Hitler, Dead or Alive isn't your typical wartime propaganda film, but it may be my new favorite. Rather than playing up all the brave warriors who would soon be on their way to stamp out National Socialism forever, this story features a trio of gangsters as the heroes -- and make no mistake, they are all heroes by the time this 70-minute film runs its course. It makes for an interesting statement -- here you have what would be considered the dregs of American society giving their all in the war effort and absolutely earning the right to be called great Americans. As for Hitler, well, our boys pretty much stomp a mud hole in his fierce persona as they secure for him the most gloriously ironic and fitting ending possible. The ending is just fantastic.

The year was 1942. The Japanese treachery at Pearl Harbor still burned viscerally, and America's war spirit against Germany was growing by the day -- although there were doubtless still some whose fervor for war in Europe was -- for personal, political or economic reasons -- nascent at best. You have to remember that even the horrors of the Final Solution were unknown at this time. There is no gray area in this black-and-white propaganda film, though -- Hitler (played by Bob Watson) is vividly portrayed as a cowardly bully hell-bent on world domination.

When his German brother is killed for speaking out against Hitler, scientist Samuel Thornton (Russell Hicks) makes the bold move of putting a $1 million bounty on the Fuehrer's head. Three gangsters -- Steve Maschick (Ward Bond), Hans "Dutch" Havermann (Warren Hymer) and Joe "The Book" Conway (Paul Fix) -- fresh out of Alcatraz think it's their lucky day and quickly take up the challenge, confident that they can take out Hitler the same way they've taken out other power-hungry thugs in the past. They head up to Canada, join the Air Force and become parachutists; that puts them just one hijacked pilot -- enter Johnny Stevens (Bruce Edwards) -- away from hitting the ground in Deutschland. Good old Steve is one smooth talker, turning the gangs' arrest into a free trip to the local German headquarters (which happens to be a pre-infamous Dachau) and convincing the man in charge that they are on a secret mission for the Fuehrer and have vital information that they can only deliver to Hitler personally. Of course, all of Steve's seemingly impromptu plans are helped along quite a bit by the fact that every Nazi in the film basically makes Col. Klink look like Erwin Rommel.

As events progress, Steve's attitude toward the job at hand changes. Initially, he and his boys are only in it for the money. Once they come in contact with an underground resistance movement, though, the evils of Hitler's regime (which are grossly exaggerated, to tell the truth) really get Steve's dander up. Even before Hitler shows up to make an impromptu speech about his plans for subjugating America and the world, Steve is determined to kill the dictator at any cost.

It bothers me that some modern-day folks take an elitist view of this film, mocking its hammer-over-the-head "shallow patriotism." Ridicule the story's ridiculous plot all you want, but the patriotic message of this film is as valid and inspiring now as it was back in 1942, and Ward Bond makes his final delivery of that message a most powerful one indeed. I might also point out that the film is actually more nuanced than you might expect. Not only does it concede the fact that Hitler's death might not be sufficient to end the war, it also goes out of its way to praise the many Germans actively working underground against their own fascist government. Personally, I think this really is one of America's best World War II propaganda films.