The Dirty Dozen

Starring: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Trini Lopez, Ralph Mecker, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Clint Walker, Robert Webber, Tom Busby, Ben Carruthers, Stuart Cooper
Directed by: Robert Aldrich
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Action, Adventure, War
1967

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A U.S. Army Major (Lee Marvin) reluctantly accepts an assignment to turn twelve dangerous army convicts into an elite unit for a deadly mission.

Review:

Tim: I thoroughly enjoyed The Dirty Dozen. While it might not be quite as epic as the truly classic war movies, it offers a unique story, some memorable characters, and a fun viewing experience. I had a good time with this different movie and it's a film I would highly recommend.

The story does require a large suspension of disbelief. The film is adapted from a novel that loosely used a real life regiment, but much embellishment had taken place. The idea that the U.S. Army would grab twelve convicts, many of whom were brutal murderers, and train them to become an elite fighting unit is absurd. These men are in prison because of their complete disregard for authority, for following the rules of society. One major, no matter how intelligent or cunning, wouldn't be able to do what is depicted here. We have to acknowledge this absurdity. It does hurt the movie a bit. That being said, it makes for a great story. It's truly entertaining to see this group of rule-breakers slowly get molded together into a team. That takes up the first half of the film and it's so interesting. We see so many different approaches to leading these men- there's times when the Major and his team treat them horribly, there's times they treat them with kindness and respect. It's fascinating to watch this group slowly coalesce from a band of murderers and criminals into soldiers. That's what makes the movie so good.

The cast is a big reason this film succeeds. You have to start with Lee Marvin. I've seen him in 5 other films, but I don't know if he's ever been better than here. He's an actor with impressive range. Here, here was masterful. At the beginning of the film, he's a troublemaker, a man not willing to blindly follow orders. This obviously gets him in hot water with the Army, which leads him to be given the assignment to work with these twelve prisoners. Once he takes that role, he has to make a shift. He's no longer the rule-breaker. Compared with these convicts, he's the company man. It's fascinating to see this switch, from the one pushing against the rules to trying to find ways to get even more anarchist individuals to toe the line. He's excellent in this film.

John Cassavetes is quite memorable as Victor Franko. He's perhaps the worst of the bunch, but his humanity hasn't completely disappeared. He's an intriguing character and Cassavetes delivers a superb performance. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the only acting nomination from the film. Charles Bronson was good, mostly because he wasn't called upon to do much. He's a bad actor, but he works well in this role. It was fun seeing Jim Brown and Donald Sutherland in supporting roles- they were both good. I loved Ernest Borgnine's supporting role, and George Kennedy was effective, too. Clint Walker has a few tremendous scenes and was great fun to watch here.

I do have to touch on one flaw in this film. The cast is so large that it was difficult to keep track of everyone. I felt like I was able to connect with 5 of the 12 soldiers pretty well. They were distinct and I got to know them. Telly Savalas is able to differentiate himself as well, although in a different manner. So half of the twelve are memorable. I started losing track of who the others were. This is more apparent in the big battle scene. MINOR SPOILER- when the group lands, one of the twelve are accidentally killed. It's a sad moment for the group and foreshadows things to come, but I couldn't remember who it was. They said his name, but I couldn't identify his face from memory. That diminished what should have been a great scene. There's simply too many characters to keep track of, at least the first time through the film.

While I loved the beginning of the film and the training scenes, I had a few issues with the middle. There's a fairly fun training exercise where a red team and blue team battle each other. This is a critical juncture of the film, because the Dirty Dozen have to prove their meddle. It's a wonderfully entertaining scene, but again, it defies credulity quite a bit. I was so torn, because I had a lot of fun with it, but it also felt hard to swallow. The movie does pull together for the big climax. There were a few weaker moments there- it took an awfully long time for the operation to wrap up, and then once it does, the remainder of the movie flies by. The pacing felt a little off. The operation scenes should have been cut slightly so we could spend a few more minutes wrapping up the story.

While I had some complaints with this film, that doesn't mean The Dirty Dozen isn't a terrifically entertaining, memorable movie. It's a great deal of fun and tells a very different war story. There's been so many World War II movies and while I wouldn't quit put this in the upper echelon, it gets pretty close.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Great Escape, Patton