a5c7b9f00b April 5, 1943: a battalion of the Foreign Legion arrives in El Ksour, Tunisia, to escort a fortune in gold bars to the home front. A German ambush awaits, and all but four die. Thanks to the street smarts of Sergeant Augagneur, the Legionnaires successfully counter attack. The bank manager and his seductive wife arrive, and so does a German lieutenant, whom the French arrest. Augagneur wants to steal the gold; warrant officer Mahuzard wants to do his duty. A series of alliances form and break apart, the group dwindles in number, and the gold heads south toward Betahoua. But in whose possession? In 1943 in Tunisia, a unit of the French Foreign Legion fights the Germans over possession of a bank treasure in gold bars. Probably the worst of the great Henri Verneuil. I expected so much from this adaptation from a superb novel written by Pierre Siniac. This guy was a terrific crime novels author who has never been adapted besides this crap. His novel was outstanding, a men's tale, during WW2, lost in the desert, in the middle of a small town where a bank full of gold asked to be robbed. It was an action flick, violent, dark, and not for sissies of silly audiences for whom Audiard-Verneuil did this big scale crap. And worst, they took great actors, such as Belmondo, Constantin, Villeret…And they wasted it with comedy elements, and above all, the presence of a woman: Marie Laforêt, who had nothing to do in such a tale. The same for some women's tales where men have nothing to do either. Robert Aldrich would have done something awesome with such a story.<br/><br/>Besides the woman in the film, which destroys everything, all the rest, the first part is quite faithful to the book's atmosphere.<br/><br/>What a waste. A gruesome deception for me, back in 1984. This is a Movie playing in World War II with Legionaires,it`s not even the best Movie Belmondo ever did,but it`s worth having a look at it. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays his typical ironic,charming and sporting role as he ever did(in the late 70`s and 80`s).There`s a lot of Action in it some Kind of humor and in my opinion tense,all in all for me it`s a clear 8.
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