source: Brass Target

Brass Target

A 'maybe it happened this way' WWII thriller from the 70's. A consignment of captured German gold is on its way to its new home guarded by American troops when it's robbed prompting a CID officer played John Cassavettes to investigate what happened. Up the ladder of command Patton (George Kennedy) is grilled by the Russians on the theft so he decides to stick his nose in as well prompting the real thieves to hire an assassin (Max Von Sydow) to take care of 'ol Blood & Guts & anyone else who comes close to finding who did the deed. Not very good w/a bevy of talent, namely Sophia Loren, wasted as window dressing as we're more than a few steps ahead of the investigation than than person assigned to investigate.

I saw this movie just by accident on TCM when I was surfing through the channels. The movie tells the story how just after World War II, a train carrying 250 million dollars in gold from the German Reichsbank is hijacked by renegade U.S soldiers. When the Russians hear about it they are furious and want the gold back since it should be shared by all the allies, General Patton, old "Blood & Guts" a well known anti-communist takes it his job to retrieve every single bullion to show off to the Soviets. While the story gets a promising start it bogs down a bit after the first 30 minutes, the story gets just too unfocused also the casting could have been better, Sophia Loren is far from convincing and McGoohan is certainly not at his best, if Hough would not have tried to get more audience by starring a lot of big names like Loren and Montague and just have hired other actors who could played the characters more convincingly this could have been a better film.

If you take Brass Target as a re-imagination of the situation in post-WWII Europe, similar to "Inglorious Basterds"©, this movie is easier to accept. However, any similarity to "Inglorious Basterds"© ends there. I feel this is a film made due to contractual obligations and maintaining SAG membership. The only reason I ever watched this film is because I was an extra in it, and even actually appear on screen for a second. Other than that, I MAY have been tempted to watch it once by some of the names, in particular Patrick McGoohan and George Kennedy, but other than my own one second of film glory, I wouldn't own it. The plot is completely implausible. I feel the actors make the best of it out of sheer professional pride. Here's a trivia point for you IMDb© keepers out there: Many of the extras are actually U.S. Army personnel recruited from troops serving in Munich at the time the movie was shot.

The film is set in post-war Europe and an American Army train loaded with gold is blown up and its contents robbed. The film mostly consists of the efforts taken to discover who is responsible. Considering the film is about a violent gold robbery and its investigation, the film is amazingly dull. Much of it can be blamed on the indifferent direction, the very poor casting of stars in the various roles as well as the script which practically put me to sleep. It's not a terrible film but one that should have been so much better. As far as my problems with the film, the most noticeable was the casting. George Kennedy seemed odd as Patton but others made even less sense...such as a very, very young looking Bruce Davison playing a full colonel and John Cassevetes as a major who simply scowls all the time. None of the other stars were particularly distinguished as well and the film has the look of a star-studded affair instead of a film honestly trying to tell a good story.

"Brass Target" is a rather frustrating film. It begins with a real grabber opening, the tunnel robbery of 250 million dollars in gold from a U.S. Army train. What follows is the story of an assassination contracted by the perpetrators on General George S. Patton due to his involvement in the robbery investigation. This does not make a whole lot of sense, since Patton was ordered back to the States in a few days, therefore the urgency to eliminate him seems rather pointless. Although the cast is strong, the screenplay is murky and confusing. Plot contrivances abound, especially a highly improbable code breaking. In the end, the exciting gold robbery is all but forgotten, making the movie rather forgettable as well. - MERK

I remember watching this as a kid when it first came out. And it stuck in my mind. More than 40 years later, I still remember the intricacy of the assassination plot against Patton. "Just make it look like an accident, 007" - well, this scenario does just that. Max von Sydow was in his prime as an unassuming hit man, who could wear any disguise and pull it off spectacularly. That it still sticks to my mind 40 years later is a testament to how impressed I was with the movie.

Superb movie with brilliant cast. Can't believe this film has been so forgotten. One for people who love classic thrillers.

Some elements in this film could remind you DAY OF THE JACKAL, not in the basic topic but around the Max Von Sydow's chracter as a high rate professional killer in charge to eliminate not Charles De Gaulle but general George S Patton. For the rest, nothing exceptional, it is an espionage genre film made in the late seventies, with of course an international cast. It was very fashioned during this era. Good sub plots and characters but a bit complex to follow. The scene that excited me was when Cassavettes character talks to Von Sydow's one telling him that he was after a hired killer without knowing that he was precisely talking to him; that's true suspense to me, when the audience knows something that one character does not.