The Dirty Dozen

I loved this. Right up there with my favourite Aldrich films (though maybe 'Kiss Me Deadly' is still my number one), and of the greatest performances of both Lee Marvin and John Cassavetes (who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at both the Golden Globes and Oscars for his work here).

This hearkened back to the heady times when if you got a great cast and director together, you were virtually guaranteed you'd come out of it, because of comparatively little studio interference, with a bonafide classic piece of cinema. People thought the studio system was broken and needed fixing, by films such as 'Easy Rider'? THIS, along with other fine Aldrich works from this period, age a lot better and hold up much finer today than Dennis Hopper's so-called 'masterpiece' and its ilk.

One of the most quintessential macho movies of all time.

The Dirty Dozen is directed by Robert Aldrich and adapted for the screen by Nunnally Johnson & Lukas Heller from the novel by E. M. Nathanson. It stars Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Donald Sutherland, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Ryan and Jim Brown.

1944, just prior to D-Day….

Major Reisman (Marvin) is a none conformist kind of guy and he riles the higher brass no end, so it comes as no surprise to him that he is the man assigned the unenviable task of assembling a suicide squad of army criminals for a mission to destroy a château in France. This particular château has no military value as such, but as it is used by many of the Nazi big chiefs, destroying it whilst they relax inside will upset the German plans immensely. But can this rag tag band of murderers, rapists and thieves shape up into something resembling a fighting force? Their reward, should they survive the mission, is amnesty, but Reisman for sure has his hands full on both sides of the war.

"One: down to the road block, we've just begun.. Two: the guards are through.. Three: the Major's men are on a spree.. Four: Major and Wladislaw go through the door.. Five: Pinkley stays out in the drive.. Six: the Major gives the rope a fix.. Seven: Wladislaw throws the hook to heaven.. Eight: Jiménez has got a date.. Nine: the other guys go up the line.. Ten: Sawyer and Gilpin are in the pen.. Eleven: Posey guards points five and seven.. Twelve: Wladislaw and the Major go down to delve.. Thirteen: Franko goes up without being seen.. Fourteen: Zero-hour, Jiménez cuts the cable, Franko cuts the phone.. Fifteen: Franko goes in where the others have been.. Sixteen: We all come out like it's Halloween..."

The Dirty Dozen has become one of those films that is a perennial holiday favourite like The Great Escape, Zulu and The Magnificent Seven. Which while it most definitely deserves such big exposure, it's...

Lee Marvin is charged with a mission to drum a dozen criminals and reprobates into some sort of cohesive military unit with a view to destroying an heavily guarded chateau that serves as a respite for high ranking Nazi officers. The challenge looks impossible as the band are assembled - a bigger crowd of cowards, thugs and zealots you would never hope to see; but with the assistance of his stoic sergeant (Richard Jaeckel) he manages to get the wacky zealot Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, Sonny Bono, Jim Brown and a woefully sleazy John Cassavetes to pull in the same direction. It's all good stuff, with plenty of humour to keep it all going nicely. Maybe a bit too long, but a good wartime action drama that builds well to a strong conclusion.