''Raid on Rommel'' is an American

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

from 1971, directed by

Henry Hathaway Henry Hathaway (March 13, 1898 – February 11, 1985) was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring Randolph Scott and John Wayne. He directed Gary Cooper in seven films. Backgro ...

and set in North Africa during the Second World War. It stars

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

as a British

commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

attempting to destroy German gun emplacements in

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near th ...

. Much of the action footage was reused from the 1967 film ''

'', and the storyline is also largely the same.

Plot

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

in 1942, Captain Alex Foster (Burton), an intelligence officer with the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, allows himself to be captured by a German

Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...

convoy transporting British prisoners, pretending to be injured. Once integrated with the prisoners, consisting of a medical unit and remnants of a commando force, Foster outlines his plans to take over the convoy, with the help of the prisoners, and redirect it towards the Libyan port town of

. On the way, they find an unexpected concentration of German tanks, and they surmise that a fuel depot must be hidden nearby. Foster, in Afrika Corps uniform, and Major Tarkington (

Clinton Greyn Clinton Greyn (29 September 1933 – 19 March 2019) was a Welsh-born actor noted for his appearances in British television series of the 1960s and 1970s. After graduating from RADA in 1957, Greyn worked in rep at Ipswich, Chesterfield and the ...

), the medical officer as his 'prisoner', gain access to the depot and meet Field Marshal

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

(

Wolfgang Preiss Wolfgang Preiss (27 February 1910 – 27 November 2002) was a German theatre, film and television actor. The son of a teacher, Preiss studied philosophy, German, and drama in the early 1930s. He also took private acting classes with Hans Schlen ...

). During a friendly dispute over

philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is poss ...

between Rommel and Tarkington, Foster notices a map which indicates the location of the fuel depot. They make excuses, leave, capture a tank, and blow up the fuel dump. They escape towards Tobruk, where they destroy a coastal battery. The prisoners are embarked in boats launched by attacking

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

warships. However, Foster and Tarkington are captured by German soldiers. The film leaves their fates unexplained. The only female character in the film, a civilian, is held against her will, drugged, (implied) raped, and abandoned at the side of the road.

Cast

as Capt. Alex Foster *

John Colicos John Colicos (December 10, 1928 – March 6, 2000) was a Canadian actor. He performed on stage and television in the United States and Canada. Career Colicos was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a Greek father and a Canadian mother. In 1957 he app ...

as Sgt. Allan MacKenzie *

as Maj. Hugh Tarkington *

Danielle de Metz Danielle De Metz (born 27 July 1938) is a French actress who appeared in movies and television during the 1960s and early 1970s. Career Movie columnist Louella Parsons reported that film director Jean Negulesco met De Metz when he was in Paris, ...

as Vivianne Gagliardo *

Karl-Otto Alberty Karl-Otto Alberty (also Karl Otto Alberty, born 13 November 1933 in Berlin) is a German actor. He started out as an amateur boxer before discovering a talent for acting, making his début at the City Theatre in Konstanz in 1959. He then began to ...

as Capt. Heinz Schroeder * Christopher Cary as Cpl. Peter Merrihew *

John Orchard John Orchard (15 November 1928 – 3 November 1995) was an English actor. He is probably best remembered for playing Australian anesthesiologist "Ugly John" Black in the first season of ''M*A*S*H''. Career Orchard guest starred as Sgt. Walte ...

as Dan Garth *

Brook Williams Brook Richard Williams (22 January 1938 – 29 April 2005) was a British stage actor who also made numerous film and television appearances in small roles. Biography His father was the Welsh playwright and actor Emlyn Williams. His older broth ...

as Sgt. Joe Reilly *

Greg Mullavy Greg Mullavey (born Gregory Thomas Mulleavy Jr., September 10, 1939) is an American film and television actor who has had roles as Tom Hartman in the television series ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'' and Carly's grandfather in '' iCarly''. He has ...

as Pte. Ed Brown * Ben Wright as Admiral * Michael Sevareid as Cpl. Bill Wembley * Chris Anders as Tank Sergeant

Production

Hathaway says he did the film because "it looked like it might be fun". He shot it in twenty days and says Richard Burton never drank during the shoot although Elizabeth Taylor, who joined him, did.

Reception

The film was poorly received by critics. It has a 32% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. In 2006, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

See also

References

External links