Lost Command (1966)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

Jean Lartéguy (novel)
Nelson Gidding (writer)

Release Date:

May 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot Keywords:

French Soldier | Beautiful Woman | Uniform | Trash | Algeria

Cast

Anthony Quinn	...	Lt. Col. Pierre Raspeguy
Alain Delon	...	Capt. Phillipe Esclavier
George Segal	...	Mahidi
Michèle Morgan	...	Countess de Clairefons
Maurice Ronet	...	Capt. Boisfeuras
Claudia Cardinale	...	Aicha
Grégoire Aslan	...	Ben Saad
Jean Servais	...	Gen. Melies
Maurice Sarfati	...	Merle
Jean-Claude Bercq	...	Orsini (as Jean-Claude Berq)
Syl Lamont	...	Verte
Jacques Marin	...	Mayor
Jean-Paul Moulinot	...	De Guyot
Andrés Monreal	...	Ahmed
Gordon Heath	...	Dia

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:16 | Ireland:15 | Norway:16 | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Manzanares el Real, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Red Lion

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Vietminh Commander played by Burt Kwouk is speaking Cantonese, a southern Chinese dialect, and not Vietnamese.

Quotes:

Capt. Phillipe Esclavier: Nobody goes into the village, I'm in command here and that's an order!
[takes out service pistol]
Verte: If that was you, sir, all chopped up, we'd do the same for you.
Capt. Boisfeuras: We must avenge the mutilation of our three comrades.
[turns to others]
Capt. Boisfeuras: Go!
Capt. Phillipe Esclavier: Stop!
[shoots near Capt. Boisfeuras feet]

A Thinking Man`s War Film

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