| Hornets' Nest | |
|---|---|
Original American film poster |
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| Directed by | Phil Karlson Franco Cirino |
| Produced by | Stanley S. Canter |
| Written by | Stanley Colbert (story) S.S. Schweitzer |
| Starring | Rock Hudson Mark Colleano Sylva Koscina Sergio Fantoni Giacomo Rossi-Stuart Jacques Sernas |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Gábor Pogány |
| Editing by | Terry Williams |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | September 9, 1970 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | USA/Italy |
| Language | English German Italian |
Hornets' Nest is a 1970 Italian-American war film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Rock Hudson, Sylva Koscina, and Sergio Fantoni.
Contents |
In Northern Italy in 1944, the entire population of the village of Reanoto is massacred by the SS for helping the Italian resistance movement. The only survivors are a group of young boys in ages from 7 to 14 led by Aldo (Mark Colleano, son of Bonar Colleano and Susan Shaw[1]) who witness the mass execution and vow revenge.
That night, a stick of US Army paratrooper saboteurs jump into the area with a mission to destroy a strategic dam with the partisans prior to the Fifth United States Army's advance into the area. Their drop zone has been discovered by the Germans, who kill them all except the leader of the paratroopers, Captain Turner (Rock Hudson), who is rendered unconscious and goes unnoticed by the Germans when he lands in the branches of a tree. The Germans capture the demolition equipment from the dead Americans.
Aldo and his friends rescue Turner by spiriting him away from the ambush. Realising that Turner needs medical attention, they kidnap a German female doctor (a blonde Sylva Koscina) to nurse him to health, and keeping her captive even after Turner's recovery.
In order to avenge the massacre, Aldo wants the American Captain to train him and his friends in the use of military weapons and tactics. Turner uses the opportunity as a second chance to complete his sabotage mission, using the boys instead of his late command. He has the boys steal the captured American demolition gear from the Germans, but Aldo hides the detonators until Turner leads them in their revenge.
Turner and his "Dead End Kids" are pursued by Wehrmacht Captain Von Hecht (Sergio Fantoni with bleached hair), a professional soldier who is against the methods of the SS, which he considers to be counter-productive.
Hudson had previously had success with several military roles, such as Ice Station Zebra. After the failure of the large budgeted Darling Lili, he thought an action war film geared to the youth market directed by the experienced Phil Karlson had potential. The female lead was originally to have been played by Sophia Loren, but she dropped out at the last moment and was replaced by Koscina.[2] Koscina, who had a childhood in World War II Yugoslavia, felt that the idea of the film of war destroying mentally as well as physically was an interesting one.[3] Her role as a female German doctor captured by partisans was similar to the lead in the acclaimed The Last Bridge.
Though set in 1944, the hairstyles, American fatigues and attitudes are from the late 1960s, with Hudson first wearing the moustache he would have throughout the 1970s. Time Magazine called the film "a weird little war movie full of bizarre energy and merciless violence, a kind of 'Dirty Dozen Reach Puberty'".[4] Ennio Morricone's score included a whistling theme that was used in the film by the children themselves.[5]
Michael Avallone wrote a novelisation of the film as a tie-in. An exploitation guide for cinema owners suggested dressing up boys under 15 in army uniforms and putting actual hornet's nests (hopefully without their makers) in shop windows to promote the film.[6]
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