Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Leofwine_draca LOST COMMAND is something of a middling, meandering war movie of the mid '60s. For a change, the French are the heroes in this one, presided over by Anthony Quinn as a hard-bitten lieutenant colonel leading his men to glory. The film is quite unusual in that it features not one but two theatres of war, beginning with a French defeat in Indochina and following up with some frenetic action in Algeria. Veteran director Mark Robson does his best but fails to instil much life or action into the proceedings, which feel like mere globetrotting at times.

Peter-John Johnson This may likely be the best Mark Robson war movie of the 60's; certainly much better in my opinion than the more highly regarded Von Ryan's Express. Due a better fate than rental (Spoiler) due to its intelligent exposition of the brutalization of war and the erosion of human honor and self-respect as( Spoiler) Respiguy seeks the patronage of the widow of the aid who he had suspected of betraying him at Dien Ben Phu and with whom he and she become lovers. (Spoiler)Once in Algeria the unit formed initially responds with repulsion to the atrocities until they participate at Rahlem;s(Spoiler) from this point on Respiguy's moral decline increases till he wins the final battle with treacherous tactics.(Spoiler): The film title may best be explained in the context of Respiguy's erosion of moral compass for personal glory and socio- political security in The Fourth Republic. (Spoiler) Deftly edited and photographed with excellent use of the Panavision camera; a remarkable Hollywood assessment of the first modern Guerilla War.

Theo Robertson Remember that Henry Fonda movie THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE ? That`s the war movie that was set in the fog shrouded snow bound forests of the Ardennes in December 1944 but for some reason the movie`s big set piece battle takes place on an arid desert plain . LOST COMMAND starts with a very similar error in geography involving the battle of Dien Bien Phu where the French built a heavily fortified base in the middle of a mountainous jungle in 1954 , except this film would have us believe that the battle took place in the middle of a desert ! But I`m more than willing to forgive this goof as LOST COMMAND is a good film , it`s maybe not a great film but if you like action adventure / war films you`ll hopefully enjoy this as much as I did and director / Producer Mark Robson should be congratulated for making a film showing the French fighting man in a good light . Say what you like about French political leaders but France does have a long noble military tradition with a glorious defeat being every bit as courageous as a glorious victory . But the screenplay doesn`t glorify conflict and rightly points out that violence breeds violence , it pits former friends against one another , and it`s always the most innocent who suffer the most

Piper12 Perhaps because it came out so soon after Pontecorvo's classic "La Battaglia di Algeri" (The Battle of Algiers), "The Lost Command" got, well, lost. That's too bad, because I saw this movie only once about 20 years ago, but still recall it vividly as a surprisingly well-done action film spiced with social commentary that doesn't overwhelm the whole.Anthony Quinn is especially believable as a hard-bitten professional soldier who manages to rise to high command in spite of his peasant birth. Alain Delon is his pretty boy right-hand and George Segal has a particularly interesting turn as an Arab serving with Quinn and Delon in Indochina at the film's beginning who is radicalized upon returning to his native Algeria and takes up arms against his former comrades.The highlight of the film is its retelling of the Battle of Algiers, with Quinn in the role of the real-life para colonel Jacques Massieu.The battle scenes are well-done and realistic, especially the opening sequence, which is set in the final, desperate hours at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Despite being well-made and underrated, this film is not often shown on television, so you'll probably have to rent it.