Dirty Dozen (1967)

"Classic WWII adventure...Not a dull moment in its two-and-a-half hours...  Find-A-Video
"Exciting, funny, and well acted...  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Violent action, spine-tingling suspense, earthy humor and thrilling excitement.  Los Angeles Herald Examiner
"...a standout in its genre.  VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever

Editor's Note An all-star cast energizes Robert Aldrich's classic World War II action drama about a group of 12 American military prisoners assembled by tacticians and ordered to perform a suicide mission: infiltrate a well-guarded château and kill the Nazi officials vacationing there. The incarcerated soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, jump at the chance to redeem themselves. Major Reisman (Lee Marvin), the noncriminal in charge of the group, whips the men into a crack unit, uses them to best the troops of his by-the-book superior officer, Colonel Breed (Robert Ryan), in war games, then leads the steely antiheroes on their perilous assault. The film is studded with standout performances, including Telly Savalas as a religious psychopath with a febrile animosity toward Germans and John Cassavetes in an Oscar-nominated portrayal as an insubordinate, poison-tongued hothead. Ernest Borgnine, Donald Sutherland, Charles Bronson, and football legend Jim Brown further round out the impressive collection of talent. Aldrich, who by the time of THE DIRTY DOZEN had been fathoming the darker side of life onscreen for more than a decade (KISS ME DEADLY, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?), scored a huge hit with this rousing thriller laced with a stinging cynicism perfectly in tune with the increasingly skeptical tenor of the times.

	Charles Bronson
	Donald Sutherland
	Ernest Borgnine
	John Cassavetes
	Lee Marvin
	Telly Savalas
	E.M. Nathanson - Based On Novel By
	Edward Scaife - Cinematographer
	Frank De Vol - Original Music By
	Kenneth Hyman - Producer
	Lukas Heller - Screenplay
	Michael Luciano - Editor
	Nunnally Johnson - Screenplay
	Raymond Anzarut - Producer
	Robert Aldrich - Director

Total Film
"...Brimming with excitement and humour, yet also staying resolutely honourable to its storytelling..." -- 4 out of 5 stars 07/01/2000 p.112

USA Today
"Any movie with Telly Savalas as a psychotic named A.J. Maggott is already halfway home....[A] red-meat classic..." 06/05/1998 p.6E

Uncut
"[I]t's a relentless work -- violent, funny and deeply cynical." 08/01/2004 p.136

Sight and Sound
"[P]owerful..." 09/01/2004 p.95

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Robert Aldrich's gleefully nasty, willfully daft action adventure is ageing well." 07/01/2006 p.121

Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "A new twist -- in its time -- on the war movie....It's a good cast..." 07/01/2006 p.117

Reel.com 9 of 10
Hard-case actor Lee Marvin leads a rag-tag group of terminal criminals on a suicide mission behind German lines in Robert Aldrich's caustic World War II caper film The Dirty Dozen, recently re-released on DVD. Aldrich directed what must be the coldest of films noir, Kiss Me Deadly, and he applies that touch here. Having Ralph Meeker (Deadly's pitiless Mike Hammer) acting as the voice of discretion in his role as Captain Kinder only underscores how far the level of brutality sinks. Of course, it's 1967, so the violence isn't necessarily graphic, just proliferate. - Bill Schwartz

ReelViews 8 of 10
Those who are sticklers for detail will find plenty to nit-pick about The Dirty Dozen. Its view of the military and of military procedures is slipshod, its handling of the wargames sequence is at times absurd, and its setup of the climax (where are all the guards?) is contrived. Nevertheless, it's a testimonial to Aldrich's skill as a director that these problems don't interfere with the viewer's overall enjoyment of the film. The Dirty Dozen flows nicely, keeping things moving and drawing the audience along in its rapid current. The movie may not be a masterpiece but recent history has shown it to be an important motion picture, and the passage of 33 years has not dated it, nor has it diminished The Dirty Dozen's enjoyability. - James Berardinelli