The Greatest Battle
| The Greatest Battle | |
|---|---|
 Italian DVD cover art | |
| Directed by |
Umberto Lenzi (as Humphrey Logan) |
| Produced by |
Luciano Martino Mino Loy |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by | Umberto Lenzi[1] |
| Starring |
Helmut Berger Stacy Keach Samantha Eggar Giuliano Gemma Henry Fonda John Huston Ray Lovelock |
| Narrated by | Orson Welles |
| Music by | Franco Micalizzi[1] |
| Cinematography | Federico Zanni[1] |
| Edited by | Eugenio Alabiso[1] |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | Titanus[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country |
|
The Greatest Battle (Italian: Il grande attacco, lit. 'The Great Attack', also titled The Biggest Battle) is a 1978 Euro War film co-written and directed by Umberto Lenzi[3] and starring an ensemble cast, including Helmut Berger, Stacy Keach, Samantha Eggar, Henry Fonda, Giuliano Gemma, John Huston, Ray Lovelock, and Guy Doleman, with a voiceover narration provided by Orson Welles.
Cast
- Helmut Berger as Lt. Kurt Zimmer
- Samantha Eggar as Annelise Hackermann
- Giuliano Gemma as Captain Malcolm Scott
- Henry Fonda as General Foster
- John Huston as Sean O'Hara
- Stacy Keach as Lt. Manfred Roland
- Ray Lovelock as John Foster
- Aldo Massasso as Jean
- Guy Doleman as General Whitmore
- Venantino Venantini as Michael
- Patrick Reynolds as Christopher
- Ida Galli as Miss Scott
- Rik Battaglia as Yves
- Edwige Fenech as Danielle
- Andrea Bosic as Mimis Parnat
- Mirko Ellis as Captain Hans Becker
- Giacomo Rossi Stuart as Batelli
- Michele Soavi as Ted Foster
- Orson Welles as the Narrator
Release
The Greatest Battle passed Italian censors on 19 January 1978.[1] The film was released under several titles, including La Battaglia di Mareth, The Biggest Battle and The Great Battle.[2]
Reception
For Mick Martin and Marsha Porter it shows "lots of phony battle scenes, bad acting, and a poor script".[4] Leonard Maltin writes: "Amateurish muddle about WW2 combines tired vignettes with well-known stars, dubbed sequences with others, and newsreel footage narrated by Orson Welles. A waste of everybody's time".[5]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Il grande attacco (1978)" (in Italian). Archvio del Cinema Italiano. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
- 1 2 Erickson, Hal. "Il Grande Attaco (1977)". AllMovie. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
- ↑ "Il Grande Attaco". AllMovie. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
- ↑ Mick Martin, Marsha Porter. DVD & video guide 2005. Ballantine Books, 2004. ISBN 0-345-44995-9.
- ↑ Leonard Maltin. Leonard Maltin's TV movies and video guide. Plume, 2003. ISBN 0-452-28478-3.
External links