Beasts of war Raising his plane for another quiet patrol over the North African desert, the American pilot did not suspect that he would soon be forced to participate in an extremely risky task imposed on him by the British allies, and then, when everything safely goes downhill, escape in a damaged car from a single German tank driven by a madman.
The picture from the very beginning clearly distinguishes between the hawks of the war - the English pilot and the commander of the tank, with ordinary guys who only dream of returning home alive, and not in the form of coffins hung with medals - the pilot-Yankee and the crew of the tank. It is symbolic that they are drawn into this adventure against their will. Probably, this approach to portraying heroism and led to the fact that this beautiful film is relatively little known, despite all its many advantages, such as acting the notorious “old school”. Lloyd Bridges uses for his character, successfully hiding sadism and madness behind the good smile of his father-commander, everything he is capable of, giving even an accent, however, lost in dubbing. And every time Doug McClure demonstrates how much his character does not like to play catch-up with death.
Musical themes in the picture are not particularly distinguished, but here they are not required to do so. After all, the theme of the World War itself provides a proper emotional response from the viewer, empathizing with both the pilots pursued by a madman and the tank crew, who are carried away by them to certain death in the sands.
All this, together with a fairly reliable depiction of military equipment, ammunition details and the entire situation on the North African front of that time, confidently ensures the film the status of “Must be viewed by all fans of military themes”.