The Movie:

44 Years before Lone Survivor and 14 years before Red Dawn (The good one), we got Hornets' Nest, a solid World War II actioner about the sole survivor of an American mission, helping a bunch of inexperienced Italian kids mow down hordes of Nazis. Having been released in 1970, it's stuck in between two styles of war film. First, we get an approach that harkens back to the simpler 1950s movie version of warfare, full of chest-pumping heroism and a purely black-and-white look at good and evil.

But regardless of The Hornets' Nest's obvious intentions of putting together a simple yet rousing war picture, complete with Rock Hudson and his badass ‘stache in full macho mode, it probably couldn't help but be inspired by the then-recent presence of harder-edged, grittier, and more objective-minded material coming out of Hollywood during the late 60s. It uses blood-filled graphic violence that was recently being allowed, in order to emphasize on the brutal violent consequences of war, as well as a slightly more morally ambiguous look at how war can make monsters out of everyone, even children. Yet make no mistake, this is a classic war film that doesn't shy away from even the most basic storytelling tricks in order to manipulate the audience into taking pleasure from watching thousands of Nazis die in pools of blood.

Hell, the film begins with an SS army executing the families of the Italian kids at the center of the story, while the kids themselves watch in horror. You can't find a simpler way to manipulate the audience into backing the kids' blood thirst for revenge against the Nazis. The kids, led by the hotheaded Aldo (Mark Colleano), find the only survivor of an American mission, Captain Turner (Rock Hudson), and nurse him back to help in order to have him help the kids defeat the Nazis who killed their families.

But Turner has a different plan, he wants to finish his mission and blow up a dam that would not only kill a lot more Nazis than the ones at Aldo's village, but would do considerable damage to the Germans' mission in the area. Hence, a conflict forms between Turner and Aldo, who have to figure out a way to stick together in order to get both of their goals accomplished, which might not even be a possibility.

Hornets' Nest does a good job at examining the way children and men approach war differently. For Aldo, the whole mission is about revenge, they have to kill the specific soldiers who killed the kids' families. On the other hand, Turner looks at the big picture and understands that blowing up the dam will stop the Nazis from destroying many other villages. Interestingly, as we get closer to the action-filled climax, the film's anti-violence themes are handled more clearly. As Aldo's thirst for revenge results in a tragic decision, the film shows us that blind passion for unchecked violence is destructive for all parties involved.

The Blu-ray:

Video:

I was surprised at how crisp and colorful this 1080p transfer was, since this release comes from a smaller studio. I was expecting a presentation that was full of scratches and dirt, as well as some faded colors. But I guess Kino got their hands on a pristine negative, because this is a nearly perfect-looking transfer where the film's bright color cinematography pops. I feel that the subject matter required a more muted and contrast-filled DP work, but that's beside the point.

Audio:

We get a DTS-HD 2.0 track, and I'm pretty sure this is a mono mix coming out of the front speakers. There isn't any information on the packaging, the disc, or the menus to clarify whether the mix is mono or stereo. That being said, I didn't notice any panning between the two channels during the entire film. The gunfire and explosion-filled sfx are decent for their time, and maestro Ennio Morricone's soulful score really shines whenever it pops up.

Extras:

We get Trailers for Hornets' Nest and John Frankenheimer's great The Train.

Final Thoughts:

There's a lot of potential in Hornets' Nest's story for a levelheaded and somber examination about the effects of violence and warfare on children. Unfortunately, what we mostly get is a run of the mill WWII actioner that was already kind of dated back in 1970, with occasional narrative touches that deal with those themes in a tender way.

Oktay Ege Kozak is a film critic and screenwriter based in Portland, Oregon. He also writes for The Playlist, The Oregon Herald, and Beyazperde.com