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The Dirty Dozen
original film poster
Directed by	Robert Aldrich
Produced by	Kenneth Hyman
Written by	E.M. Nathanson (novel) Nunnally Johnson Lukas Heller
Starring	Lee Marvin Ernest Borgnine Charles Bronson Jim Brown
Music by	Frank De Vol
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	June 15, 1967
Running time	145 min.
Language	English French German
IMDb profile

The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 war film directed by Robert Aldrich from the novel by E.M. Nathanson. Starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, and NFL Hall of Famer-turned-actor Jim Brown, it was a huge box office success for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and the year's highest-grossing film. It was nominated for four Oscars, including a supporting actor nomination for John Cassavetes, and won one Oscar for its sound effects. In 2001, the American Film Institute included it on its list of 100 Years...100 Thrills.

The movie opens in England in the spring of 1944 as Allied forces in the United Kingdom prepare for the D-Day invasion during World War II. Major John Reisman (Marvin) is witness to the execution by hanging of a US soldier (executions for capital crimes in the US Army at that time were not uncommon, though the most famous US military execution, that of Eddie Slovik, was the only one for the crime of desertion).

Reisman, an OSS officer, then meets with Major General Worden (Borgnine). Dramatic tension is created when Reisman spots Colonel Everett Dasher Breed (Robert Ryan) in the anteroom of Worden's office; a pair of knowing looks makes it clear the two have a history together but no words are spoken. The tension mounts when Reisman salutes General Worden, being forced to hold the salute an uncomfortably long time before it is returned. Reisman is offered a seat in front of a panel of officers, and Worden reviews Reisman's reports on his service record with him. "Lots of fireworks," Worden notes. "...and very short on discipline. Very short on discipline." Reisman's character is illustrated by his response: "I didn't write those reports."

The meeting then comes to the point - a mission is described involving the training of twelve American soldiers, all general convicts convicted of capital offences including murder, desertion, robbery and rape, and sentenced to either execution or long terms of imprisonment. The soldiers are to be trained and eventually ordered to destroy an assigned target, the identity of which remains secret.

1967 lobbycard set

Reisman asks what the designated target is, noting that if he is being offered the opportunity of leading the mission, it is reasonable to know the identity.

Worden: It's not, as you say, being "offered".

Reisman: I'm volunteering.

Worden: Exactly, Major. You know, I'm glad you look at these things so realistically!

The plan is then described to Reisman; a large château near Rennes in Brittany is known to be the location of a retreat for German senior officers. In preparation for the D-Day invasion, Reisman's group will train to drop by parachute and destroy the chateau, killing the officers inside and hopefully disrupting the German chain of command as the invasion is launched.

After this introduction, the film consists of three parts; the training of Reisman's men, an extended sequence of military maneuvers in Britain in which Reisman's Dirty Dozen prove their worth in special operations, and the attack on the château itself.

Most of the occupants are killed when the building is blown up. Only Reisman, Sergeant Bowren (Richard Jaeckel), and one of the Dirty Dozen, Wladislaw (Bronson), survive the mission.

It is noted that in the trailer a few things are changed from the actual film, the trailer states Jefferson's name as Napoleon as opposed to Robert. Napoleon was used because E.M.Nathanson novel lists the character's name as Napoleon White, a lieutenant in an all african-american regiment who is arrested for killing a stereotypical "inbred redneck" type tanker corporal who beats him up, leaving him for dead in a gutter. It also notes that Jimenez has feelings of "hate" that are never apparent in the film as Jimenez is actually one of the more agreeable, although cowardly, soldiers.

For its time, the film was an unconventional and extremely violent depiction of war. Although the violence and brutality of war was nothing new to those who had actually experienced combat, it was still shocking to many at the time. Roger Ebert, in his first year as a movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, was shocked by its violence. He 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.

As a preface to the novel, EM Nathanson states that he heard of a legend of men like these, but found no record of it.

Though there are frequent rumors of such units existing nothing has ever been verified. The story may be based on the Filthy Thirteen, a small group of airborne demolition experts whose story was documented by a book by the same name. Unlike the Dirty Dozen, the Filthy Thirteen was not a unit composed of convicts, though some of this group did have criminal records.

Three Made-For-TV sequels were made years later:

• Dirty Dozen: Next Mission
• Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission
• Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission

Lee Marvin reprised his role in Next Mission. Deadly Mission and Fatal Mission had Telly Savalas as the protagonist and the leader of the next two Dirty Dozens.

This was followed by Dirty Dozen: The Series.

• Jim Brown announced his retirement from professional football during the filming of this movie.
• Lee Marvin, a WWII combat veteran, provided technical assistance with uniforms and weapons to the other actors in creating a realistic portrayal of combat.
• The M3 submachine guns used in the film display an unrealistically high rate of fire. The M3 had a heavy bolt and weak springs that had caused malfunctions with blank cartridges in prior films in which it was used (Hell Is For Heroes). Prop firearms technicians loaded the cartridges with large overcharges of powder, increasing reliability but also the rate of fire and producing large tongues of flame. The effect delighted the film's director, who promptly featured the M3 in more scenes than originally envisioned.
• Garrison's Gorillas was a 1967 WW II TV series that followed the same lines as The Dirty Dozen.
• The hit 1980s television series The A-Team was initially conceived as a cross between The Dirty Dozen and The Magnificent Seven.
• The WWII squad-based combat computer game series Deadly Dozen is closely based on The Dirty Dozen, in which military convicts were trained in covert and commando operations in both the European Theater and the Pacific Theater.
• John Wayne was initialy offered the role of Reisman, but turned it down to make The Green Berets. To this day, many of his fans regret his preference to make that much derided movie.^{[attribution needed]} The role ultimately went to Lee Marvin.
• In the film Sleepless in Seattle, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) and Greg (Victor Garber) make fun of Greg's wife crying over 'the chick movie' An Affair to Remember. They say that The Dirty Dozen made them cry and they both break into tears when they recount the plot and the deaths of the various characters in the film.

Maj. John Reisman (Lee Marvin at right) and Wladislaw (Charles Bronson at left) (here in german uniforms) the only survivors - along with Sgt. Clyde Bowren (Richard Jaeckel) - from the originals Dirty Dozen, in the film.

• Ernest Borgnine .... Maj. Gen. Worden
• Charles Bronson .... Joseph T. Wladislaw
• Jim Brown .... Robert T. Jefferson
• Tom Busby .... Milo Vladek
• Ben Carruthers .... Glenn Gilpin
• John Cassavetes .... Victor P. Franko
• Stuart Cooper .... Roscoe Lever
• Richard Jaeckel .... Sgt. Clyde Bowren
• George Kennedy .... Maj. Max Armbruster
• Trini Lopez .... Pedro Jiminez
• Colin Maitland .... Seth K. Sawyer
• Al Mancini .... Tassos R. Bravos
• Lee Marvin .... Maj. John Reisman
• Ralph Meeker .... Capt. Stuart Kinder
• Robert Phillips .... Cpl. Carl Morgan
• Robert Ryan .... Col. Everett Dasher Breed
• Telly Savalas .... Archer J. Maggott
• Donald Sutherland .... Vernon L. Pinkley
• Clint Walker .... Samson Posey
• Robert Webber .... Brig. Gen. Denton

• The Dirty Dozen at the Internet Movie Database
• The Dirty Dozen, from the Turner Classic Movies website
• Review of the film, by Roger Ebert, written in July 1967