When Men Were Men

The Dirty Dozen (1967)   

Set during the second World War, rebellious Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin) is facing disciplinary action for his attitude but is given an opportunity to escape the impending punishment if he agrees to take on a very peculiar mission. Reluctantly he is put in charge of a mission to pick 12 soldiers facing the death penalty in prison and to train them up for what is effectively a suicide mission to destroy a chateau where prominent German Officers go to relax.

Facing resilience from his selected soldiers, Reisman has his hands full as not only as they realise that their chances of survival are slim but also that they would rather put a knife in his back and escape than complete the mission.

Certain films over the years seem to become perennial favourites of TV, films such as "Star Wars" and "The Great Escape" always seem to be on the screen and so is the fact with "The Dirty Dozen". Set in World War II, the film is predominantly aimed at a male audience with copious amounts of action, although it is still very popular with female audiences. Unlike many war films which rely on huge amounts of emotion to engage the viewer, "The Dirty Dozen" despatches with any of this and engages the audience with some splendid action, many humorous scenes and some fine performances from many Hollywood legends such as Lee Marvin, Telly Savalas and Donald Sutherland.

To be honest, there is no great depth to the storyline and basically revolves around the training of 12 men to go and blow up a Nazi building and in doing so, more than likely sentence themselves to death as they have little chance of returning alive. Doesn't really sound much of a storyline for what is such a popular movie, but instead of giving you a film which requires much brain power, they bombard you with action, subtle humour and cliché ridden dialogue which although is slightly cheesy, is still great. Along with the lack of an in-depth storyline they dispatch with any real character depth, yes we learn that all the chosen soldiers are facing a long time in prison or even the death penalty, but that is as far as it goes.

So with such a thin script and no real character depth you may be surprised to know that I love "The Dirty Dozen". Where as the likes of "The Great Escape" entertains you with a very detailed storyline, "The Dirty Dozen" does not try to pretend to be anything other than a good old fashioned action movie where men were men and boys were, well boys. Yes, some of the scenes of violence towards the Germans could be seen as mindless violence and probably be very questionable in a modern film, but remember this film was made back in 1967 when tensions were still running high.

As already mentioned, there is very little character depth given to any of them, but they still remain very memorable. First up you have Lee Marvin as the unfortunate man in charge, Major John Reisman, basically a soldier who has fallen foul of his superiors due to his attitude. Then you have the likes of John Cassavetes as Franko, a soldier who would love to stick a knife in the majors back, Donald Sutherland as Vernon Pinckley who finds everything a joke and the psychotic Maggott played by Telly Savalas. These are only a few of the stars who make an appearance and with the likes of Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, Trini Lopez and Ernest Borgnine also appearing, you definitely have the pick of Hollywood legends.

Some viewers will find the lack of character depth off putting, but it definitely would have been out of place in this film, as it would have turned it into more of a serious drama, rather than the great action flick that it is.

"The Dirty Dozen" is directed by Robert Aldrich who went on to direct the 1974 version of "The Longest Yard". I will be honest, I don't know much about Alrich's work but I feel he has done a great job of making such a popular and memorable film. He has managed to take what could have been a very serious and probably boring war film and converted it into a great action movie, which uses the back drop of war to provide the vehicle for the numerous action scenes. The inclusion of subtle comedy is a master stroke, as it lightens up the mood of the film whilst not detracting from it.

Even though "The Dirty Dozen" does not have much of a plot, and very little character depth it does have great action and subtle comedy to make for it. It is what I would call a good old fashioned action movie where men were real men and there was no pussy footing about trying to be politically correct. This may not appeal to many viewers, especially younger audiences who are used to high budget, technology packed epics, but it still has great pulling power for anyone who grew up on these classic war movies.