The Dirty Dozen

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Robert Aldrich
Starring:	Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas
Release date:	08 February, 2005
List price:	~~$12.97~~
Our price:	$10.82 that is 17% off!

The Dirty Dozen

Average rating: Stars

A classic of war movies.

Once agin I enjoyed this classic movie of the II World War, I received it very soon after my purchase. An excellent film and an excellent service of Amazon

The Dirty Dozen - Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and more

Whipped Into Shape

The DIRTY DOZEN is one of those magical films which gave birth to the idea of "high concept," the prototypical Hollywood film whose plot can be conveyed in one sentence of phrase. Robert Aldrich made a lot of these, he must have been a genius at pitching ideas to the marketing departments at studios, because he got a lot of movies greenlighted. He's often thought of as an action director pure and simple, and THE DIRTY DOZEN is so not about women it's almost funny, but he did indeed work wonderfully with women and some of his best features had excellent female parts (AUTUMN LEAVES, SISTER GEORGE, BABY JANE, LYLAN CLARE and the bizarrely neglected LAST SUNSET). But he's just as good at pitted men against each other, and the gloves are off as never before in 1967's THE DIRTY DOZEN.

Lee Marvin is excellent in one of his signature roles, that of Major Reisman, the only man in the army who could have whipped this desperate battalion into shape. His confrontations with John Cassavetes rebel character fascinated the contemporary audience, who read into them all kinds of issues about 60s counterculture vs. the accepted values of society. Aldrich makes us care about who wins the debate, and who loses it; it's not just a piece of empty action entertainment, THE DIRTY DOZEN is a meditation on society and the greater good versus the price of an individual soul. What a cast, the kind that discerning filmgoers laughed at (Trini Lopez! Telly Savalas! Jim Brown!) because it seemed to try to sweep in many different niche audiences. But today this spread looks much more attractive.

The ambition of Marvin is undeniable, and we see him doing his damnedest to make this mission succeed. In some ways this film is akin to another 1967 hit, TO SIR WITH LOVE which also featured a teacher intent on shaping up a gang of rebellious at risk youth. It would have been a great Celebrity Death Match-Lee Marvin versus Sidney Poitier. I had a boyfriend who used to say that, in film history, this movie fits in quite nicely between its spiritual godfather, THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, and its kid brother equivalent, THE BAD NEWS BEARS.

Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and more - The Dirty Dozen

a marvin classic one for the true believers.

As notable for being some of Marvins best work as it was for the above average casting. Casavetes and Borgnine give stellar performances ably backed up by Sutherland in an early landmark role which set him up for the great career that followed. It tells the story of a hard nosed gung ho Major Reisman with a record of disdain for backroom generals and a reputation for uncompromising action. He is instructed to train 12 convicted soldiers in the art of special warfare with the mission designed to wipe out a clutch of German high ranking officers housed in a French chateau. Some of the best parts of the plot centre around the training aspects of the participants building to perhaps the most amusing scenes of the movie which take place at the parachute school commanded by one Col Everitt Dasher Breed. It is safe to say that Reisman and Breed are from opposite sides of the track and the ongoing animosity between the two provide some of the more memorable moments of the film.Sutherland gives one of the best performances of the movie in his comical imitation of a General cameo when the group first arrives at the parachute school. The remainder of the film plays out to a logical ending at the chateau where the mission is successfully accomplished and the chateau destroyed. Only three of the soldiers get to make the trip home. Althought the mission never took place in reality it well could have such was the realism portrayed. A classic for Marvin fans and a better than average war movie of that era to boot.