It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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.

At surface level it would be easy to dismiss 'Night Of The Generals' because from a purely cinematic perspective it has a lot of flaws:* Some rather stilted direction from Anatole Litvak * Flashbacks awkwardly and randomly inserted * Distraction of German characters speaking with a variety of non-German accents (including Gordon Jackson in his traditional Scottish accent!) * Unnecessary scenes (such as Christopher Plummer's cameo as Rommel) that could've easily been excisedBut on a broader level, NOTG is quite a fascinating film. Its observations on the importance of pursuing criminal acts even in wartime, how even those who commit heinous acts in wartime will be forgiven if they live long enough and the impact on individuals and general society WW2 even a generation onwards are quite profound.In a funny way, if NOTG had been a slicker, smoother film it might have been less effective. It's so ambitious in the territory it covers and how it covers it that you genuinely don't know where the film will go next. As a result, the scene where Colonel Grau is murdered comes out of the blue and is genuinely shocking like few deaths I can recall seeing in a film.To be sure, 'Night Of The Generals' is a far from perfect film. But in terms of a commentary on WW2 and its ramifications, its one of the best I've seen.

This film is one of the best thrillers that have been made. It is so sad that there are not many put together like this. I watched this film for the first time and was very impressed with the acting and direction in it. Some of the best actors of our time were in it and gave the audience a feel of true experts. I love Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole, and Tom Courtenay. This film should go in the list of best war thrillers. Not only did it end with a surprise, it was delivered in a profound way; one that the audience could not have expected. Kudos to the director, Anatole Litvak, I am looking forward to seeing many more of his films. I give this film a 9 and not a 10 because I wanted more of it.

Blofelds, Donald Pleasance and Charles Gray, feature as two of a trio of Nazi generals suspected by Wehrmacht major Omar Sharif of the murder of a prostitute in occupied Warsaw. The third suspect, and clearly the most batshyt homicidal, is genocidal Peter O'Toole as a twitchy obsessive compulsive madman. Guess who did it?Yup, genocidal Pete's the boy. Jack the Rippering his way through Europe on his days off from shelling, flame-throwering and shooting hoardes of moderately resistive locals.Sounds exciting, but it isn't. Moves at a snail's pace, is very long and suffers from a leaden script. Pleasance, Gray, Sharif and others acquit themselves well, but O'Toole overacts so virulently that it gives one pause to wonder if he was not really taking it seriously and was just in it for beer money.I had seen bits of it over the years, but never the entire movie. Picked the DVD up for pennies and thought I'd sit through the whole thing.It's a big budget affair, visually glowing and opulent with superb cinematography by Henri (LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES) Decaë. It generates a great sense of time and place, but simply fails to excite or thrill and gets sidetracked with other plot threads, meandering carelessly from one thing to the next. If it had been leaner and more focused it would have been a real winner.

On "Night of the Generals" the actor Christopher Plummer portraying Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, went to his coat pocket, took out a gold cigarette case, took out a cigarette, put it in his lips and lit it. REALITY: The real Field Marshal Erwin Rommel DIDN'T SMOKE. He neither drank nor smoked. It was noted by people knew him, men who served under him. How could the producers of this movie missed it? Other movies "Patton", "The Longest Day" and "The Desert Fox, Rommel" noted it. It was noted when he was in the military academy, during WWI. Didn't the producers who made the movie, did any research on the life of Rommel and how could they missed this. This could have been a good movie but that one fault upset it.