One of the smash hits of its year, this action-packed war movie is violent and amoral, and fans would say all the better for it. Whatever your tastes, there's no denying director Robert Aldrich's consummate skill with such material or the powerhouse impact of the starry all-male cast headed by Lee Marvin, factors that have helped maintain the film's popularity. The violence is in fact mild by today's standards, but it nevertheless leaves a nasty taste in the mouth as a group of sociopaths is released from jail on a suicide mission to murder Nazis, and the movie rightly earned its original X certificate. John Poyner won the best sound effects Oscar for his superb work here.

12 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.