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Redefining the WWII movie for a less trusting age, The Dirty Dozen became one of the biggest hits of the '60s. Robert Aldrich reflected the antiwar sentiments of the times with this tale of a suicide mission that a U.S. general assigns to a group of convicted murderers and rapists. Lee Marvin, wounded during the Battle of Saipan in real life, plays the officer responsible for training these psychopaths to go behind enemy lines and assassinate members of the German High Command. John Cassavetes also stars, and Aldrich allowed him to improvise much of his Academy Award-nominated role. The maverick actor then utilized the clout that he gained from this movie to produce his own highly regarded independent films. Reviled for its brutality upon its release, the movie now falls into the cycle of Vietnam-era revisionist films, such as The Wild Bunch and M.A.S.H., that changed American attitudes towards authority, making The Dirty Dozen one of the most important war movies of its generation. Ben Wolf

All Movie Guide

Director Robert Aldrich took what he considered a hopelessly old-fashioned script by Lukas Heller and Nunnally Johnson and fashioned The Dirty Dozen into one of MGM's biggest moneymakers of the 1960s--and the sixth highest-grossing film in the studio's history. Lee Marvin plays Major Reisman, assigned to coordinate a suicide mission on a French chateau held by top Nazi officers. Since no "normal" GI can be expected to volunteer for this mission, Reisman is compelled to draw his personnel from a group of military prisoners serving life sentences. This "dirty dozen" includes a sex pervert (Telly Savalas), a psycho (John Cassavetes), a retarded killer (Donald Sutherland), and the equally malevolent Charles Bronson, Trini Lopez, Jim Brown, and Clint Walker. On the dim promise of receiving pardons if they survive, the criminals undergo a brutal training program, then are marched behind enemy lines dressed as Nazi soldiers, the better to overtake the chateau and kill everyone in it--including the innocent wives and mistresses of the German officers. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 012569675247
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Language: English
• Time: 2:30:00
• Sales Rank: 6,097

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• World War II Collection: Battlefront Europe
• Kelly's Heroes / the Dirty Dozen
• WWII Battlefront Europe - TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection

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