Set towards the end of World War II, The Cut-Throats is the tale of Captain Kohler, who, despite his name, is actually an American Captain. He is in command of a rag-tag team of misfits, wouldn't ya know. Apparently these dudes are known as "The Cut-Throats" because of their ruthless determination to finish their missions at all costs. Ostensibly, their objective this time is to capture some valuable documents and plans from the Nazis. But the Captain really wants to steal some jewels originally stolen by said Nazis. However, all the men seem to get highly distracted by all the beautiful German women. This causes further complications, but who will come out unscathed from all the sex and violence? And does it even really matter? Depending on your definition of "action", this would certainly qualify, but more in the "eee-rrr, eee-rrr" (squeaking bedsprings) sense of the word. The WWII setting, despite a couple of shootouts and a lackluster, if prerequisite, throat-cut, is really more of a backdrop for a softcore porn romp. It really could have been set in any historical time period as a pretext for nudity and sex scenes, but perhaps director John Hayes, who is pretty well-known in the exploitation world, especially after being thoroughly profiled in Stephen Thrower's excellent book Nightmare USA, wanted the most sordid and icky setting he could think of, because he was targeting the "raincoat" (i.e., perverted) crowd. But still, this is on the relatively tame end of the "Nazisploitation" subgenre. In the American sweepstakes, Love Camp 7 (1969),released the same year (what a proud year it was),has it beat.

We considered not reviewing this one, but we figured, if there was a movie released to video stores with the title "The Cut-Throats", we should at least tell people what it is. And that's what it is. The exploitation team of Hayes-Henning Schellerup-David Chase churned out a low-budget sex drama that will be familiar in style to anyone who watches Something Weird-released titles. It even features two performers legendary in that regard: Uschi Digard (perfectly cast as a Nazi secretary) and Sandy Carey. Perhaps the only people that should bother to track this movie down would be fans of those two actresses. Otherwise, there's not a ton to recommend going out of your way for, really. The production values are so low, it makes Hogan's Heroes look like Schindler's List (1994).

So even though the main guy's name is Kohler, it sounds like everyone's calling him "cola", and the end bit has the classic scene where the bad guy says the good guy's name a million times as they search for a final face-off. Director Hayes was no stranger to the WWII drama, having made Shell Shock (1964) a few years earlier. I've actually seen that, because it was released on the great Paragon label, and I endeavor to see anything they've released. From what I remember, that was not nearly as salacious as this. But The Cut-Throats does have an original song, "The Ballad of Jimmy Johnson", which, despite what you might think, isn't about those late-night Extenze commercials. Or maybe that is what you think. It might make sense after all.

Released, appropriately, on All-American Video, The Cut-Throats more than likely won't mean much to die-hard action fans, but fans of 60's sexploitation may find it worthwhile, even though it is somewhat disposable.

THE CUT-THROATS is nothing more than a softcore skin flick masquerading as a WW2 action movie. Obviously indebted to the likes of THE DIRTY DOZEN, this tells of a squad of soldiers battling against the Nazi command, although of course it's more about the women they meet en route. The story begins with a group of women being, shall we say, entertained by the German troops before the Americans show up and slaughter them all. Then it's the turn of the Americans to have some fun, but of course Nazi reinforcements are en route to break up the party.

I think it's fair to say that this film's sexploitation elements work far better than the action ones. Although the characters are dressed in uniform there's no real attempt to make the WW2 era come to life. The low rent action is just set in the countryside and in a single building. The Nazi and American characters are indistinguishable aside from their relative uniforms. The film is very low budget with the usual bad editing, worse acting, and action scenes which look very clumsily staged.

The sex scenes are better, if you're into that sort of thing. There are nude massages, striptease scenes, and general sexual interludes. The most arresting of these feature the memorable and inimitable Uschi Digard, playing a secretary who quickly divests herself of her clothing in order to have some fun with a Nazi officer and a bottle of red wine. It all gets very heated very quickly, so if that's your sort of thing, then this is the film for you.

An elite squad of American soldiers infiltrate a Nazi outpost during the last days of World War II. However, the squad's crooked and greedy captain plans to steal a cache of jewels hidden in the compound while the other soldiers get preoccupied by a bevy of beautiful German prostitutes that they find on the premises.

Writer/director John Hayes relates the entertainingly seamy story at a steady pace, stages the rousing action set pieces with flair, maintains a gritty sordid tone throughout, and delivers plenty of tasty gratuitous female nudity as well as a satisfying smattering of bloody'n'brutal violence. Better still, Hayes even provides a few neat kinky touches, such as a toe sucking scene in a sauna and an Irish/American soldier doing the deed with a loyal distaff Nazi supporter to one of Hitler's speeches that's blasting on a record player. The gals are pretty hot and often nude, with busty redhead Janice Douglas as the ruthless madam and fetching Barbara Lane as an adorable mime rating as the definite stand-outs. Michael Pataki has a small uncredited role as a scuzzy Nazi sniper who rapes Sandy Carey at the start of the movie. Moreover, the always awesome Uschi Digard lets a lucky fellow drink wine off of her exquisitely ample breasts and even from out of her butt. A solid slice of vintage late 60's grindhouse trash.