Paratroop Command (1959)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Blistering performances.

PARATROOP COMMAND is a disappointing WW2 movie from the guys at AIP. It was shot in California standing in for various European theatres of war. The main character accidentally shoots one of his own men in a tragic accident, leading to much antagonism in future campaigns as he tries to overcome the hatred of his men. This one goes for a psychological approach but doesn't really hit home and the unknown cast members fail to make much of an impression. There's a bit of stock war footage here and there but this is mostly a bit of a bore.

***SPOILERS*** Charlie, Richard Bakalyn, has always been a screw up for as long as he could remember. Having and losing as many jobs as fingers and toes on his hands and feet Charlie was also married and divorced twice before he was even old enough to either vote as well as drink and smoke.Joining the US Army after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Charlie hoped to do something right for a change and serve his country with honor. This turned out to be a total nightmare where, as a US paratrooper, he was dropped behind enemy lines in Tunisia with his fellow GI's. Falling behind Charlie spotted what looked like a German holding his fellow paratroopers at bay and opened fire killing him. As it turned out Charlie screwed up again shooting US Army paratrooper Cowboy, James Beck. Cowboy had donned a dead German solider's uniform and had helped storm a pillbox that the Germans were strafing the advancing US troops!The tragic killing of Cowboy haunted Charlie all throughout the North African as well as Sicilian campaigns. Charlie not only had to deal with killing, because mistaken identity, a fellow GI but the men in his unit who hated him like poison. Despite him Desperately wanting to redeem himself Charlie was purposely left out in any action that his unit was in making him look more like a deadbeat then, which many of the men in his unit eventually became, dead man. Finally during the fierce fighting at Salerno on the tip of the "Italian Boot" Charlie finally got his chance to prove himself. Again , like in Tunisia and Sicily, Pvt. Charlie's unit was dropped behind enemy lines to prevent the German Panzers from wiping out the some 40,000 GI's fighting for their lives on the Salerno beaches.***SPOILERS*** With almost his entire unit wiped out by German machine-gun and motor fire Charlie took it upon himself to clear the way, by clearing a German minefield, for the trapped forces of the US 5th Army to get to safe ground and away, by being hopelessly boxed in on the Salerno beaches, from the impending and fatal German counter-attack. Risking his life and losing it Charlie finally did something right finishing a job that he started. Something he was never able to do his entire life. But in this case the job that he finished was not only beneficial to Charlie but to the thousands of GI's whose lives he eventually saved as well as to the course of the US, and its allies, efforts in winning the war in Europe.

It's good to see veteran character actor Richard Bakalyan in pretty much anything, and he gets to show his stuff in this low-budget WW II "epic" from American-International and action specialist William Witney. Ken Lynch, a familiar face who specialized in playing tough cops and soldiers, is also quite good as an officer who leads his squad of paratroopers in a jump behind enemy lines. Unfortunately, the film itself isn't up to the talents of Bakalyan, Lynch or Witney. The supporting performances range from sub-par to embarrassing--not particularly surprising considering the hack script by producer Stan Shpetner--and the action scenes are poorly handled by the usually reliable Witney. The film is worth a look if you're a Dick Bakalyan fan, but otherwise there's not much else to recommend it.

Charlie (Bakalyan) joins the paratroops because he has failed at everything else in his life. When he accidently kills another GI, things really take a turn down. The cast of relative unknowns does a fine job, and Bakalyan shows flashes of brilliant acting ability that thus far have gone undiscovered. This one is low-buck all the way, puts stock war footage to good use, but well worth catching on the late show.