Devil's Brigade (Widescreen)

Having said that... Most veterans of the Force do not like the film. The idiots with checkbooks would only back the film if it was "rousing" (read Hollywood treatment) rather than lovingly accurate.

The chief technical advisor was Lt. General Frederic (ret) himself... so the producers and director certainly had the facts to hand. Many of those facts and much of the history never made it onto the screen.

What don't the Forcemen like? Well, the Americans certainly had more than their share of guardhouse sweepings and tough characters sent their way by other commands (though those who could not learn to accept discipline and bond with others were rapidly washed out...) and excellent Canadians... but the "border warfare" premise is essentially false.

U.S. uniforms for all but the Americans got higher pay... (different pay days for each group, so always borrowing from each other) When the drek was chased off both nationalities settled in quite well with each other.

Kiska was almost bloodless (Canadian and American troops did accidentally shoot each other when the Japanese proved to have pulled out... but not the Force... their fire discipline was superb...) One part of the Force was prepared to make a parachute drop into action... The Force had the "friction" of battle without the losses... This honed them to a fine edge... and the film ignored the whole episode.

Their jump training was almost ignored (except for jump boots and jump wings shown on the screen) along with their demolition and amphibious training. Their loving relationship with Helena and its people was reduced in the film to a night of whoring, boozing and brawling.

In short, many vets of the Force did not recognize themselves in the film. Relatively few people knew about the Force, and those seeing the film would either think it total fiction or else have a skewed view of what Winston Churchill called "The finest fighting force of its size ever fielded by North America..."

When viewed as a movie, rather than as history... Well the cast is pretty good. Many cameos (not "bit parts") by fading stars such as Grechen Wyler and Dana Andrews... give it a certain class.

William Holden would have been perfect in the part... a dozen years earlier when he was doing Bridge on the River Kwai... Frederic was almost a "boy general" by the time he left the Force... Holden was a bit long in the tooth and tired... On the positive side, he conveys authority and was quite happy to get his hands dirty making the film.

Cliff Robertson is fine as Major Crown and most of the rest of the cast is good. Claude Akins is fine in his role as Rocky... but for all of his size, strength and toughness... his character is a waste... he gets captured on the earlier raid and rather than do what all good soldiers must in an assault... keep moving... he bounces around a critically wounded soldier, kills his prisoner and is absent from where he is needed. His love of Peacock is believable, but is mawkishly displayed on the screen.

So having said all of the above, why would *I* give the film a (qualified) rating of 4 stars (an unqualified five would go to Lawrence of Arabia...)? In part because of the subject matter... However much the Hollywood treatment and however mucked up the history... the Force was one of the most remarkable units ever fielded.

The director (Andrew V.) had some fine films to his credit, but too many of the other kind... to the point where some would call him a "hack director..." But it is obvious in The Devil's Brigade that he had a fondness for the unit and the men who served in it. The cliches and overly broad humor can't hide this.

Most of the cast (and assigned soldiers) give the impression that when the cameras stop rolling that they really felt like part of a team doing something special (even if a few of them refused to follow Holden into the pyrotechnic strewn fields...)

While the film could have been better... to truly tell the story of the First Special Service Force... a multi-part effort such as Band of Brothers would be required to do the subject (and the surviving Forcemen) justice...

I have served with Canadians in two wars... While there are some very real differences, at the "sharp end" the teamwork is outstanding... Never more true than with the 1st Special Service Force...


Great war picture!!!!......Great DVD   March 21, 2004
The title says it all. The Devil's Brigade is a great war to watch. The movie is based on a true story in WWII, where a unit of American soldiers and a crack unit of Canadian troops formed the 1st Special Service Force a.k.a. the first special forces group. This movie has great acting, great cinematography, great battle scenes, and great actors, like William Holden, Cliff Robertson, Vince Edwards, Richard Jaeckel, Claude Atkins, Andrew Prine, Richard Dawson, Robert Watson, and in some bit parts, Dana Andrews, Carrol O'Conner, and Michael Rennie. If you want to see a great war movie, give Devil's Brigade a try. I recemend it to WWII movie fans.


A darned good war flick about special ops.   June 11, 2003
William Holden, Cliff Robertson, and Vince Edwards turn in their customary fine performances in this excellent story about one of the early Special Operations units. The storyline is simple enough. A Special Ops unit is formed for a specific mission in Norway (the mission is eventually changed. Nice bit part by Michael Rennie as General Mark Clark). For reasons I was never quite clear on, the unit is comprised of equal parts of American misfits and Canadian elite troops. (This is said to be historically accurate). My favorite part of the movie is the interaction between the American rogues and the more cultured, but equally tough, Canadian troops. There are some hilarious scenes that take place during pre-combat training which show how the unit gelled together into an elite force.

The action scenes are very well done, and the attitude of the regular army units towards the unconventional Special Ops unit is true-to-life. Special Ops units have traditionally, at least until recently, been the orphans of the army, and that is brought out very well in this fine movie.

If you like a straightforward, well-acted war movie, this is one of the better ones.


A Brigade of Character Actors   April 15, 2003
A movie noteworthy mostly because of the supporting cast of character actors. Most notable are Richard Jaeckel (THE DIRTY DOZEN), Claude Akins (RIO BRAVO, tv's SHERIFF LOBO), Luke Askew, Andrew Prine (tv's V-THE MINISERIES/THE FINAL BATTLE), and even Richard Dawson (tv's HOGAN'S HEROES, FAMILY FEUD). Otherwise this is a basic WWII action flick with some big name stars (William Holden, Cliff Robertson, Carrol O'Conner, Micheal Rennie, Vince Edwards). An Allied special forces commando unit is hastily created to enter the early days of WWII to keep the Germans occupied until the actual American forces can send troops. This commando unit consists of misfit American GI's and elite Canadian soldiers. Part of the movie is a cliched plot where the ragtag Americans must get along with the posh Canadians. At first the two groups hate each other until fisticuffs at a local bar againts lumberjacks unites the two groups. Then, when this happens they become a fine tuned fighting unit. Pretty predictable stuff, but entertaining nonetheless with some great war action sequences and cliched characters. Standout performances by Richard Jaeckel as Pvt. Omar Greco (supposedly an acrobatic circus performer), and Claude Akins as Rockman.