The Dirty Dozen (1967)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Nunnally Johnson (screenplay) and
Lukas Heller (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

15 June 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

Train them! Excite them! Arm them!...Then turn them loose on the Nazis!

Plot:

A US Army Major is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead them into a mass assassination mission of German officers in World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Mission | Suicide Mission | Behind Enemy Lines | Nazi | Prisoner

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 5 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	Major Reisman
Ernest Borgnine	...	General Worden
Charles Bronson	...	Joseph Wladislaw
Jim Brown	...	Robert Jefferson
John Cassavetes	...	Victor Franko
Richard Jaeckel	...	Sergeant Bowren
George Kennedy	...	Major Max Armbruster
Trini López	...	Pedro Jiminez (as Trini Lopez)
Ralph Meeker	...	Captain Stuart Kinder
Robert Ryan	...	Col. Everett Dasher Breed
Telly Savalas	...	Archer Maggott
Donald Sutherland	...	Vernon Pinkley
Clint Walker	...	Samson Posey
Robert Webber	...	General Denton
Tom Busby	...	Milo Vladek
Ben Carruthers	...	Glenn Gilpin
Stuart Cooper	...	Roscoe Lever
Robert Phillips	...	Corporal Morgan
Colin Maitland	...	Seth Sawyer
Al Mancini	...	Tassos Bravos
George Roubicek	...	Pvt. Arthur James Gardner
Thick Wilson	...	General Worden's Aide
Dora Reisser	...	German Officer's Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gerard Heinz	...	Cardplaying german officer (uncredited)
John G. Heller	...	2nd German Sentry at Chateau (uncredited)
John Hollis	...	German porter at chateu (uncredited)
Hildegard Knef	...	(uncredited)
Richard Marner	...	German sentry at chateau (uncredited)
Dick Miller	...	MP At Hanging (uncredited)
Suzanne Owens	...	Prostitute (uncredited)
Frederick Schiller	...	Drunken German General (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Aldrich

Writing credits
Nunnally Johnson		(screenplay) and
Lukas Heller		(screenplay)
E.M. Nathanson		(novel)

Produced by
Raymond Anzarut	....	associate producer
Kenneth Hyman	....	producer

Original Music by
Frank De Vol		(as De Vol)

Cinematography by
Edward Scaife		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Michael Luciano

Art Direction by
William Hutchinson		(as W.E. Hutchinson)

Makeup Department
Ernest Gasser	....	makeup artist
Wally Schneiderman	....	makeup artist (as Walter Schneiderman)

Production Management
Julian Mackintosh	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bert Batt	....	assistant director

Art Department
Tim Hutchinson	....	set designer (uncredited)
Mickey Lennon	....	assistant property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Claude Hitchcock	....	sound recordist
Franklin Milton	....	sound recordist
John Poyner	....	sound editor
Van Allen James	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Cliff Richardson	....	special effects supervisor
Alan Barnard	....	special effects (uncredited)
Jimmy Harris	....	special effects (uncredited)
Peter Hutchinson	....	special effects assistant (uncredited)
Garth Inns	....	special effects (uncredited)
Roy Whybrow	....	special effects (uncredited)
Jack Woodbridge	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Ken Buckle	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gerry Crampton	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Gerry Crampton	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jim Dowdall	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Dunne	....	stunts (uncredited)
Romo Gorrara	....	stunts (uncredited)
Loren Janes	....	stunts (uncredited)
Terence Plummer	....	stunts (uncredited)
Nosher Powell	....	stunts (uncredited)
Mike Reid	....	stunt driver (uncredited)
Terry Richards	....	stunts (uncredited)
Rocky Taylor	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paul Weston	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Alan McCabe	....	camera operator
Tony Spratling	....	camera operator
Chris Ashbrook	....	focus puller: second unit (uncredited)
Jim Dawes	....	grip (uncredited)
Dennis Fraser	....	grip (uncredited)
Paul Wilson	....	camera operator (uncredited)
David Wynn-Jones	....	clapper loader (uncredited)

Music Department
Bob Bain	....	musician: guitar (uncredited)
Frank De Vol	....	conductor (uncredited)
Bronislau Kaper	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Miklós Rózsa	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Walter Lesley Tiley	....	truck driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Angela Allen	....	continuity
Walter Blake	....	title designer: main title
Jim Dowdall	....	armorer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• MKH
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
• Seven Arts Productions

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1967) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1967) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1967) (France) (theatrical)
• Filmipaja (1967) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1970) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1975) (USA) (theatrical)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1986) (Finland) (TV) (2005)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1990) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Entertainment (1991) (USA) (video)
• Warner Home Video (1993) (Finland) (video)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1996) (Finland) (TV) (1998) (2000)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Creative Design (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. Home Video (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Cinéma International Corporation (CIC) (1976) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1967) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Neue Visionen Filmverleih (????) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (????) (West Germany) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Karma Transport  transportation

Runtime:

150 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #20802) | Iceland:16 | UK:12 (2006) | West Germany:16 (f) | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Australia:PG (cable rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1968) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Aldbury, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

MKH

Trivia:

Construction of the faux chateau proved *too* good. The script called for it to be blown up, but the construction was so solid that 70 tons of explosives would have been needed to achieve the effect! Instead, a section was rebuilt from cork and plastic.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Although Major Reisman correctly wears an officer's overseas cap with the mixed black-and-gold braided trim on it in scenes in which he wears a dress uniform, he (incorrectly) wears an enlisted man's plain overseas cap in scenes in which he wears a fatigue, or field, uniform.

Quotes:

Major John Reisman: You've seen a general inspecting troops before haven't you? Just walk slow, act dumb and look stupid!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "October Road.: Stand Alone by Me (#2.11)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Einsam

A good old fashioned war film with no hidden agenda.

A generally entertaining war film with no real political axe to grind or patriotic flagwaving getting in the way. Its very dangerous trying to humourise war in the movies, because that would be offensive to all those that had served & died in real life. Kelly's Heroes and 1941 probably went a little too far, pretending that war is really fun & cool when you've got people like Clint Eastwood in charge. But then you have other war films that are black in its humour but manage to keep into focus the cruelty & horrors of war at the same time - M*A*S*H and Catch 22 are the best examples. With Dirty Dozen we have something of a go-between; the humour amongst the characters is light & welcoming but never falls into farce or bad-taste; and Aldrich quickly pulls us back into the fold with some tight scripted scenes of drama & mass murder (throwing petrol & grenades into that German bunker to name but one. I often wonder about that scene, and whether it was some kind of metaphor for the gas chambers & concentration camps in Belsen) But unlike MASH & Catch 22, Aldrich resists the temptation to openly politicise the effects of war, after all this film was made in '67 near the height of the Vietnam war/protests. Instead he takes a straight line course of action and lets us be moved & entertained by the convicted GIs doing their duty. Marvin is excellent as the hardnosed but disobediant Major. He plays the anti-hero far better than Eastwood in Kelly's Heroes. Marvin just looks the type who'd give the top brass as well the Germans a real hard time. But special mention must go to Cassavettes as Viktor Franko, the trouble-maker's trouble-maker. His character is so refreshing & wild amongst a relatively mild cast of supporting extras, with the exception of Savalas. Franko is the Joker of the pack but you soon feel an attachment for him in spite of his crimes. Sutherland & Bronson, don't really add much. The former plays a slightly naive man who hasn't really grown up and Bronson just smirks & mumbles a lot. The only other character worthy of a mention is the truly terrifying Savalas, who is a Christian through & through, yet hates all women as much as the Germans; and has a most spine chilling laugh! Difficult to believe this man later became Kojak! The film is a tad overlong; the first & last 40 minutes hold the interest but the middle section (the War Games scene), is far too long and generally detracts. All the same, DD is a very good movie, especially for those who don't want to be politically moralised too. ***/*****