I'm another one who got in the bargain bin at wal-mart in an 8 "Classic War Movie" package for $5.50.
It was enjoyable, especially the battle sequences. FOr me it was entertaining to see how everything seems to go wrong for the Americans. There are some technical problems here and there with weaponry and the producers/scriptwriters' love of submachine guns.
It surprised me how halfway through the movie I realized that the Italians and Germans were the ones portrayed sympathetically and the Americans weren't.
The Germans are very well portrayed with accurate Afrika Korps uniforms (down to such details as pink piping and skull collar insignia for tankers) as are the Italians. Conversely the American details are off, from the postwar M3A1 submachine guns to the late war "Ike" jackets.
The use of US tanks is always excusable for me because where were you going to get real German WW2 tanks in 1970? The M24 Chaffees do have Jerry cans and spare track added to give them a Pzkpfw III look and the M47 Patton II's are similarly modified. Though the AMX-10VCI APC with Afrika Korps palms is laughable. Look closely you'll also see that they are very realistically portrayed with scuffed and worn schemes like real Afrika Korps tanks and not the freshly-re-painted-for-the-movie look like the tanks in Patton.
I gotta say it was enjoyable. It ain't a classic but it ain't bad and the little uniform details and sympathetic portrayal of the Germans/Italians made it worth while for me.
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