The Misfit Brigade (1987)

An ill-advised adaptation of one of Sven Hassle's WW2 Eastern Front novels, WHEELS OF TERROR is a film that it's quite difficult to enjoy. Hassle's books were always grimly realistic and downbeat, and despite attempts to emulate that style, WHEELS OF TERROR feels cheesy and quite sentimental by comparison. What's obvious here is that the budget was quite low, meaning that the various action scenes are only averagely handled, and at times look more like they belong in a '60s Italian war film than a 1980s movie. I do like the work of director Gordon Hessler (THE OBLONG BOX, SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, etc.) but this is one of his lesser efforts.The cast is a mixed bag of familiar faces. Some stand out, others are bland. Bruce Davison headlines things but was quite wooden, I thought, although the ever-snide David Patrick Kelly (COMMANDO) is better as the volatile one. The all-American David Carradine is an odd choice to play the German officer, but it works quite well, and it's hard not to enjoy Oliver Reed's cameo as the pompous general. Overall, though, I found WHEELS OF TERROR to be quite a shoddy film, and not really something I can recommend, which is a surprise given that screenwriter Nelson Gidding previously wrote the scripts for classics like THE HAUNTING and THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN.

The cast makes all the difference in this reasonably amusing adaptation of a WWII novel by Sven Hassle (who's played in the film by Slavko Stimac). It's basically a variation on the Dirty Dozen formula, in which a group of misfits - including those who had been in prison - are recruited by the Nazis to be a fighting force. Our "misfit brigade" are sent on a delicate mission to get beyond the Russian border and destroy a train. They are told that if they succeed at this task, they can enjoy an early "retirement".Adequately directed by cult filmmaker Gordon Hessler ("The Golden Voyage of Sinbad"), the movie has a fairly colourful band of characters. These men are very much anti-authority and also pretty much anti-Nazi, resulting in an interesting hook. On location filming in Yugoslavia is one nice touch; period recreation is also good. Hessler manages to create some tension and the action is decently executed.This group of familiar faces does look to be having a good time. Bruce Davison ("Willard"), David Patrick Kelly ("Dreamscape"), D.W. Moffett ("Traffic"), Jay O. Sanders ("The Day After Tomorrow"), and Keith Szarabajka ("The Dark Knight") are among our heroes. If you're watching this as a fan of Oliver Reed, be warned that he only shows up at the end, with just a handful of lines. David Carradine is most amusing in his turn as a sneering Nazi officer. One does have to suspend their disbelief quite a bit with these very Americanized performances, and with no real attempt made to make people look Germanic.Personally speaking, this viewer did not have a problem with the light hearted approach of this adaptation. The healthy dose of humour does keep it watchable. It's nothing great, but it offers some fun.Seven out of 10.

I feel very close to what Laybarsinister said . As a long range reader of Sven Hassle books , I have been amazed by how close from the images we built at reading the Hassle war squad story , the actors have been selected. Especially Tiny , Old man and Alfred Kalb-the légionnaire -, they are so close in their physical and in their behavior,that there is almost no gap at all between the film and the book, which is a very rare performance ! Cheers for the choice of actors and for the actors themselves!.Forinstance Porta does not look so close, physically, but his actor job is so excellent, that we may think all of them are avid readers and fans of Hassle's books.This little film is unpretentious yet surprisingly a kind of artistic success in restoring the spirit of a story as the author has told it in his writing.Once more,a very rare success,as film makers don't usually bother too much sticking to the writer actual storyboard. Only one regret : with this team of actors and the Hassle saga ,so full of events and historical facts ,it could have given 2 or 3 more films without any danger of boring the public .

I have seen this film a couple of times and have found that I like the movie. It is not the quality of Stalingrad but I think if follows the basic premise of the books by Sven Hassle. Other people have ripped it to shreds and said that it was trash but I found that the books and the film are quite similar in tone. It does not follow the book Wheels of Terror exactly but it does a good job of capturing the flavor of the books. I would encourage people to try to find a copy. Used VHS tapes often show up on Ebay and even European DVDs can be found. Be sure to search for both titles as The Misfit Brigade seems to be only the USA title.