If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

"M-G-M Presents a Thrill-Packed Action Story of World War 2" is the main heading in M-G-M's campaign book for this "B" feature of virtually no distinction whatever. True, the direction is slightly more stylish than William Witney's usual humble standard, and gorgeous Carolyn Hughes is in the movie, but her footage is brief. The other players are no more than adequate -- and often less! Characters are one-dimensional, and the plot is really nothing more than a wearying series of skirmishes and shoot-outs, interspersed with some equally tedious dialogue of the "Let me tell you the story of my life" school. Credits are no more than routine, production values are tight, but there is a generous amount of obvious stock footage.

In the short running time of 71 minutes Paratroop Command follows a small group of soldiers participating in landing in North Africa, Sicily, and Salerno which in actual time was about a year and a half. One of them, Richard Bakalyn accidentally kills one of his comrades in friendly fire and can't quite win the trust of the other men, including his lieutenant Ken Lynch.Not that the incident was his fault, it wasn't. In fact it was a rather stupid way for the other guy to get killed if you watch the movie. Still Bakalyn just can't get the others to trust him.Directing Paratroop Command is William Witney who was one of Herbert J. Yates's best B western directors. He directed films with all of Republic's western stars. His grind them out style honed with years working for Yates shows in Paratroop Command.Nothing terribly special here, just some veteran movie makers doing their thing.

It's good to see veteran character actor Richard Bakalyan in pretty much anything, and he gets to show his stuff in this low-budget WW II "epic" from American-International and action specialist William Witney. Ken Lynch, a familiar face who specialized in playing tough cops and soldiers, is also quite good as an officer who leads his squad of paratroopers in a jump behind enemy lines. Unfortunately, the film itself isn't up to the talents of Bakalyan, Lynch or Witney. The supporting performances range from sub-par to embarrassing--not particularly surprising considering the hack script by producer Stan Shpetner--and the action scenes are poorly handled by the usually reliable Witney. The film is worth a look if you're a Dick Bakalyan fan, but otherwise there's not much else to recommend it.

Charlie (Bakalyan) joins the paratroops because he has failed at everything else in his life. When he accidently kills another GI, things really take a turn down. The cast of relative unknowns does a fine job, and Bakalyan shows flashes of brilliant acting ability that thus far have gone undiscovered. This one is low-buck all the way, puts stock war footage to good use, but well worth catching on the late show.