Day
152 The
Dirty Dozen [1967]
Screenplay Nunnally Johnson & Lukas Heller
Based on ‘The Dirty Dozen’ by E. M. Nathanson
Director Robert Aldrich
Cinematography Edward Scaife
Music Frank De Vol
Leads Lee
Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard
Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Trini Lopez, Ralph Meeker, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas,
Clint Walker, Robert Webber, Donald Sutherland
Production Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MKH, Seven Arts Productions
IMDb 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes 91%
One
of my grandfather’s favourite films this one and a classic, both in name and ranking.
The story of a bunch of war criminals, who are either facing a death sentence
or 20+ years in prison, re-recruited by the US army to go behind enemy lines in
Nazi-occupied France. The dozen is led by a rebellious Major played by Lee Marvin.
Those with the most screen time in the dozen are Bronson, Sutherland, Brown,
Cassavetes (Oscar-nominated I might add), Walker and Savalas. Although he has
the fewest lines Sutherland is great in this and I believe it was his
breakthrough role. Cassavetes is also great as the disobedient ‘Franco’, I preferred
him way more in this than in Rosemary’s Baby (Day 18). The plot is the
photo finish winner I would argue. Nothing stood out particularly. It was just
a fun watch. Robert Aldrich apparently intended this to be an allegory for the
Vietnam war. It’s hard to find that hidden meaning until the end where the
dozen kills civilians, I suppose also the fact they are already criminals could
be interpreted as the US being criminals in the case of the Vietnam war, where
they were ‘the good guys’ for most of World War II until some obvious atrocity.
I would have like to speak to my grandfather about why he liked this film so
much, it’s nice to get a view of why old films are so adored by previous
generations, and often makes one enjoy them more.
Acting 3 / 4
Writing 3 / 4
Cinematography 3.5 / 4
Music 3 / 4
HWF rating 3 / 4
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