Review of The Dirty Dozen (1967) by Rebecca H — 10 Apr 2009

Bam! We jump straight in with a horrific opening. This is probably setting us up for the end, but doesn't really follow the tone of most of the film.

Major Reisman (Lee Marvin) has to train twelve convicts (in for life or up for execution) to go on a behind-the-lines mission in WWII. Not surprisingly, there are too many characters. I had no idea what anyone was called, and only recognised three of the convicts on sight. This made the ending very difficult to follow. It's also difficult to hear what anyone is saying, as they slur their way through the script. The two characters that stood out most for me were Maggot (Telly Savalas) because he's a freaking loon and they're insane to take him along, and Franko (John Cassavetes) because he loudly claims he doesn't want to die, but then keeps making trouble, which is going to get him shipped back to prison and executed.

It's a long film, but nearly all of it is the training section, and this is generally upbeat in that war film tradition. It can be quite confusing at times, with how secret this is supposed to be, and that whole antagonism with Colonel Breed (Robert Ryan).

Then the actual mission is sprung on us. I want it to go to plan (knowing full well it won't) but I don't know what the plan is, so how am I supposed to know if it is going well or not? The building appears to be riddled with snipers, as a convict is shot, they shoot the sniper, who falls out of their window, a few minutes goes by, and another sniper decides to wake up and shoot a convict. It gets ridiculous. Way too many main characters die to make the length of the film and multitude of characters really worth the attention you have been trying to give, and this downbeat affair is still treated with a comical ending, as was the training, making the whole tone of The Dirty Dozen baffling.