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5.7/10
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In 1944, during a sabotage mission, the sole surviving U.S. paratrooper is saved by a group of Italian orphans who later aid him in blowing up a vital enemy dam.In 1944, during a sabotage mission, the sole surviving U.S. paratrooper is saved by a group of Italian orphans who later aid him in blowing up a vital enemy dam.In 1944, during a sabotage mission, the sole surviving U.S. paratrooper is saved by a group of Italian orphans who later aid him in blowing up a vital enemy dam.
Giacomo Rossi Stuart
- Schwalberg
- (as Giacomo Rossi-Stuart)
- Directors
- Phil Karlson
- Franco Cirino(credited on Italian print)
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe credited director in English-language prints is Phil Karlson, but Italian prints list Karlson and Franco Cirino as co-directors. Cirino was a second-unit director who worked with American directors on films made in Italy and the Mediterranean. He also occasionally worked as an actor in them.
- GoofsAlthough the story takes place in 1944, all the hair styles are strictly in the 1970 mode. Hudson's fashionably long hair is strictly unmilitary, and he even sports 1970 sideburns and a handlebar moustache; Koscina's big hair is a 1970s trademark; even the kids look like refugees from the streets of the era in which the film was made, not at all like World War II orphans.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Django Unchained (2012)
Featured review
Rock And His Gang of Juveniles
The Hornet's Nest of the title refers to the gang of Italian urchins who find Rock Hudson and a fascist female doctor played by Sylva Koscina to patch him up.
Hudson has parachuted ahead of the advancing Fifth Army during the Italian campaign. His mission was to blow up a dam, presumably to trap retreating Nazis. But these kids have a mission of their own in mind. Their village was massacred by the S.S. looking for partisans and they want some payback.
Rock has to recover first so the kids kidnap a female doctor to treat him for concussion and bruised ribs. She's also quite an eyeful and in one scene, the older kids kind of forget the purpose of their mission.
It's a routine action adventure story that probably Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas would have been better suited for than Rock Hudson. Still Hudson turns in a decent performance, given what he has to work with.
The sad thing about Hornet's Nest is that with the revelation of Rock's homosexuality the film became something of a joke, what with Rock and a gang of teenage boys. Had any other actor done it, no one would have thought anything of it.
Or maybe Burt and Kirk had insights.
Hudson has parachuted ahead of the advancing Fifth Army during the Italian campaign. His mission was to blow up a dam, presumably to trap retreating Nazis. But these kids have a mission of their own in mind. Their village was massacred by the S.S. looking for partisans and they want some payback.
Rock has to recover first so the kids kidnap a female doctor to treat him for concussion and bruised ribs. She's also quite an eyeful and in one scene, the older kids kind of forget the purpose of their mission.
It's a routine action adventure story that probably Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas would have been better suited for than Rock Hudson. Still Hudson turns in a decent performance, given what he has to work with.
The sad thing about Hornet's Nest is that with the revelation of Rock's homosexuality the film became something of a joke, what with Rock and a gang of teenage boys. Had any other actor done it, no one would have thought anything of it.
Or maybe Burt and Kirk had insights.
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- bkoganbing
- Jun 22, 2007
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Valour of War
- Filming locations
- Gazzola, Provincia di Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy(Castello di Rivalta)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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