This film is a 1959 WWII drama that focuses on members of a German bomb squad. The fatalistic soldiers pool part of their paychecks into a fund that the last surviving member of the squad will get to keep. One by one, the men meet their deaths until only two remain: Karl Wirtz (Jeff Chandler) and Eric Koertner (Jack Palance). The two men vie for the affections of Margot Hofer (Martine Carol), which adds to the growing tension between them. In the film's climax, Wirtz and Koertner are summoned to dismantle a huge bomb, which adds tension to an already stressful situation between the two of them. Director Robert Aldrich pays meticulous attention to the details of bomb deactivation.