The Seven Red Berets Explained

Sette baschi rossi
Director:Mario Siciliano
Starring:Ivan Rassimov
Sieghardt Rupp
Kirk Morris
Serge Nubret
Robert Cummings Jr.
Priscilla Drake
Producer:Mario Siciliano
Cinematography:Gino Santini
Music:Gianni Marchetti
Runtime:90 m
Country:Italy
West Germany

Sette baschi rossi also known as The Red Berets, Seven Red Berets and Congo Hell[1] is a 1969 Italian/West German co-production, filmed in Ethiopia, about a fictional group of mercenaries.[2] The film was produced and directed by screenwriter Mario Siciliano in his debut as a director. It was based on the novel Rebellion by Piero Regnoli, under his pen name Dean Craig.

Plot

Set during the Simba rebellion, during the Congo Crisis, the film begins with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr., the spearing executions of a group of captured mercenaries, and the pack rape of a French female journalist.

At Mercenary Central an angry Colonel Kimber rebukes the only survivor of the incident, German Captain De Brand. De Brand has left important documents in the Simba village that contains information on the activities and employers of the mercenaries. The documents must be retrieved within four days. De Brand says he can recover the papers and rescue the captured journalist with a small patrol. The Colonel agrees, but informs De Brand that his record of performance clearly shows he is incapable of leadership, and appoints African-American Captain Lauderwood to lead the patrol.

Kimber adds three men to the patrol: a German Field Commander, a black African named Martinez and an Irishman named O'Fearn. As the patrol is unfamiliar with a swamp and desert they have to cross, Lauderwood recruits Carrès, a French gunrunner, for the fee of $15,000. Carrès is familiar with the area as he has sold weapons to the Simbas. Carrès became a weapons salesman after witnessing the torture of his wife who was burned and beaten to death in front of him. He became further alienated when the French government did not want to antagonise the local situation by seeking their prosecution. Lauderwood also takes along Wooder, a female mercenary doctor.

Cast

Note: the pairings of actor-to-role at IMDB and BFI are not in complete agreement

Production trivia

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sette Baschi Rossi . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090207034448/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/343742 . 2009-02-07 . 2011-03-20.
  2. Web site: A Tribute to Ivan Rassimov . the story of a group of mercenaries which was shot in Massaua and Argordat in Ethiopia . www.rassimov.netfirms.com . 2011-03-20 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081227232632/http://www.rassimov.netfirms.com/IvanRassimov/IvanIV.htm . 2008-12-27.