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Rating:  -
We have enjoyed watching this movie. It is well done. It respects the history and the actors are very good.
Rating: -
In "Lost Command", Anthony Quinn plays Colonel Raspeguy, a French paratrooper of peasent origins who finds himself caught up in the battles of the dying French empire. The film begins in May 1954 as Giap's Communist Vietminh overrun the French positions around Dien Bien Phu and capture most of the garrison. After leaving a POW camp, Raspeguy heads back to France desperate to find a new command and a chance at glory. He finds it in a horrific guerilla conflict in Algeria.
"Lost Command" is an interesting film for several reasons. For one, the subject matter of France's wars in Algeria and Indochina is rarely covered in films to my knowledge. The combat scenes and terrorist attacks are on the whole well shot in the picture. Another thing that makes the film interesting is its lack of heroes. The Vietmienh are depicted as radical Communists. The Algerian insurrgents and terrorists don't mind bombing civilians or mutilating the bodies of dead French soldiers (the guerilla leader [a former French officer] is at least slightly sympathetic and has a sense of honor). The French paratroopers seem to start out the "good guys" but as the war escalates, they deliberately murder civilians in one incident and also begin using torture (mostly offscreen) in their interrogations. Colonel Raspeguy is rather disgusted at the slaughter of civilians (he didn't order it) but is willing to do almost anything to win.
Oh, as this film was shot in Spain, people who have seen pictures of the area around Dien Bien Phu will quickly notice the radical difference in terrain between the Film's depiction and the actual battle.
Rating:  -
This movie was shot in Spain, and it was being filmed just before the classic Gillo Pontecorvo behemoth THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (1966). It was released first but it has been overshadowed by the more popular epic for over 40 years. One of the problems it had was that the actual history regarding the Algerian fight for independence received the "Hollywood" treatment--complete with well-known actors and a "Love Story".
THE LOST COMMAND (1966) was directed by Mark Robson, who had given us several powerful films 20 years earlier, like CHAMPION (1949), HOME OF THE BRAVE (1949), BRIGHT VICTORY (1951) and THE HARDER THEY FALL (1956). The year before COMMAND, he directed the fine war film, VON RYAN'S EXPRESS (1965). Robson, in the twilight of his career directed mainstream fluff like THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967), and EARTHQUAKE (1974).
Anthony Quinn played Lt. Col. Pierre Raspeguy, a Basque peasant who rose in the ranks to a commander of paratroopers. We are introduced to him just as the Viet Minh are overrunning his company at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in Indo-China; soon to become Viet Nam. Emerging from a POW camp, Quinn loses his command.. We are treated to a back story scene as Raspeguy returned home for a visit to his family and his village. We see more than a trace of Alexis Zorba during those scenes. Soon in France, he is romancing a widowed Countess de Clairfons (Michelle Morgan), who cannot seem to resist his earthiness. Through her aristocratic intervention, he is offered another command of paratroopers, and sent into the fray in Algeria.
Quinn was able to gather many of his old troops around him, including Alain Delon and Maurice Ronet. After arriving in Algeria, Raspeguy discovered that his primary advesary was a former officer of his in Indo-China, Lt. Mahidi (George Segal). Segal had to struggle a bit with the dark pancake make-up and the French accent, but generally he was effective. Claudia Cardinale played Aisha, Mahidi's sister, providing the love interest for Delon. She, too, although woefully miscast provided adequate eye candy.
There are three large scale battle scenes in the movie, and they are handled very spectacularly. When the 10th Paratrooper Battalion arrived early one morning in the city of Algiers, declaring martial law -there are marvelous echoes and similarities to Pontecorvo's film. LOST COMMAND does serve as an interesting companion piece to BATTLE OF ALGIERS, for it deals a lot with the battles in the mountains, where historically much of the revolt actually happened. Then the FLN took to the city streets, and their terrorist bombings cajoled the international press into covering their struggle.
Rating: -
This is a pretty good film, although from a historical point of view it misses a few important points about the conflict in Algeria.
The director's intent was clearly to show how a good soldier (LTC Raspeguy) becomes compromised in his efforts to stop a terror war in the French colony. The more dangerous and extreme the actions of the terrorists the more Raspeguy looks the other way when his soldiers take extreme steps in response. A man of physical courage, Raspeguy fails to invoke moral courage in himself and his soldiers.
A few minor technical issues, such as the matchbox bombs used in the film. There is no way such a small device could be as destructive as they are portrayed in the film, but it is an important plot point.
Anthony Quinn is as good as ever in this film, although I think the role could have been expanded to take better advantage of his acting skills.
Be sure to look for "Cato" at the beginning of the film. I also had my doubts about him...
Rating: -
After losing his command in Vietnam, the Anthony Quinn character is given another chance in Algiers. The plot has an interesting twist in a friend who defects and that along with Mr. Quinn's performance, and the battle action, save it from mediocrity.
This movie, based somewhat on a true story, is also a classic study in desert counterinsurgency, a topic not often explored in war movies. In that respect, a few who enjoy combat movies with an unconventional warfare twist will enjoy this one and want it for their library to watch multiple times. Anthony Quinn is ideal for his role as the French Colonel.
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