French army colonel Pierre Raspeguy (Anthony Quinn) is defeated by the Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu. After the armistice is signed, he and his troops are sent back to their homes far away. One of the troops is an Arab named Mahidi (George Segal!), and when he gets back home to Algeria, he joins the revolution against the French colonial powers, eventually becoming a notorious leader of the uprising. Raspeguy is sent to quash the rebellion. Also featuring Alain Delon as a conscience-stricken soldier, Claudia Cardinale as Mahidi's sister, Michele Morgan, Maurice Ronet, Gregoire Aslan, Jean Servais, Jacques Marin, and Burt Kwouk.

If the casting of Segal and Cardinale as Algerian Arabs didn't clue you in, this is a very Hollywood look at this historical conflict. Some of this works as an action flick, some of it as a melodrama, but as a whole it's lacking, with a facile presentation of the complicated real-world bloodshed.