Director J. Lee Thompson follows Anthony Quinn on a WW2 mission to spirit away scientist James Mason and family (Patricia Neal, Kay Lenz), through the Pyrenees mountains. Chasing them is SS officer Malcolm McDowell and his men. Along the way, the refugees encounter gypsy leader Christopher Lee who suffers an infernal fate at the hands of the pursuers. The film was a flop, but is now remembered fondly for McDowell’s outrageous channeling of his Clockwork Orange persona.
“…quite remarkable what McDowell did here, stealing the film by chewing the scenery with such abandon that the rest of the cast were reduced to mumbling and fumbling in his almighty wake… Yet for those who actually saw this, there were some chilled to the bone by him ‘chop-chop- chop’-ing off fingers or flinging grenades with pithy quips.” – Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image
