AllMovie

A 13-year-old French orphan named Gilbert (Serge Prieur) wants more than anything to join the US Army. Though he is told to get lost, Gilbert insists upon tagging along with the squad led by Sgt. Saunders (Vic Morrow)--straight to the battlefield. Director Robert Altman tells much of the story from the boy's point of view, a difficult task to pull off in a series of this nature. Future Mary Tyler Moore Show regular Ted Knight is seen as an outwardly amiable German soldier who forces the well-meaning but naïve Gilbert to question his true loyalties.