Why did the director have such a big chip on his shoulder re: women?
The film features 5 younger women, and 2 or 3 older women.
The older women are kind-hearted motherly types, but the younger women are presented in very questionable fashion.
Romy Schneider: plays the part of an attractive violinist who turns George Hamilton's head, but then turns out to be a complete b*tch.
Melina Mercouri: plays the part of a wealthy operative in the black-market, who first offers George Peppard a position by her side, but when he decides to do the honourable thing and stay with his unit, she responds by repeatedly saying she hopes he gets killed and she hopes he dies.
Senta Berger: plays the part of Elke Sommer's sister, the daughter of German parents who got raped and had her family thrown out of their house by Russians. Senta doesn't seem to care and boasts openly of how she is dating a Russian captain, much to her parent's disgust.
Elke Sommer: presented in a bit of a better light, but her nightly habits are made questionable since there is the possibility that she is seeing Russian soldiers behind George Hamilton's back.
So the question that arises from all this is: what is up with the director and his attitude toward younger, attractive women? Blondes, to be precise.
Did his blonde girlfriend dump him just before filming commenced? He obviously has a good relationship with his mother, but the image of women as presented by the younger characters suffers terribly.