Review of The Dirty Dozen (1967) by Kyle M — 25 Dec 2015

This is my favorite men-on-a-mission film of all time, which is saying something considering some of the classics in this sub-genre of war film (i.e.. "Where Eagles Dare," "The Great Escape," "Inglourious Basterds," etc.

). Lee Marvin is a WWII major charged with offering a dozen military prisoners who are either sentenced to death or life in prison with a chance at a pardon if they volunteer to go on a suicide mission behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany.

The overall story is a pretty familiar and well trod one, whipping a group of raw recruits into shape for a deadly mission. However, the film stands out as unique in a number of ways. One, Lee Marvin in the lead as Maj.

Reisman is a major factor in this film being a favorite of mine. Even though Marvin derided the film as "crap" and "just a dummy moneymaker," he gives one of his best tough guy performances.

This may be a matter of personal taste that Marvin is one of my favorite actors, but it's certainly a big part in my loving this film. And regarding Marvin's sentiments towards this film, I'll back Marvin's comments insomuch that this film is not at all a realistic depiction of war (see Marvin in Samuel Fuller's "The Big Red One" instead for that).

And as an aside, Marvin actually wrote quite eloquently about his wartime service in the Pacific theater of WWII and himself is interred t Arlington National Cemetery. Another major factor is the director Robert Aldrich brings a level of toughness rarely seen in Hollywood pictures to this picture.

The violence here stands out even more so compared to say "Bonnie & Clyde" or "The Wild Bunch," which were very much breaking with tradition, whereas the script for "The Dirty Dozen" is really a pretty old style of story right out of "Sands of Iwo Jima" with a tough-as-nails officer whipping a rag tag group of recruits into shape for a deadly mission.

It's a pretty durable formal that's been resurected again and again, though Aldrich and screenwriters Nunnally Johnson and Lukas Heller (from a novel by E.M. Nathanson) up the ante on that old story by making the receipts murders, rapists and criminals, by making the tough officer just as antiestablishment as his sociopathic team, and by being willing up the brutality rarely seen in previous war films (i.

E. killing civilians). It's also important here to mention the cast, who besides Marvin includes Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland, Ernest Borgnine, George Kennedy, Robert Ryan, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, Richard Jaeckel, Clint Walker, and Jim Brown.

And director Aldrich fills the film with terrific details, like the (SPOILER ALERT) siren in the tension filled finale that adds level of street with it's content blaring an then finally it get's shot out and stopped, but then the silence and lack of the sirens is even more scary.

Aldrich, though has always been smart about his use of sound designed, which is on display in just about every scene in "Kiss Me Deadly." I'm not going to argue that this film is high art, but this is certainly among one of the most entertaining action films of all-time.