Raid on Rommel [DVD]

The main problem most people have with this film is that far too many scenes are taken from 1967's Tobruk and to be honest I agree with them. Also, we don't really find out much about most of the soldiers and therefore don't sympathise as much when they bite the dust. It's also very difficult to tell who dies and who doesn't.
However, this film does have several saving graces in my opinion. First of all, this film has several sub-plots that differ from Tobruk, so I wouldn't really call it a rip-off. The film also is quite suspenseful in places. The great Richard Burton also stars, giving the film a commanding feel and finally, having viewed and enjoyed Tobruk, I am delighted to view the great action sequences on DVD, as only Raid On Rommel is available on this format.
If, like me, you are anxiously waiting for Tobruk to be released on DVD and want something to tide you over, give this a watch and make up your own mind about it.

My mother loves nothing better than a good all action war film. She also likes football which puts her in a minority granny group. So we managed to find this film "Raid On Rommel", which amazingly neither of us had seen. We hoped it might be similar that fine film "The Desert Fox", where James Mason was excellent as Rommel. So we sat down and watched it one afternoon when I should have been working in the garden. By the end we were both as torpid as tortoises gone into hibernation for the winter. In fact watching a hibernating tortoise would have been more interesting. How could a film starring that respected actor Richard Burton, and directed by that stalwart hollywood veteran Henry Hathaway be so soul destroyingly bad.

The film concerns a raid by an elite commando group to destroy shore guns at Tobruk, in order to allow the British navy to enter the harbour and launch an attack in safety. There are a few other issues going on. A pesky female causes some discord and the group is not all one happy little family. Sadly I can't go into any great depth as I had a little doze about halfway through. Mum had quite a long doze. The film was originally intended for TV and tried to cash in on much of the footage from "Tobruk", as has already been mentioned. The penny pinching certainly shows! The support cast is poor and Hathaway seemed to be going through the directorial motions. He died three years later in 1974 and this was one of his last films. Burton just ambles through the film in auto pilot. He doesn't even have the decency to get out of 1st acting gear, and was probably well aware that he was involved in a dud. I guess sometimes an actor just has to grit his teeth and think of the cash, although I can't imagine Burton was that hard up.

This must rank as possibly both Burton's and Hathaway's worst film ever. It is one purely for the war film completist. It isn't even so bad it has got to be good. The Japanese Godzilla films were much better! If you want to get a good nights sleep without the more harmful side effects of sleeping tablets, then I can heartily recommend watching this film just before bed time. Even better than a surfeit of lettuce. As you will see from my reviews I generally err on the generous side with my stars, so I have decided to be consistent and have awarded this debacle a generous 1 star.

This film is a sickeningly obvious copy of 'Tobruk' starring Rock Hudson & George Peppard. So much so that some of the scenes have actually been stolen from 'Tobruk' and edited in to 'Raid on Rommel'.
One of these scenes is George Peppard with a flame thrower that has him being filmed from behind. This then pops up in 'Raid on Rommel' & for those eagle eyed viewers you would ask yourself 'I didn't know A-Teams Hannibal was in this.

Richard Burton was one of our finest actors, he must have been a bit hard up to have had any connection with this nonsense.
Avoid at all costs or if you don't wish to trust my judgement, like I always say; 'Make sure you keep the reciept'