Writer & director Dominic Burns and co-scenarist Jeremy Sheldon must have watched director Brian G. Hutton's "Where Eagles Dare" (1968) when they scripted their secret mission World War II movie "Allies." Although the Burns & Sheldon screenplay, with "Riot" scribe James Crow receiving story credit, bears a great deal of resemblance to the Alistair MacLean penned "Where Eagles Dare, "Allies" isn't a comparable tour-de-force thriller. Nevertheless, this low-budget wartime actioneer delivers the goods in spades when a lone American officer commanding of group of seasoned British commandos plunge behind enemy lines on the eve of the Battle of the Bulge to create havoc. Like "Where Eagles Dare," a saboteur lurks in the wings while our guys set out to relieve a German officer of his map pouch so they can find out where the big guns are station. Happily, the British aren't too taken with an American leading them, but Brigadier General Groves (Steve Hartley of "Split Second") points out to the reluctant English that Americans concocted the plan. Unfortunately, the U.S. Rangers are otherwise preoccupied with other critical concerns, so the best resource turns out to be the British. Initially, the British encounter difficulties getting along with their leader, Captain Gabriel Jackson (Julian Ovenden of "The Forsyte Saga"), but they manage to resolve their differences. They find themselves up to their ears in Germans, and sometimes the Germans get the upper hand. Burns paints his heroes into a corner and springs several surprises, particularly with regard to the saboteur. The chief debit of "Allies" is that the objective that they seek is just maps, but the enemy does pose a genuine threat. The two guys who have little use for each other, Jackson and Sergeant Harry McBain (Chris Reilly of "Game of Thrones"), resolve their differences under gunfire. Burns stages several decent action scenes, and the cast is sturdy enough. "Allies" ranks as an above-average World War II actioneer in a budget.
