Paratroop Command

This article is about the 1959 film. For the general topic, see paratrooper. For military units, see List of paratrooper forces.

Paratroop Command is a 1959 American war film directed by William Witney, starring Richard Bakalyan, Ken Lynch and Jack Hogan. American International Pictures originally released the film as a double feature with Submarine Seahawk.

Paratroop Command
Film poster
Directed by	William Witney
Written by	Stanley Shpetner
Produced by	Samuel Z. Arkoff James H. Nicholson Stanley Shpetner
Starring	Richard Bakalyan Ken Lynch
Cinematography	Gilbert Warrenton
Edited by	Robert S. Eisen
Music by	Ronald Stein
Distributed by	Santa Rosa Productions American International Pictures
Release date	February 1959 (1959-02) (U.S.)
Running time	71 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

Charlie is a paratrooper that is mistaken for a coward by fellow soldier Ace because he lies still in an attempt to ambush a group of German soldiers. He then suffers the scorn of his unit because he accidentally kills his friend Cowboy, who was wearing a German uniform in an attempt to infiltrate enemy lines, and was apparently holding a gun on the rest of the squad. Ace, Cowboy's best friend, threatens him, and in subsequent action in Sicily, tries to kill him twice, but fails both times. In the subsequent landing in Salerno, Ace curses Charlie with his dying breath. Charlie is hanging from a tree in his parachute and carrying a vital generator, with both the Lieutenant and Sergeant wounded, and the rest of the squad dead, on the wrong side of a road that is mined. Following the Lieutenant's instructions, he clears the mines with hand grenades, but a dud grenade leaves him stranded and short of his destination. Sacrificing his life, he runs the final distance and explodes the remaining mine. The film is set in World War II in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):^[1]

Actor	Role
Richard Bakalyan	Charlie
Ken Lynch	Lieutenant
Jack Hogan	'Ace' Mason
Jimmy Murphy	Sergeant
Jeff Morris	Pigpen (as Jeffrey Morris)
James Beck	Cowboy (as Jim Beck)
Carolyn Hughes	Gina
Patricia Huston	Amy, a WAC
Paul Busch	German Captain
Sydney Lassick	Interpreter (as Sid Lassick)
Brad Trumbull (credits as Trumball)	C-47 Pilot

A full cast and production crew list is too lengthy to include, see: IMDb profile.^[1]

Reception

Quentin Tarantino, an admirer of Witney's work, considers this film to be among his four best.^[2] Tarantino called it "the best of American-International’s WW2 potboilers. But I think it’s even better than that. It contains a realism that sets it apart from most other WW2 movies done in that same era. So much so that it makes a lot of good and similar movies from that same time, Robert Aldrich’s Attack and Don Siegel’s Hell is for Heroes, look theatrical and stagey by comparison."^[3]