Rating: 
Summary: A War Drama Based on Two Themes
Review: Anzio explores two themes.
First, the movie explores WHY men go to war, concluding that the main reason men and societies go to war is because they LIKE killing. Robert Mitchum's character poses this question to a general early in the film, and the events in the film lead Mitchum to draw this conclusion at the end.
Second, the movie explores the idea that a general can be too timid. The movie treats us to the timid general's battle plan, which is organized for the reason of having as little loss of human life as possible. Mitchum's character poses a question to the general using a quote from Napolean, and they discuss the idea. Events in the film lead us to accept Mitchum's conclusion at the end that generals need to balance the need for saving human lives, with that of being more agressive.
This film has plenty of action, but it is primarily a drama based upon these two themes.
Rating:
Summary: A decent movie..
Review: Anzio is a decent war movie, filled with exciting battles and a platoon's cat-n-mouse struggle to avoid the enemy long enough to find their way back to their own lines. Robert Mitchum plays a news correspondent who's assigned to cover the invasion of Anzio by a company of U.S. Rangers. When their company is ambushed by the Germans, him and a small handfull of soldiers (Peter Falk and Earl Holliman co-star) escape the trap, but then face having to find their way back to safety through miles of enemy territory. A fairly standard World War II movie based on the actual Anzio battle itself, but more or less using it as a back drop for the fictionalized battle hilighted in the film. There's a totally silly scene with Robert Falk and three local lovelies in the back of an ambulance that should have hit the editing room floor. And Mitchum himself hams it up a bit while denouncing the war in a flag waving manner. But overall Anzio is a fun movie, especially for war movie lovers. Popcorn anyone?
Rating:
Summary: Anzio, Better Than Some
Review: Anzio is a decent WW2 movie as far as this genre goes. For a change we see the Allies, and in this case, the elite Rangers getting wiped out at Cisterna by the Germans. I suspect this happened more often than not whenever ameteur American troops had to face the Wehrmacht in anything resembling even-odds. Robert Mitchum is his usual out-spoken self, while Peter Faulk is an amusing low-life GI character. The rest of the cast is adequate, if your standard GI fare. The real strength of the movie is showing how the Americans missed a gold chance at Anzio. General Lucas was certainly a hesitant commander in an American army that was normally made up of blood and guts types. No doubt he did not press hard enough in the early stages of the landings, and for a change we can see the Americans being faulted with lack of drive, instead of this role being often shoved onto the British.The Rangers getting shot-up at Cisterna is well done. The German tanks are not accurate, looking like the usual modern American stuff pressed into Wehrmacht service, but at least with the camoflauge they look somewhat convincing. The Sniper scene towards the end is probably the best action sequence in the entire movie. Here you get to see how a squad of GIs take on elite snipers. While the acting and plot are par, the movie overall conveys some grim realities of war and shows what a difficult time the Allies had in Italy. The scenes with Kesselring are brief, but show the contrast between efficient, professional German leadership, and the clumsy, rough and ready manner of the Americans. Deffinitely a worthwhile movie which creates a convincing atmosphere and has pretty good music as well. Compared to something like Devil's Briagde or Dirty Dozen which were made in the same period its down-right brilliant!
Rating:
Summary: Anzio, Better Than Some
Review: Anzio is a decent WW2 movie as far as this genre goes. For a change we see the Allies, and in this case, the elite Rangers getting wiped out at Cisterna by the Germans. I suspect this happened more often than not whenever ameteur American troops had to face the Wehrmacht in anything resembling even-odds. Robert Mitchum is his usual out-spoken self, while Peter Faulk is an amusing low-life GI character. The rest of the cast is adequate, if your standard GI fare. The real strength of the movie is showing how the Americans missed a gold chance at Anzio. General Lucas was certainly a hesitant commander in an American army that was normally made up of blood and guts types. No doubt he did not press hard enough in the early stages of the landings, and for a change we can see the Americans being faulted with lack of drive, instead of this role being often shoved onto the British. The Rangers getting shot-up at Cisterna is well done. The German tanks are not accurate, looking like the usual modern American stuff pressed into Wehrmacht service, but at least with the camoflauge they look somewhat convincing. The Sniper scene towards the end is probably the best action sequence in the entire movie. Here you get to see how a squad of GIs take on elite snipers. While the acting and plot are par, the movie overall conveys some grim realities of war and shows what a difficult time the Allies had in Italy. The scenes with Kesselring are brief, but show the contrast between efficient, professional German leadership, and the clumsy, rough and ready manner of the Americans. Deffinitely a worthwhile movie which creates a convincing atmosphere and has pretty good music as well. Compared to something like Devil's Briagde or Dirty Dozen which were made in the same period its down-right brilliant!
Rating:
Summary: A decent movie..
Review: Anzio is an uneven war movie that still manages to keep the viewer interested. Starring Robert Mitchum as war correspondent Dick Ennis, Anzio tells the story of seven survivors of a botched mission behind enemy lines and their attempt to get back to the American beachhead. There is a lot of anti-war sentiment here which in some places is a little unnecessary. Ennis' whole point of staying in a combat situation is to find out why men fight, why there are wars. Anzio has an excellent supporting cast with Peter Falk as Corporal Rabinoff, a Special Forces guide, Arthur Kennedy, Robert Ryan, Earl Holliman, Reni Santoni(Poppi from Seinfeld), and Mark Damon. The movie is entertaining although it is slow-moving in some parts. There are only a few action scenes, but they are all done pretty well, especially the skirmish between the survivors and a group of German snipers. One bizarre scene with Peter Falk singing Bye, Bye Blackbird with three prostitutes. The widescreen presentation of the movie is much better than previously seen. The DVD offers four trailers including The Guns of Navarone, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Lawrence of Arabia. Multiple options for spoken languages. Good purchase although much more could have been done with the DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Falk singing "Bye, Bye, Blackbird"?
Review: Anzio is an uneven war movie that still manages to keep the viewer interested. Starring Robert Mitchum as war correspondent Dick Ennis, Anzio tells the story of seven survivors of a botched mission behind enemy lines and their attempt to get back to the American beachhead. There is a lot of anti-war sentiment here which in some places is a little unnecessary. Ennis' whole point of staying in a combat situation is to find out why men fight, why there are wars. Anzio has an excellent supporting cast with Peter Falk as Corporal Rabinoff, a Special Forces guide, Arthur Kennedy, Robert Ryan, Earl Holliman, Reni Santoni(Poppi from Seinfeld), and Mark Damon. The movie is entertaining although it is slow-moving in some parts. There are only a few action scenes, but they are all done pretty well, especially the skirmish between the survivors and a group of German snipers. One bizarre scene with Peter Falk singing Bye, Bye Blackbird with three prostitutes. The widescreen presentation of the movie is much better than previously seen. The DVD offers four trailers including The Guns of Navarone, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Lawrence of Arabia. Multiple options for spoken languages. Good purchase although much more could have been done with the DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Small Gems Within A Stillborn Film
Review: How easy to imagine a reader's confusion from the preceding reviews for "Anzio". Apparently a movie loved or hated with little middle ground, the reviews reflect in sum mixed sentiments I can well understand -- "Anzio" remains close to the top of my list of bad movies I nonetheless enjoy.
Previous reviewers felt very abused by its misleading title. Unlike it's contemporaries "Tora Tora Tora", "Battle of Britain", "Longest Day", or "Midway", this "Anzio" claims only cursory nods to history. You will not find here little yellow captions introducing each newly-met character, listing name, rank, and historybook significance: "Major General John Doe, Deputy Commander XIV Corp".
The bulk of this movie is clearly *not* about "Anzio the Historical Campaign" --
The DVD menu shows 4 scenes of generic soldier-awaiting-battle events, 15 scenes of fictional characters journeying home behind enemy lines, and only 8 scenes purporting relationship to history.
With so much focus on historically fictional characters, this film could be about *any* group of men, in *any* battle, during *any* war in history, and should be accepted by us on those terms. The time and location are only marginally relevant backdrops for a theme. It's a disconcerting shame that so many become distracted from the story by five letters in stencil-font on a DVD cover. This is not history -- Get over it.
It is however an understandable distraction. The screenwriter and director profoundly fail to articulate their theme with either clarity or focused skill.
Beginning with a silly theme-song, appropriate more to cheap Las Vegas nightclubs than to a war movie, we're subsequently walked through an idiotic procession of testosterone-laden scenes of sweating troops doing the Guy Thing --
Swinging on chandeliers, punching each other out, shouting "All right you mothers!", or lecherously eyeing large-breasted women during a joyride behind enemy lines, this cliche-ridden buffoonery could well be accepted as calculated instruction for alienating audiences aged 14 or above. The battle scenes are dusty non-believable hokum which became boring in movies before the VE-Day celebrations.
Despite that, this is no easy movie to completely dismiss with venomous contempt. For those inclined to look beneath the muck, there is also much which is distinctive and compelling.
The theme is a simple but interesting one, expressed by Mitchum early in the script:
" Why do we do it, why do we kill each other? How can a perfectly ordinary good-natured guy sit in an airplane and bomb a thousand sleeping strangers below? I haven't found an answer."
In contrast to this well worn question, a disturbing, and -- for a movie of this ilk -- highly unusual answer comes from Falk, and summmarizes the movie's message:
" ...and it's got nothing to do with democracy. Because I like it. I want this. A guy sells shoes for 40 years, and I live more in one day.
"I see more, I feel more, I taste more, I think more. I'm more. Do you understand? I'm more."
Experience teaches us about ourselves. It demonstrates and corrects misconceptions about ourselves. Of all possible experiences, how many are more emphatic than protracted world war?
Falk's answer haunts the movie in crisp moments of self-revelation for characters who are other than what they believe themselves to be:
Mitchum the journalist, outwardly a jaded pacifist, he discovers truth in Falk's telling him, "You're just like me."
Arthur Kennedy as General Lesley, who, by virtue of rank and position should be a master warrior, is in his actions, and despite protestations to the contrary, the film's actual pacifist-at-heart
These are fine performances rising above a poorly crafted script. But this movie truly belongs to Falk, sympathetically portraying one who has reached self-fulfillment as a man of violence thriving in violent circumstance.
The oft derided scene of Falk teaching "Bye Bye Blackbird" to three prostitutes is one of the reasons I purchased the DVD. In a movie where all the primary characters demonstrate some measure of depth and variety in their personalities, this scene balances Falk's killer corporal who loves war. Without it, Falk would simply be a cocky brute; with it he becomes among the men Mitchum describes in the quote above. I admit predjudice here however -- of all versions I've ever heard of this song, this remains my favorite.
We may easily denigrate this movie for it's obvious bad history, sour direction, and muddled script. But it's equally easy to remain alert to small gems here, shining from the acting of the lead characters deftly pointing to a thought-provoking if stillborn theme, of self revelation during war.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty interesting for a war movie
Review: I do not normally watch war movies but found this one to interesting. It made me want to watch to see the ending. The movie made you get involved in the men's lives. I think that Robert Mitchum made a mistake when he said that the 1st and 2nd rangers were almost wiped out, it was the 1st and 3rd rangers. But I don't think it was made to be a historical document. All in all I enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: another war flick
Review: I love tanks....AND this movie showed'em. I like "good'ole WWII flicks,what do you expect, An acadamy award winning film all th' time?!? I think the sniper scene was tough,especialy the maneuvers they used.....get into war movies,and stop comparing them!!!
Rating:
Summary: Italian Lament with Hollywood Directing
Review: If ANZIO were recut from the original negative, equipped with new sound effects, and included a reworked score by John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith it would have the potential for becoming a great film. Indeed, when it was originally released, ANZIO appeared in several versions for American, Italian and general European audiences.
ANZIO has potential. Loosely based on the 1944 Allied landings at Anzio-Nettuno, the film strays into the traditional Italian lament that the Italians were victims of Axis and Allies alike. This is not surprising as the movie is a product of veteran Hollywood director Edward Dmytryk (Back to Bataan, The Caine Mutiny) and Italian mega producer Dino De Laurentiis. Indeed, a good portion of the movie was shot on De Laurentiis' estate.
Included are a superb cast who unfortunately flounder with a bad script. Indeed, Robert Mitchum's biography notes that there was hardly a script at all. Robert Mitchum leads the cast playing the role of an internationally reknown war correspondent who is driven to determine why men go to war. Mitchum's character, Dick Ennis, attaches himself to an infantry squad that finds itself cut off behind enemy lines. Costarring in the film are a pre-Columbo Peter Falk, post western film star Earl Holiman, Robert Ryan, and Arthur Kennedy. Also look for young Reni Santoni who would later make a name for himself as Clint Eastwood's partner in DIRTY HARRY. Wolfgang Preiss does a splendid job, albeit in the few minutes alotted to him, portraying German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring.
The film does have its moments. The landings at Anzio are faithfully recreated with the assistance of footage from contemporary US amphibious landing manuevers -- not unlike the similar footage secured by Daryl Zanuck for THE LONGEST DAY. The ambush of US Rangers at Cisterna is also pretty spectacular. As with most De Laurentiis films, look for a big production with cast of thousands. If you are a collector of war films, then the DVD version of this film -- complete in wide screen -- should find its way into your collection, but you should also read a good book on the subject before accepting this film as history.
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