The Misfit Brigade (1987)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Don't Believe the Hype

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In spite of the goofs and cheesiness I really enjoy this movie. Had it been made today with young b actors it would be a disaster. The 80's tone and the great actors of this movie is hilarious. The story is simple but it gets you going through the movie with a few laughs and hilarious moments, like when Oliver Reed makes an entrance as German general. The goofs are also fun, Soviet made SU-100's makes a stand-in for tank destroyers as Jagdpanzer IV's, Hetzers or StuG's (or German captured SU-100's) It's filmed in former Yugoslavia, and many actors are Yugoslavians, which is good and contributes to the realism. One fun trivia if you like Cross of Iron (1977), the actor Slavco Stimac who plays Sven also plays the little blonde boy Michail in Cross Of Iron. He have had a real career since then.Sven Hassels books are a good read if you find them. They sorta continue with some of the characters and their achievements and defeats in WWIIWatch it, it's even available on Bluray with 1080p and DD Surround only but it stills is an upgrade over DVD.

A friend and I watched this movie back-to-back with the Italian flick "The Inglorious Bastards", as a part of our 'crazed rampaging soldiers' theme-night and it was a terrific ride throughout the two whole movies. The Italian cult classic one, directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring Fred Williamson, is undoubtedly more outrageous and spectacular, but the main conclusion actually was that both films share practically the same plot; only seen from the two opposite war fronts. Obviously both productions are imitations of the legendary war film "The Dirty Dozen", but personally I always treasured a bigger weakness for cheap knockoffs than for the acclaimed originals. "The Misfit Brigade" is adapted from a novel from Sven Hassle; who was a former Nazi Soldier and thus a bit of a questionable and slightly controversial figure himself. Regardless of his background, "The Misfit Brigade" definitely isn't pro-Nazi and actually quite blunt and uncompromising in the expression of its political opinions. The protagonists in this movie are anti everything and that's probably why this is such a good and plausible film. And by plausible I do not necessarily mean the depicted events in the film, but the characterizations of the rejected SS-soldiers and deserters. The plot introduces the questionable members of the 27th Panzer Regiment; a gathering of overly opinionated soldiers convicted in court martial and downright expandable criminals. They spent their days driving around in their tank, drinking heavily and playing vicious pranks on each other. Mostly active near the Northern front lines and Russians borders, the 27th Regiment unmercifully kills Russians but drive their tank over German soldiers just as easily. When the vicious Colonel Von Weisshägen promises them amnesty in return the fulfillment of a special and dangerous assignment, the boys go far beyond Russian enemy lines in order to blow up a train chock-full of oil and military equipment. As much as it is a harsh and realistic war epic, "The Misfit Brigade" is also a subtle and blackly humorous parody about the people forced to fight for a cause that is not necessarily their own and, as you can guess, their number is far more plentiful than the heroic patriots. Some sequences are near-brilliant and overwhelming (like the tank fights, the screening of the discouraging propaganda film, and the encounter with the exhibitionist deserters), but other footage is dreadfully tedious and misplaced, like the scene in the brothel for example. The best element about "The Misfit Brigade" is unarguably the character drawings. The members of the 27th Panzer Regiment aren't friends or soul mates. They're cold and emotionless bastards that do not mourn when one of their colleagues is killed in action and they definitely don't philosophize about the senselessness of warfare. The Yugoslavian filming locations add a great deal of realism to the film and the scenery (those tanks and Luftwaffe attacks!) are excellent. Director Gordon Hessler – known from the early 70's Vincent Price horror movies "The Oblong Box" and "Cry of the Banshee" – does an admirable job as well and he could rely on a fantastically devoted cast, including Bruce Davison as the uncrowned leader of the bunch, David Patrick Kelly as the eloquent and provocative Legionnaire and Jay O. Sanders as the big & dumb kamikaze freak Tiny. David Carradine is sublimely nefarious as the power-hungry Colonel Von Weisshägen; complete with his glasses for one eye only to make him look extra evil. Oliver Reed receives top billing but only makes a cameo appearance during the hectic and extremely cool climax. The role, however, is perfect for him and he gives his absolute everything in only five lines of dialog. Recommended!

This film is far from perfect, though I'm overall quite glad I saw it. It's basically THE DIRTY DOZEN if the protagonists were all Germans serving on the Eastern Front. Sound interested? Well I was hooked right away.The main strength to the film is the characterization. The three central characters are fleshed out pretty well and the interplay between them rings quite true. There's plenty of action sequences involving tanks, planes, and a fair amount of explosions but overall they're quite hindered by the low budget.Problems here include a lot of confusing moments, character decisions, and anachronisms. For one, we're introduced to the heroes at the beginning of the film driving a soviet post-ww2 T-62 tank! Later they're seen manning two SU-122 tank destroyers, which were also soviet, but the film wants us to believe are STUG-III's which look nothing alike. Also, the heroes (a penal battalion) often speak irreverently of Nazis and SS, but the costuming department outfitted them with Totenkopf SS emblems on their uniforms.However I must give credit to proper firearms. The uniforms overall look quite good though I wonder what a Russian 1939 early war hat would be doing on the front line in 1943/44. The Russian T-34/85's are quite authentic though with a lot of additions they wouldn't have had on in WW2. Overall the tank-fighting scenes are quite poorly done, though somewhat realistic in showing that tanking is a very cooperation-based profession.Overall, this is a movie that will only appeal to WW2 buffs. It's a pseudo-comedy but it isn't really that funny, per-say. It's an action movie too, but isn't particularly bloody or violent either.

I just saw The Misfit Brigade / Wheels Of Terror and I loved it. This is American style entertainment, simple and plain, all traditional, unsophisticated, popular, more quality of a TV series than a movie - and GOOD I could just eat the disc. This is America, so horribly underrated by high-nosed Europeans - and by Americans themselves! The film is based on a Sven Hassle novel about a German tank crew on the Eastern Front in WWII. So American in style and quality. Those typical easygoing toughs fixing everything with perfect, soundly unrealistic ease.An unpretentious, slightly silly film with lots of action and solid humor, and I already know this will be one I will frequently see again. In short: Banality At It's Best.