03 Sep Brass Target
(1978) Brass Target takes place right after the end of World War II and explores the events surrounding the death of General George S. Patton. The movie is based on a 1974 novel by British author Frederick Nolan, The Algonquin Project.
In the movie and in the book, General Patton orders that gold reserves held by Germany’s former Reichsbank be transported by train to Frankfurt. Enroute, the train is robbed and all the U.S. guards are gassed. Those responsible for the murders and hijacking were a bunch of American officers who, once they discover that Patton is determined to get to the bottom of it, find a professional contract killer to do away with him.
What particularly interested me is the involvement of the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, in the investigation of the crime.
According to Robert Wilcox in his book, Target: Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton, Nolan was one of the first to suggest that Patton had been assassinated.
Surprisingly enough top billing was given to Sophia Loren who plays a woman who seems to have at one time or another slept with several of the major characters. George Kennedy is Patton, and John Cassavetes is the OSS officer who finally figures out what is happening. The Swiss assassin was played by Swedish actor Max Von Sydow.
I am looking forward to the soon-to-be-published book by Bill O’Reilly, Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II’s Most Audacious General. On O’RReilly’s website he relates that in the seventy years since Patton’s death there has been suspicion that it was not an accident. He will name names of the “powerful individuals who wanted him silenced.”
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