The Deserter (1970 film)

  • The Deserter
  • The Devil's Backbone (USA)
  • Ride to Glory (USA, video title)
Theatrical poster
Directed byBurt Kennedy
Written byClair Huffaker
Stuart J. Byrne (story)
William H. James (story)
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAldo Tonti
Edited byFrank Santillo
Music byPiero Piccioni
Production
company
Distributed byParamount
Release date
  • December 4, 1970 (1970-12-04)
Running time
100 minutes
Countries
  • Italy
  • United States
  • Yugoslavia
LanguageEnglish

The Deserter (Italian: La Spina Dorsale Del Diavolo), also known as The S.O.B.s and The Devil's Backbone is a 1970 Italian-Yugoslav American international co-production Western film produced by Dino De Laurentiis. It was directed by Burt Kennedy and written by Clair Huffaker.

Scripted during the Vietnam War in the style of The Dirty Dozen (1967) with a party of professional or misfit soldiers going into an enemy sanctuary, it was designed as a vehicle for Yugoslavian theater and film matinee idol Bekim Fehmiu. The film featured an ensemble cast of well-known American actors.[1] Noted as the boy in Shane (1953), actor Brandon deWilde appears in his last Western film before his death in 1972.[2][3]