RATED - NR but probably PG for violence including some scenes of military style executions.
RATINGS - 78 Amazon (4.5/5), 36,113 Netflix (3.7/5), 3,250 IMDB (7.8/10).
STARRING - Burt Lancaster, John Frankenheimer (Director)
AWARDS - Nominated for 1966 Academy Award Best Writing Original Screenplay as well as AFI Top 100 Thrills and 1965 BAFTA Best Film.
STORY - It's 1944 and WWII is in its last days. The Nazis are trying to take anything they can out of the rich art treasures in France. There is a warehouse in Paris full of Van Goghs, Picassos, etc. A German Colonel loads them on to a train for Germany. The French Resistance learns of this and goes into action to sabotage the train and save the treasures. Paul Labiche (Lancaster), a French train engineer is not interested at first (he is counting on the Allies to show up at any moment and save Paris) but when he sees the patriotism and heroics of the Resistance fighters, he becomes a part of the resistance and uses his courage and skills to try and thwart the German Colonel. In the end it becomes a one on one match of wits and ingenuity between the two men-a microcosm of the good versus evil that was symbolic of the greater war. A lot of action but real action, not the computer generated stuff of today's films. Burt Lancaster does all his own stunts which are not insignificant. A terrific view of another slice of life during WWII. Did I mention that Burt Lancaster and I co-starred in AIRPORT. Actually........if you're really quick with your pause button you might be able to spot me walking across the airport lobby. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 06-14-2008.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment