Popular reviews

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  Review by pirateneckbeard ★★ 4

  This had so much potential with this cast and a director who has a pedigree even though I heard he was a late sub we are talking about Edward Dmytryk. This has some interesting things to it like getting a lot of viewpoint from a news correspondent (Dick Ennis) played by Robert Mitchum who was the wrong actor for the job and I do enjoy me some MItchum. Peter Falk(Jack Rabinoff) was probably the best character here and I heard that it was due to him writing his own script. Every other character was somewhat interchangeable or a cliche version of what they were to be. Robert Ryan(General Carson) was really was just a short walk on two scene deal.…

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  Review by Andy Summers 🤠 ★★ 3

  Director Edward Dmytryk's Westerns have been a mixture of excellent (Warlock, Alvarez Kelly), and disappointing (Broken Lance, Shalako), so I was never entirely sure what I was going to get with my first war film from the Canadian born, American director.

  This film, that was a joint directorial effort with Italian director Duilio Coletti, had the added incentive for me of having Robert Mitchum in the leading role, and several well know faces supporting him. Peter Falk, Earl Holliman, Arthur Kennedy, and the wonderful, although sadly underused Robert Ryan, help Mitchum carry a film that has a torrid reputation, something I only found out after I'd sat through 118 minutes of it. It's a mishmash of some wonderfully well choreographed…

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  Review by Quiller ★★½

  Although ultimately successful, Operation Shingle, as the Allied landing at Anzio was codenamed, was badly executed. General John Lucas (on whom Arthur Kennedy’s character is based) missed an opportunity to seize the unprotected city of Rome and cut off the Germans’ retreat, much less take the high ground before German reinforcements arrived. But Lucas had never really believed in the operation and felt his commanding officer, Mark Clark (Robert Ryan’s character), hadn’t properly supported him. Reportedly, the original version of the script for this film about that operation was far more critical of the U.S. military. But Robert Mitchum, who plays an Ernie Pyle-like correspondent, had just bonded with U.S. troops during a trip to Vietnam and demanded that some…

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  Review by gibson8 ★★★

  At times, formulaic Hollywood jingoism, but at others an interesting addition to the war movies of the sixties.

  Highlights include the entry into Rome, with empty streets and ruins to greet our heroes.

  I cannot get over the fact that by he nineties Mitchum was a legend, Falk was still trying to do Columbo and Santoni was pissing himself on Seinfeld.

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  Review by Fint ★★★

  Sturdy account of the disastrous Allied campaign south of Rome in 1944. The first half of the film detailing the preparation and landing is heavy and uninspiring. But Anzio comes into its own when a group of eight soldiers escape a German ambush and attempt to return to miltary command from behind enemy lines. Here we have well-mounted setpieces and improved characterisation, helped immeasurably by excellent performances from Robert Mitchum and Peter Falk. Falk in particular excels, and supposedly wrote most of his own dialogue. By concentrating the focus, the film belatedly makes an impact.

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  Review by Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸 ★½

  It's easy to see why Peter Falk balked at the script for Anzio, as this is the kind of war movie that places statements and homilies on the lips of its moralising GI's rather than dialogue. Legend has it that Falk, by far the most interesting thing in the picture, was going to walk until producer Dino DeLaurentiis gave him above-the-title billing and a free rein to write his own dialogue. The overall result is that, whilst self indulgent, Falk looks like he's often walked in from a different and more interesting picture, and arguably one that wasn't immediately hamstrung by an interminable and ill advised anachronistic ballad by Jack Jones over the opening credits. Loosely based on the memoirs Anzio by former BBC war correspondent Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, with the emphasis on "loosely", as it's why we have Robert Mitchum playing an American war correspondent attached to US troops.

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  Review by Andy Fell ★★★

  DuBFaL-War-Weeks - 2nd-Round - Film Nr. 6 - Schlacht um Anzio

  What ? Nach dem Schloss in den Ardennen taucht ja Peter Falk schon wieder in einem Kriegsfilm auf. Wusste gar nicht, dass Columbo so eine Kriegserfahrung hat 🤣

  Um welchen Film geht's ? Will euch nicht länger auf die Folter spannen. Schlacht um Anzio heißt der Film aus dem Jahr 1968 und ist eine amerikanisch/italienische Co-Produktion. Robert Mitchum spielt die Hauptrolle. Neben dem bereits erwähnten Peter Falk sind u. a. noch Robert Ryan, Arthur Kennedy und mit Wolfgang Preiss (Dr. Mabuse) sogar ein Deutscher dabei.

  Der Kriegsberichterstatter Ennis (Robert Mitchum) begleitet die amerikanischen Truppen bei der Landung in Anzio nahe Rom. Ennis berichtet dem General Lesly (Arthur Kennedy) von…

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  Review by AThousandSons ★★★

  Robert Mitchum plays a worldly reporter in this WWII story of the invasion of Italy. Peter Falk plays an energetic volunteer with a rep. 

  It’s a pretty basic story with a squad trapped behind enemy lines after an incompetent leadership call. There are better films but this is one of a few with an Italian backdrop.

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  Review by Silversaxophone ★★½

  The first tactical mistake is to have Jack Jones's inappropiate late sixties pop lament, 'This World is Yours,' playing over the opening credits. The second is to continue to force the Sixties's sensibility by having Robert Mitchum agonise over the question of why men must war with each other. In this context, you just want to shake Mitchum's character and yell, 'they're freakin' Nazis, man, and they're trying to take over the world!' The other set up is Arthur Kennedy's thankless General who takes the heat for digging into a beachhead rather than forging straight on to Rome, a decision which cost an inordinate number of lives. Of course, historically, the plan was ill-conceived in the first place and there…

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  Review by Gregory Wood ★★½

  From Cinicita Studios comes a Italian WWII drama directed by Edward Damytryk & Duilio Cogiti. It's a good vehicle for 🌟 Robert Mitchum.

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  Review by James ★★½

  I'll watch anything with Robert Mitchum in it but unfortunately that means sitting through some right duds, including this Dino De Laurentiis produced film about Operation Shingle during the Italian campaign of WW2.

  Critic Roger Ebert surprisingly quite liked it, calling it thoughtful and well acted and there's certainly some truth to that, it isn't shameful right-wing agitprop like the similarly plotted The Green Berets from the same year but instead takes a much more levelheaded viewpoint of what happened during the controversial operation, criticising the decision by the Allies to entrench at the coast rather than take Rome by surprise, a move which cost a huge amount of lives, but not outright condemning it either, taking a cynical stance…

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  Review by Robert Gardiner ★★★½

  “You gotta be crazy. Half your guts blown out and you're back here. What for?” 

  A solid world war 2 film about the battle of Anzio on January 22, 1944 during the Italian Campaign . The action is good and well shot and packs a punch, but it’s the performance from the two leads. That will keep you engaged to the end , Robert Mitchum is a jaded war correspondent, who gets trapped behind enemy lines. When the division he’s with get massacred, In the trenches with Mitchum is Peter Falk’s corporal . A man that lives for the conflict and the adrenaline kick of killing. Watched on Great Movies.