Posted: Sun., Dec. 31, 1967, 11:00pm PT

Anzio

(Italy)

By Variety Staff

Columbia. Director Edward Dmytryk; Producer Dino De Laurentiis; Writer Harry A.L. Craig; Camera Giuseppe Retonno Editor Alberto Gallitti, Peter Taylor; Music Riz Ortolani Art Luigi Scaccianoce

Robert Mitchum Peter Falk Robert Ryan Arthur Kennedy Earl Holliman Mark Damon

Anzio, based on the World War II campaign in Italy, suffers from flat writing, stock performances, uninspired direction and dull pacing. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis, film would seem to be a largescale war epic, but it really is a pale tale of a small group of men trapped behind German lines. Robert Mitchum stars in a cast that is far better in potential than in reality.

Two US generals (Arthur Kennedy and Robert Ryan) play a cautious and a headline-hungry type, respectively. But from the moment the film begins, it is apparent that the overall pace is going to limp.

Mitchum's character, a wiseguy newspaper reporter, plays off against the brass, whom he puts down, and his seven army cohorts, who put him down for not getting involved. Only Earl Holliman has any significant life.

Peter Falk overacts an overwritten part of a rough-guy-with-heart-of-tin. He and Mitchum discuss some basic philosophical points, one of several forced injections of 'meaning' which not only fail to elevate the story, but actually depress it further into banality.

(Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1968. Running time: 117 MIN.