In this made for TV movie we get a mainly black cast with a few token white guys. The guy playing the white Major sent to take the unit to the dam, I've never seen before or heard of before. It's the black cast I knew. Billy Dee Williams (pre-Empire Strikes Back), Moses Gunn and Richard Pryor trying to play a straight version of himself.
Basically this is a bigoted officer sent to command a brigade of black soldiers on a dangerous mission. So dangerous in fact 3 of them get killed before they ever get to the dam itself. The deaf guy was always going to die first, the big guy (who, it turns out used to be a pro footballer) is killed by a sniper and Billy Dee Williams gets blown up after stepping on a land mine.
The same land mine injures Moses Gunn and Pryor looks like he deserts so only the black officer, 1 of his men and the white officer actually end up trying to attack the dam. Pryor uses a cart full of hay to get onto the dam and leads the attack only to be injured. The other black soldier is shot and killed during the skirmish with the Germans. Pryor throws the detonator for the explosives over the side of the dam.
This is a film about 1 man who comes to change his point of view about black people, it's a good exploration of the themes of racism and bigotry. The film itself isn't very long and might have benefited from being at least 20 minutes longer and them having taken the entire brigade only for 2 men to survive.
Still worth a look though to see Richard Pryor playing a more serious role for a change.
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