Desert Commandos (Italian: Attentato ai tre grandi) is a 1967 French/Italian/West German international co-production war film set during World War II in Morocco where it was filmed. The Italian title (Attack on the Big Three) refers to a German commando group with a mission to assassinate Churchill, Roosevelt and de Gaulle at the Casablanca Conference.
The film is a character-based drama that focuses on the German soldiers' various drives and conflicts during encounters with Tuareg nomads, and French and American soldiers.
Contents
Plot
The grief-stricken Captain Fritz Schoeller has assisted his terminally ill wife with her wishes for euthanasia. A party of men whisk him from his wife's funeral, not for arrest, but to be briefed on a special mission he will lead. The Captain, Lt. Roland Wolf, Sgt. Erich Huber, Corporal Hans Ludwig and Private Willy Mainz are all skilled in commando tactics and have excellent English language skills. They are dressed in British Commando uniforms and parachuted into Morocco where Faddja Hassen, an Arab woman will guide them to Casablanca where they will assassinate Allied leaders.
Cast
Ken Clark: Captain Fritz Schoeller
Horst Frank: Lt. Roland Wolf
Jeanne Valérie: Faddja Hassen
Carlo Hintermann: Sgt. Erich Huber
Howard Ross: Willy Mainz
Franco Fantasia: Major Dalio
Hardy Reichelt: Corporal Hans Ludwig
Fabienne Dali: Simone
John Stacy: Sir Bryan
Tom Felleghy: Colonel Ross
Gianni Rizzo: Perrier
Release
The film was released in West Germany on March 15, 1968, as Fünf gegen Casablanca.