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Colonel Joseph Ryan is a USAAF pilot who is shot down over Italy. He is taken to a POW camp, run by the cruel Major Basilio
Battaglia. Ryan insists that Battaglia salute him as a superior officer, which is reluctantly translated by the sympathetic
second-in-command, Captain Vittorio Oriani. The camp is mainly populated by British prisoners of the 9th Fusiliers. The
previous Allied commanding officer, who was British, has recently died, due to being placed in the "sweat box" as punishment
for hitting Battaglia with a stick. When Ryan arrives in camp, Major Eric Fincham is the senior British officer. Ryan,
being senior, assumes command. Ryan, aware that the Allies are close to liberating Italy, is in no mood to support Fincham's
escape attempts. There are a few Americans in the camp and when Fincham catches them trying to get medicines being hoarded in
secret for escape attempts, Ryan orders Fincham to start distributing the medicines to some of the personnel who are suffering
serious illness. Ryan later reveals several of the prisoners' escape attempts, infuriating Fincham and the British soldiers.
When Battaglia refuses to improve camp conditions, Ryan orders the prisoners to strip and burn their filthy clothes, forcing
Battaglia to issue new ones. Battaglia throws Ryan into the sweat box as punishment. After hearing of the Italian surrender,
the guards flee. The British promptly put Battaglia on trial as a war criminal, and allow Oriani to defend him. Battaglia
portrays himself as a broken man who has repudiated fascism. Ryan orders him to not be executed, but instead, to be put
in the sweat box.
A German fighter plane overflies the camp, forcing Ryan and the men to head out across the Italian countryside to freedom.
After several days the escapees rest within a deserted fortress. Oriani moves forward in an attempt to contact Allied forces.
In the morning, the Germans recapture the prisoners. Fincham thinks Oriani has betrayed them. When the POWs are put on a
train, they find a severely battered Oriani in the prisoner carriage. They realise Battaglia betrayed them. The Germans
shoot all the sick prisoners. Fincham blames Ryan for letting Battaglia live. The train travels to Rome, where a German
officer, Major von Klemment, takes command. Ryan uses a metal bar to pry up the floorboards of the car. That night, when the
train stops, Ryan, Fincham, and Lieutenant Orde sneak out from underneath the train and kill several of the guards, then
free a carload of POWs, who help them kill the remaining guards. Ryan and Fincham capture von Klemment and his mistress,
Gabriella. As the train moves out, another train follows. Von Klemment reveals that the second train is carrying German
troops and is on the same schedule. Further, von Klemment is to receive orders at each railway station. A German-speaking
Allied chaplain, Captain Costanzo, is enlisted to impersonate the German commander to ensure their passage through the
next station in Florence.
Through the documents received in Florence, they learn that both trains are headed towards Innsbruck, Austria. Through
trickery, the prisoners switch their train onto a different line at Bologna. The troop train continues on toward Innsbruck.
Von Klemment and Gabriella are kept bound and gagged, but Gabriella uses a shard of glass to sever their bonds. At a stop,
von Klemment and Gabriella escape, killing Orde. Both are shot by Ryan. Meanwhile, Waffen-SS troops, led by Colonel Gortz,
have discovered the ruse. The prisoners put the train on a siding, but discover that it leads to a German facility, which
is subsequently bombed by Allied aircraft. The train races through, bombs exploding everywhere. Several cars catch fire,
and several men are wounded. After they leave, the Italian engineer and Oriani disable the signals at one signal box,
disabling the station's track displays and confusing the Germans. The prisoners then reroute the train to neutral
Switzerland through manual switching. Gortz and his troops pursue them. As the Alps appear, the prisoner train is attacked
by German aircraft. Rocket fire causes boulders to fall and destroy a section of track. The POWs replace the damaged rail
as the SS race up from behind. Ryan, Fincham, and others hold off the Germans, but many are killed in the battle. The
prisoner train moves out as the men run for the rear platform with the Germans in pursuit. Fincham makes it and reaches
back for Ryan's outstretched hand, but Ryan is gunned down by Gortz just as the train crosses into Switzerland.
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Starring ... |
Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Raffaella Carrą, Brad Dexter, Sergio Fantoni, John Leyton, Vito Scotti,
Edward Mulhare, Wolfgang Preiss, James Brolin, John van Dreelen, Adolfo Celi, Michael Goodliffe
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Director: Mark Robson
Producer: Saul David
Released - June 23, 1965
Length - 117 minutes
Music Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Movie Distributed by 20th Century Fox
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