing him in the lead. Many of the supporting performances are a bit below par. The film also suffers from being way too slow and the story just never comes to life or grabs your attention. SHELL SHOCK might have had its heart in the right place but the end result is a mess.
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Set during WWII, Rance (Beach Dickerson) loses out on a promotion and is outraged that someone under him, Johnny (Carl Crow) gets a metal for bravery. After an event in the field has Johnny freaking out, Rance decides to try and prove that he's actually a coward.
Director John Hayes would later make GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE, which is probably the film he will always be remembered for. He made several exploitation pictures in his time and those films are better remembered than SHELL SHOCK. This film is a pretty boring one and that keeps it from reaching any sort of entertainment but at the same time I can at least tip my hat to the director for at least trying to do soemthing different.
The movie is trying to take a look at battle fatigue and the impact that war can have on someone's mind. All of that is well-understood but sadly the film just doesn't capture any of that for a number of reasons. For starters, the budget is so low that it's obvious they are shooting in California and this hurts the picture. What hurts it even worse is that everyone, whether they are American or Germany, are being played by American actors. Realism is certainly taken away.
Dickerson is decent enough in his role and it's nice seeing him in the lead. Many of the supporting performances are a bit below par. The film also suffers from being way too slow and the story just never comes to life or grabs your attention. SHELL SHOCK might have had its heart in the right place but the end result is a mess.
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