| The Dirty Dozen | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster byFrank McCarthy | |
| Directed by | Robert Aldrich |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | The Dirty Dozen 1965 novel byE. M. Nathanson |
| Produced by | Kenneth Hyman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Edward Scaife |
| Edited by | Michael Luciano |
| Music by | Frank De Vol |
Production company | Kenneth Hyman Production |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 150 minutes |
| Countries | United States United Kingdom |
| Languages |
|
| Budget | $5.4 million[1] |
| Box office | $45.3 million[2] |
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 Americanwar film directed byRobert Aldrich and starringLee Marvin, with an ensemble supporting cast includingErnest Borgnine,Charles Bronson,Jim Brown,John Cassavetes,Richard Jaeckel,George Kennedy,Ralph Meeker,Robert Ryan,Trini Lopez,Telly Savalas,Donald Sutherland,Clint Walker andRobert Webber. Set in 1944 duringWorld War II, the film follows the titularpenal military unit of twelveconvicts as they are trained ascommandos by theAllies for asuicide mission ahead of theNormandy landings.
The Dirty Dozen was filmed in England atMGM-British Studios and released byMGM. The screenplay is based on the 1965 bestseller of the same name byE. M. Nathanson, which itself was inspired by a real-life WWII unit of behind-the-lines demolition specialists from the101st Airborne Division named the "Filthy Thirteen". Another possible inspiration was the public offer to PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt by 44 prisoners serving life sentences at theOklahoma State Penitentiary to serve in thePacific War on suicide missions against theJapanese.[3]
The film was a box office success and won theAcademy Award for Best Sound Editing at the40th Academy Awards in 1968. In 2001, theAmerican Film Institute placed it at number 65 on their100 Years... 100 Thrills list. The film spawned a fewtelevision film sequels in the 1980s:The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission in 1985,The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission in 1987, andThe Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission in 1988. A remake was announced in 2019 byWarner Bros.
In March 1944,OSS officer Major John Reisman is ordered by the commander ofADSEC in Britain, Major General Sam Worden, to undertake "Project Amnesty", a top secret mission to turn some of theU.S. Army's worst convicts into highly skilled commandos to eliminateWehrmachtofficers at achâteau nearRennes, disrupting the German chain of command in northernFrance ahead ofD-Day. Any convicts who survive the mission will receive apardon.
Reisman meets the twelve convicts (including the mob-associated robber Franko, formermajor Wladislaw, black soldier Jefferson, the gentle giant andhazed enduced Posey, and religiously driven psychopath Maggott) at amilitary prison operated by theMilitary Police Corps. These five are condemned to death for murder, while the others (Giplin, Pinkley, Sawyer, Lever, Bravos, Vladek, and Jiminez) face lengthy sentences, includinghard labor for crimes such as assault,larceny,mugging and impersonation. Reisman quickly establishes his authority, but the group remains disgruntled. Overseen by MPs led by Sergeant Bowren, the convicts gradually learn to operate together when they are forced to build their own training camp. However, an act ofinsubordination by Franko results in the men's shaving and wash kits being withheld as punishment, leading the group to be nicknamed the "Dirty Dozen." During their training, the convicts are psychoanalyzed by Captain Kinder, who warns Reisman that there is a chance that at least 7 of them will likely kill him if given the chance and that Maggott is by far the most dangerous.
With their commando training almost complete, the Dirty Dozen are sent for parachute training at a facility commanded by Reisman's nemesis, Colonel Everett Dasher Breed of the101st Airborne Division. However, Breed is curiously not briefed about Project Amnesty. Rather than making inquiries to higher command, Breed makes several attempts to discover Reisman's mission, including infiltration of the Dirty Dozen's camp. Reisman, with the eager assistance of the convicts, angrily kicks Breed and his men out of the camp. Later, Breed's testimony combined with Reisman rewarding the Dirty Dozen (with the exception of Maggott, as his crime is therape and murder of one) with prostitutes at the end of their training, prompts the ADSEC staff to consider terminating the project and sending the men back to serve their original sentences. Reisman defends the convicts' training and agrees to have them compete against Breed's men inwar games to test their mettle. Breed finds this ridiculously humorous, but to his surprise, the Dirty Dozen successfully capture his headquarters and Worden allows Reisman to resume his mission.
Upon parachuting into northern France, the German-speaking Wladislaw and Reisman infiltrate the chateau disguised as German officers to help the rest of the team inside. However, Maggott breaks cover by murdering an officer's spouse and firing at his teammates before he is killed by Jefferson for compromising the mission. The sound of gunfire makes the Wehrmacht officers and their companions retreat to a locked undergroundbomb shelter. The unit pours gasoline through ventilation shafts, and Jefferson throws grenades into the shelter through the shafts, killing the officers and their civilian guests.
After a firefight with the chateau guards and arriving reinforcements that kills nearly all of the Dozen, Reisman, Bowren and Wladislaw escape back to England alive. Worden pardons Wladislaw, who is given the opportunity to resume his work in the armed forces. As the credits roll, Reisman communicates to the other convicts' next of kin that "they lost their lives in the line of duty".
Although Robert Aldrich had failed to buy the rights to E. M. Nathanson's novelThe Dirty Dozen while it was just an outline,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer succeeded in May 1963. On publication, the novel became a best-seller in 1965. It was adapted to the screen by veteran scriptwriter and producerNunnally Johnson, andLukas Heller. A repeated rhyme was written into the script where the twelve actors verbally recite the details of the attack in a rhyming chant to help them remember their roles while approaching the mission target:
The cast included many American World War II veterans including Lee Marvin, Robert Webber and Robert Ryan (U.S. Marine Corps); Telly Savalas and George Kennedy (U.S. Army); Charles Bronson (U.S. Army Air Forces); Ernest Borgnine (U.S. Navy); and Richard Jaeckel and Clint Walker (U.S. Merchant Marine).
John Wayne was the original choice for Reisman, but he turned down the role because he objected to the adultery present in the original script, which featured the character having a relationship with an Englishwoman whose husband was fighting on the Continent.[4]Jack Palance refused the "Archer Maggot" role when they would not rewrite the script to make his character lose his racism; Telly Savalas took the role instead.[5]
Six of the dozen were experienced American stars, while the "Back Six" were actors resident in the UK: EnglishmanColin Maitland, Canadians Donald Sutherland andTom Busby, and AmericansStuart Cooper,Al Mancini, andBen Carruthers. According to commentary onThe Dirty Dozen: 2-Disc Special Edition, whenTrini Lopez left the film early, the death scene of Lopez's character where he blew himself up with the radio tower was given to Busby[6] (in the film, Ben Carruthers' character Glenn Gilpin is given the task of blowing up the radio tower while Busby's character Milo Vladek is shot in front of the château). Lopez's character dies off-camera during the parachute drop that begins the mission.[7] The impersonation of the general scene was to have been done by Clint Walker, but when he thought the scene was demeaning to his character, who was aNative American, Aldrich picked out Sutherland for the bit.[8][9]
Jim Brown, theCleveland Brownsrunning back, announced his retirement from American football at age thirty during the making of the film.[10][11][12] The owner of the Browns,Art Modell, demanded Brown choose betweenfootball and acting. With Brown's considerable accomplishments in the sport (he was already theNFL's all-time leading rusher, was well ahead statistically of the second-leading rusher, and his team had won the1964 NFL Championship), he chose acting. InSpike Lee's 2002 documentaryJim Brown: All-American Modell admitted he made a huge mistake in forcing Jim Brown to choose between football and Hollywood. He said that if he had it to do over again, he would never have made such a demand. Modell fined Jim Brown the equivalent of over $100 per day, a fine which Brown said that "today wouldn't even buy the doughnuts for a team".[13]
The production was filmed in theUnited Kingdom during the summer of 1966.[14] Interiors and set pieces took place atMGM-British Studios,Borehamwood, where the château set was built under the direction ofart directorWilliam Hutchinson. It was 720 yards (660 m) wide and 50 feet (15 m) high, surrounded with 5,400 square yards (4,500 m2) of heather, 400 ferns, 450 shrubs, 30 spruce trees and six weeping willows. Construction of the faux château proved problematic. The script required its explosion, but it was so solid that 70 tons of explosives would have been required for the effect. Instead, a cork and plastic section was destroyed.[citation needed]
Exteriors were shot throughout southeast England. The credit scenes at the American military prison – alluded in the movie to beShepton Mallett – were shot in a courtyard atAshridge House inHertfordshire. Co-starRichard Jaeckel recalled that when the introductory lineup scene was first shot, Aldrich, who liked to play pranks on his actors, initially placed 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Charles Bronson between 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Clint Walker and 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Donald Sutherland, which provoked an angry response from Bronson, making Aldrich laugh.[15]
The jump school scene was shot at the former entrance toRAF Hendon in London. The wargame was filmed in and around the village ofAldbury.Bradenham Manor was the Wargames' Headquarters.Beechwood Park School inMarkyate was also used as a location during the school's summer term, where the training camp and tower were built and shot in the grounds and the village itself as parts of "Devonshire". The main house was also used, appearing in the film as a military hospital.[16] After filming finished, the training camp huts were relocated and used as sports equipment storage for the school's playing fields. Residents ofChenies,Buckinghamshire complained to MGM when filming caused damage around their village.[14]
While making the film, some of the cast members gave an interview toABC Film review, in which they contrasted their own real wartime ranks to their officer roles in the film:
George Kennedy: Took me two years to make Private First Class.
Lee Marvin: I didn't even make that in the Marines.
Ernest Borgnine: I was beneath notice in the Navy
For punks, we're doing all right, said Marvin. I wonder how the generals are doing?[17]
Heavy rains throughout the summer caused filming delays of several months, leading to $1 million in overruns and bringing the final cost to $5 million.[14] In the early hours of 21 September 1966 part of the Chateau set burned down prematurely. Night-time film had been stopped at 03:30 due to fog, and the set – which was due to be destroyed during filming – caught fire at 06:29.[18] Principal photography wrapped at MGM-British Studios in September 1966 with post-production to be completed at MGM studios inCulver City, California.[14]
Nathanson states in the prologue to his novelThe Dirty Dozen that, while he heard a legend that such a unit may have existed, he incorrectly heard that they were convicts. He was unable to find any corroboration in the archives of the US Army in Europe. He instead turned his research of convicted felons into the subsequent novel. He does not state where he acquired the name, but Arch Whitehouse coined the name "Dirty Dozen" as the 12 enlisted men of the airborne section that became the "Filthy Thirteen" after the lieutenant joined their ranks. In Arch Whitehouse's article inTrue Magazine, he claimed that all the enlisted men were full-blood Indians, but, in reality, only their leaderJake McNeice was one-quarterChoctaw. The parts of the Filthy Thirteen story that carried over into Nathanson's book were not bathing until the jump into Normandy, their disrespect for military authority, and the pre-invasion party. The Filthy Thirteen was actually a demolitions section with a mission to secure bridges over theDouve on D-Day.[19][20]
A unit called the "Filthy Thirteen" was an airborne demolition unit documented in the eponymous book,[21] and this unit's exploits inspired the fictional account. Barbara Maloney, the daughter of John Agnew, a private in the Filthy Thirteen, told theAmerican Valor Quarterly that her father felt that 30 percent of the film's content was historically correct, including a scene where officers are captured. Unlike the Dirty Dozen, the Filthy Thirteen were not convicts; however, they were men prone to drinking and fighting and often spent time in the stockade.[22][23]
The Dirty Dozen premiered at theCapitol Theatre inNew York City on June 15, 1967[14] and opened at the 34th Street East theatre the following day.[24][25] Despite being shot in anaspect ratio of 1.85:1, the film was initially shown in70 mm which cut off 15% of the film and resulted in a grainy look.[26]
The Dirty Dozen was a massive commercial success. In its first five days in New York, the film grossed $103,849 from 2 theatres.[25] Produced on a budget of $5.4 million, it earnedtheatrical rentals of $7.5 million in its first five weeks from 1,152 bookings and 625 prints, one of the fastest-grossing films at the time;[27] however, onVariety's weekly box office survey, based on a sample of key city theatres, it only reached number two at the U.S. box office behindYou Only Live Twice until it finally reached number one in its sixth week.[28] It eventually earned rentals of $24.2 million in the United States and Canada from a gross of $45.3 million.[29] It was thefourth-highest-grossing film of 1967 andMGM's highest-grossing film of the year. It was also a hit in France, with admissions of 4,672,628.[30]
Upon release, the film has granted positive reviews from critics. It holds an 82% rating onRotten Tomatoes based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 8.00/10. The critical consensus reads, "Amoral on the surface and exuding testosterone,The Dirty Dozen utilizes combat and its staggering cast of likable scoundrels to deliver raucous entertainment."[31] On release, the film was criticized for its level of violence.Roger Ebert, who was in his first year as a film reviewer for theChicago Sun-Times, wrote sarcastically:
I'm glad the Chicago Police Censor Board forgot about that part of the local censorship law where it says films shall not depict the burning of the human body. If you have to censor, stick to censoring sex, I say... but leave in the mutilation, leave in the sadism and by all means leave in the human beings burning to death. It's not obscene as long as they burn to death with their clothes on.[32]
In another contemporaneous review,Bosley Crowther called it "an astonishingly wantonwar film" and a "studied indulgence ofsadism that is morbid and disgusting beyond words"; he also noted:
It is not simply that this violent picture of an American military venture is based on a fictional supposition that is silly and irresponsible. ... But to have this bunch of felons a totally incorrigible lot, some of them psychopathic, and to try to make us believe that they would be committed by any American general to carry out an exceedingly important raid that a regular commando group could do with equal efficiency—and certainly with greater dependability—is downright preposterous.[24]
Crowther called some of the portrayals "bizarre and bold":
Marvin's taut, pugnacious playing of the major ... is tough and terrifying. John Cassavetes is wormy and noxious as a psychopath condemned to death, and Telly Savalas is swinish and maniacal as a religious fanatic and sex degenerate. Charles Bronson as an alienated murderer, Richard Jaeckel as a hard-boiled military policeman, and Jim Brown as a white-hating Negro stand out in the animalistic group.[24]
Art Murphy ofVariety was more positive, calling it "an exciting World War II pre-D-Day drama" with an "excellent cast" and a "very good screenplay" with "a ring of authenticity to it".[26]
TheTime Out Film Guide notes that over the years, "The Dirty Dozen has taken its place alongside that other commercial classic,The Magnificent Seven". The review then states:
The violence which liberal critics found so offensive has survived intact. Aldrich sets up dispensable characters with no past and no future, as Marvin reprieves a bunch of death row prisoners, forges them into a tough fighting unit, and leads them on a suicide mission into Nazi France. Apart from the values of team spirit, cudgeled by Marvin into his dropout group, Aldrich appears to be against everything: anti-military, anti-Establishment, anti-women, anti-religion, anti-culture, anti-life. Overriding such nihilism is the super-crudity of Aldrich's energy and his humour, sufficiently cynical to suggest that the whole thing is a game anyway, a spectacle that demands an audience.[33]
| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards[34] | Best Supporting Actor | John Cassavetes | Nominated |
| Best Film Editing | Michael Luciano | Nominated | |
| Best Sound | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department | Nominated | |
| Best Sound Effects | John Poyner | Won | |
| American Cinema Editors Awards | Best Edited Feature Film | Michael Luciano | Won |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures | Robert Aldrich | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture | John Cassavetes | Nominated |
| Laurel Awards | Top Action-Drama | Nominated | |
| Top Action Performance | Lee Marvin | Won | |
| Top Male Supporting Performance | Jim Brown | Nominated | |
| John Cassavetes | Nominated | ||
| Photoplay Awards | Gold Medal | Won | |
Also, the film is recognized byAmerican Film Institute in these lists:
In 1967, the same year thatThe Dirty Dozen was released, a parody film titledThe Pogi Dozen (lit. 'The Handsome Dozen') was released in the Philippines, starring the comedianChiquito.
Three years afterThe Dirty Dozen was released,Too Late the Hero, a film also directed by Aldrich, was described as a "kind of sequel toThe Dirty Dozen".[36] The 1969 Michael Caine filmPlay Dirty follows a similar theme of convicts recruited as soldiers. The 1977 Italian war film directed byEnzo G. Castellari,The Inglorious Bastards, is a loose remake ofThe Dirty Dozen.[37]Quentin Tarantino's 2009Inglourious Basterds was derived from the English-language title of the Castellari film.[38][39]
Dell Comics published a comicThe Dirty Dozen in October 1967.[40][41]
In 1972Marvel Comics launchedCombat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen inspired by the movie. While the series began as a spinoff from Marvel's more popularSgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos and several characters from that series crossed over,Combat Kelly (as it was known in the indicia) only lasted nine issues.
DC Comics in the 1980s revived theirSilver Age comic team known as theSuicide Squad with a similar premise, only using supervillains instead of military convicts. The success of this incarnation over the following years saw incarnations of the team appear in various media including television and movies (both live-action and animation) as well as video games.
A fewTV films were produced in the mid-to-late 1980s which capitalized on the popularity of the first film. Lee Marvin, Richard Jaeckel and Ernest Borgnine reprised their roles forThe Dirty Dozen: Next Mission in 1985, leading a group of military convicts in a mission to kill a German general who was plotting to assassinateAdolf Hitler.[42][unreliable source?] InThe Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (1987), Telly Savalas, who had played the role of the psychotic Maggot in the original film, assumed the different role of Major Wright, an officer who leads a group of military convicts to extract a group of German scientists who are being forced to make a deadly nerve gas.[43] Ernest Borgnine again reprised his role of General Worden.The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988) depicts Savalas's Wright character and a group of renegade soldiers attempting to prevent a group of extreme German generals from starting a Fourth Reich, withErik Estrada co-starring and Ernest Borgnine again playing the role of General Worden.[44] In 1988,Fox aired a short-lived television series starringBen Murphy. Among the cast wasJohn Slattery, who played Private Leeds in eight of the show's 11 episodes.[45][unreliable source?]
However, unlike the original film, all three sequels and it's TV show are entirely fictional. They do not have connection to the original film.
Some of the surviving cast members of the original film provided the voices of the toy soldiers inJoe Dante'sSmall Soldiers.[citation needed]
In 2014,Warner Bros. announced that directorDavid Ayer would be the director of alive-action adaptation of theDC Comics propertySuicide Squad, and Ayer has gone on to say that the film is "the Dirty Dozen with super villains", citing the original film as inspiration.
Detroit-based hip-hop groupD12, also known as the Dirty Dozen, took its name from the movie, which they had not seen, and mistakenly thought it was aWestern movie.
In December 2019 Warner Bros. announced it was developing a remake with David Ayer set to direct.[46]
War may be getting a bad name, but it still pays at the box office. Ask Director Robert Aldrich. His 1967 filmThe Dirty Dozen made millions by drafting a gang of incorrigible convicts into a mission behind enemy lines.Too Late the Hero is a kind of sequel toThe Dirty Dozen, based once again on a World War II suicide mission.
