Castle Keep

Castle Keep is a firmly pro and antiwar 1969 American war film combining surrealism with tragic realism. It was directed by Sydney Pollack and starred Burt Lancaster, Patrick ONeal, JeanPierre Aumont, Bruce Dern, and Peter Falk. The movie appeared in the summer of 1969, a few months before the arrival of Pollacks smash hit They Shoot Horses, Dont They?.

The film opens with long, beautiful shots of ancient European art and sculptures being blown to pieces amidst the sounds of war and dissonant screams a lone narrator begins his tale of eight American soldiers as the scene abruptly flashes back to a few weeks beforehand. Prior to the Battle of the Bulge, a ragtag squad of American soldiers strongly implied to be some sort of convalescent or disciplinary outfit, led by oneeyed Major Falconer Burt Lancaster and including Sgt. Rossi Peter Falk, art expert Captain Beckman Patrick ONeal, and the highly intelligent narrator and sole African American, Pvt. Allistair Benjamin Al Freeman, Jr., takes shelter in an ancient Belgian castle, the Maldorais, containing many priceless and irreplaceable art treasures. Although Falconer begins an affair with the young and beautiful Countess, he is surprised to find the Count JeanPierre Aumont encouraging him in fact, the impotent nobleman hopes the Major will impregnate the Countess so that his line may continue. Meanwhile, Beckman begins to butt heads with Falconer over both the value of the art in the context of either saving or destroying it in the event of a German assault as well as Beckmans own unrequited attraction to the Countess, who seems to symbolize the beauty and majesty of the European art he studied before the war. The enlisted men seek their own pleasures in the brothel of the nearby town, the psychedelic Red Queen run by a mystical madam, whilst Beckman marvels at the castles artworks, many of which are stored beneath the castle for safekeeping. Sgt. Rossi, a baker before the war, falls in love with a bakers widow and decides to go AWOL, resuming his prewar life another soldier falls in love with a Volkswagen Beetle his affection for the foreign vehicle borders on paraphilia and becomes a long running and anachronistic gag throughout the entire movie.The film from this point on begins to reach a surreal climax, as the soldiers days of leisure and peace threaten to und

Source: Wikipedia