The Dirty Dozen
1967 Directed by Robert Aldrich, Bert Batt
Synopsis
Train them! Excite them! Arm them!...Then turn them loose on the Nazis!
Classic World War II action drama about a group of 12 American military prisoners, who are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.
Cast
Popular reviews
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You've got Lee Marvin, 12 dirty badasses, an awesome training camp and a non-stop, bullets-flying-everywhere-attack on a Nazi castle in France. The best thing?
The dirty badasses growing beards.
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Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and Jim Brown have enough punches in them to take down an entire country on their own in most movies but when you back them up with nine other men Hitler stood no chance!
Nobody told me The Dirty Dozen would be funny. Violent, yes but the kind of humour and plot that would go on to be a staple of the Police Academy movies, no.
Most of the way to three hours is a bit much for the threadbare plot but the bootcamp and the camaraderie is almost essential to this movie and so I forgive it some of the excesses. Of course having one giant guns blazing final showdown was a total blast and…
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Working my way through the unseen films in my DVD collection led me to my first of 3 War films (Dirty Dozen, Where Eagles Dare, Kelly's Heroes).
This star studded caper really is a film of 3 acts. While the first 2 (The Recruitment and Training) contain a great deal of humour and heart, it's the 3rd act which pulse everything together in a tense, action packed finale.
The actors in this film really are at the top of their respective games but as with all films with such a ensemble cast, there are a few faces here which appear only as filler. Nevertheless, you warm to this ragtag gang of thieves and murderers in the first hour and really… -
"Killin' generals could become a habit for me."
One of those perfect Sunday afternoon movies. The film delivers everything I could want while in the mood to do nothing. The Dirty Dozen has got action, it has got suspense, and it has got Lee Marvin, and Charles Bronson. What else could you ask for? A half hour of guns being shot almost continuosly you say? Yeah, The Dirty Dozen has got that to.
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The film gets 4 stars, but it's a poorly paced film, for my tastes at least. Some would argue it's a hangout movie and the plot is secondary to the hanging, but I'd argue the opposite. The slowness of escalation alone turned this (obvious) classic into one of my personally most overrated films of the era. This said, the cast is exactly what one wants from this genre in its heyday. I could list off the names, and seeing the names would/should prompt one unfamiliar with the film to immediately check it out. If the names alone don't arouse your appetite to simply watch a dozen badasses in one package, it's best you just leave it be.
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It's like The Expendables in the 60's, only this is actually awesomely badass with a genuinely good script.
Recent reviews
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Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and Jim Brown have enough punches in them to take down an entire country on their own in most movies but when you back them up with nine other men Hitler stood no chance!
Nobody told me The Dirty Dozen would be funny. Violent, yes but the kind of humour and plot that would go on to be a staple of the Police Academy movies, no.
Most of the way to three hours is a bit much for the threadbare plot but the bootcamp and the camaraderie is almost essential to this movie and so I forgive it some of the excesses. Of course having one giant guns blazing final showdown was a total blast and…
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"You know what to do, free the French and shoot the Germans!"
Moral issues with the ending aside, this is a fun film with a great cast. Lee Marcin, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and so forth.
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In the recent chain-reaction-run of war adventures fueled by my surprising burning desire for reactionary bullshit this was a real delight.
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You've got Lee Marvin, 12 dirty badasses, an awesome training camp and a non-stop, bullets-flying-everywhere-attack on a Nazi castle in France. The best thing?
The dirty badasses growing beards.
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Really glad this didn't turn out to be a Western.
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Classic war movie
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Action that still holds up after all these years, a well written and acted WW2 drama. What a collection of action stars and actors. Marvin at his smirky best and Jaeckel makes me wonder why he never made it big. Savalas is a great creep.
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forget the expendables, this was a real movie
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Ok, WOW. I think the thing that makes this film so successful is that we spend over half the time getting to know and love the characters. By the time the mission finally starts, it is so much more emotional, because we've already become friends with these guys. I laughed so hard all the way through, and then I almost cried at the end. I wish more filmmakers would use this technique! It's so much more effective than starting things off with a car chase or something. It actually hurts my heart to see bad reviews of this movie. Well, your loss! And can the world PLEASE stop calling it a "dude's movie"...I'm allowed in this fan club too, alright!