On paper a war movie by producer Carlo Ponti and the director of 'Rambo' doesn't sound at all promising; especially as it stars Richard Burton and Marcello Mastroianni, who had between them made probably more junk than any reputable pair of actors then alive. But as Burton burns the midnight oil while he and his colleagues attempt with mounting desperation to find 320 eligible candidates then in custody for summary execution in reprisal for a bomb attack by partisans the film (co.adapted by Robert Katz from his own 1967 book 'Death in Rome') probably does a better job of fulfilling Godard's declaration that the most harrowing account of a massacre would be one detailing the logistical nightmare it would be for the perpetrators than Costa-Govras's 'Section Speciale' a couple of years later.
Being an Italian production it boasts authentic location work in Rome itself, along with several familiar British faces in the supporting cast (including Peter Vaughn as Field Martial Kesselring, who later served five years for giving the nod to the whole ghastly business).
