Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1978
Brass Target
Buy Brass Target now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Brass Target' is a 1978 American suspense war film based on the 1974 novel 'The Algonquin Project' by Frederick Nolan. The film was produced by Berle Adams and Arthur Lewis and directed by John Hough. It stars Sophia Loren, John Cassavetes, Robert Vaughn, George Kennedy, Patrick McGoohan and Max von Sydow.'Variety' film review; December 13, 1978.[https://variety.com/1977/film/reviews/brass-target-1117789498/]
The film's plot concerns General George S. Patton's fatal automobile crash and suggests that the crash was not an accident but the result of a conspiracy.
Plot
In Europe, days after V-E Day, General Patton orders that hoarded Nazi gold be transported to the Reichsbank in Frankfurt. But before the shipment arrives in the city, the gold train is robbed and 59 U.S. Army military policemen are killed with poison gas in a railroad tunnel. A group of corrupt American officers, led by a colonel, is behind the crime. Patton launches an investigation that initially leads to OSS major Joe De Luca, from whom the thieves took a plan from his wartime operations to steal the gold.
De Luca begins his own investigation. He first visits his old wartime commander, Colonel Mike McCauley, who is now living in a requisitioned German castle. Meanwhile, as the investigation gets closer, the corrupt American officers hire a professional assassin named Webber to kill Patton and halt the inquiry.
Soon De Luca meets Mara, a former girlfriend, who can help him find the culprits. But they first discover that Webber is on their trail and is also planning to kill Patton. They race against time across war-ravaged Europe to save the general and catch the villainous officers.
Webber, posing as an American soldier, kills General Patton in a staged traffic accident. At the precise moment when a military truck collides with Patton's car, Webber fires a rubber bullet, striking Patton and breaking his neck. De Luca tracks down the assassin and kills him with his own weapon.
Cast
* Sophia Loren as Mara
* John Cassavetes as Major Joe De Luca
* George Kennedy as General George S. Patton
* Robert Vaughn as Colonel Donald Rogers
* Patrick McGoohan as Colonel Mike McCauley
* Bruce Davison as Colonel Robert Dawson
* Edward Herrmann as Colonel Walter Gilchrist
* Max von Sydow as Professional Assassin Shelley Martin Webber
* Ed Bishop as Colonel Frank Stewart
* Lee Montague as Lucky Luciano
* Hal Galili as Captain Levy
* Bernard Horsfall as Shelley
* John Junkin as Carberry
* Sigfrit Steiner as Herr Schroeder
* Reinhold Olszewski as General Ostranov
* Bob Cunningham as General Stackwood
* Heinz Bennent as Kasten
* Brad Harris as Lt. Rowan
* Claudia Butenuth as Hilde
* Osman Ragheb as Herr Wohler
* Marshall Reynor as MP Captain
* Sissy Weiner as Waitress
* Drew Lucas as Duty Sergeant
* Peter Armstrong as Sgt. Leary
* Wolfgang Hiller as Cable Clerk
* Dietrich Kerky as DP Camp Commandant
* Birgit Bergen as Woman in Train
* Richard Kley as Heinz - the Butler
* Ernst Zeiner as Band Leader
* Ray Le Clair as Lt. Lane
* Jimmy Jackson as Piano Player
* Hildegard Busse as DP Woman
* Yulian Panich as Russian Officer
* Lynn Ferren as WAC CID Agent
* Ren Schoenberg as Benoit
Production
Development
'Brass Target', despite a lukewarm reception upon its release, is noted for its attention to historical detail in an early post-war Europe. The Cold War had not started but relations with the Russians are shown to have already become frosty. The theory that Patton was assassinated in a staged accident follows the storyline of the novel 'The Algonquin Project' by Frederick W. Nolan, upon which the film was based. It was considered by most to be purely fictional, but a book entitled 'Target: Patton, The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton' by Robert K. Wilcox published in 2008 lends credence to the idea. Although approximately $2.5 billion in German gold, most of which is still missing, was determined to have been pilfered in several separate thefts, no train robbery occurred as depicted in the film.Filming locations
'Brass Target' was shot on location in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany and Switzerland.Casting
Many American soldiers from the 66th MI Group who were stationed in Munich appear as extras in the film.Reception
Critical response
Vincent Canby of 'The New York Times' wrote in his review: "It is the dubious premise of 'The Brass Target', a film full of dubiety, that Gen. George S. Patton was assassinated in Germany in 1945 by a motley crew of United States Army officers in an attempt to hide their theft of $250 million in Nazi gold. History says that General Patton died in Germany in 1945 following an automobile accident, but Frederick Nolan, who wrote 'The Algonquin Project', this film's source material, has connected various unsolved mysteries to make a wobbly case for his conspiracy theory. As historical speculation goes, it's less interesting than wondering where we might be today if Ford's Theater had been playing 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' that fateful night in 1865, instead of 'Our American Cousin'. Would Lincoln have attended, or might he have said, "Mary, I just can't sit through it again"? You may elect not to sit through international claptrap like this film, which doesn't measure up even to 'The Cassandra Crossing' ... The 'Brass Target', which has been rated PG ("Parental Guidance Suggested"), contains a lot of violence, all of it simulated but random in the way of simple-minded movie-making."Release
'Brass Target' was released in theaters on December 22, 1978 in the United States and March 2, 1979 in the United Kingdom.
The film was released on DVD on August 30, 2012 by the Warner Archive Collection. MGM Home Entertainment released 'Brass Target' on DVD as part of its Sophia Loren Collection.
References
Buy Brass Target now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1978