The Dirty Dozen
Original film poster
Directed by	Robert Aldrich
Produced by	Kenneth Hyman
Written by	Novel: E.M. Nathanson Screenplay: 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	150 min.
Country	United States
Language	English French German
IMDb profile

1967 lobbycard set.

The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 World War II action-war film directed by Robert Aldrich, from the novel by E.M. Nathanson, featuring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson and Jim Brown. Though ostensibly about World War II, the story deals with contemporary 1967 themes of individualism vs. collectivism, cultural relativism, internal and external racism, and their meanings within patriotism and duty in war. Such themes obliquely refer to the Vietnam War. D12 (also known as D-12, The Dirty Dozen, D-Twizzy and Detroit-Twelve) is an American hip-hop group from Detroit, Michigan, which has had albums reach the top of the American, British, and Australian album charts: Devils Night in 2001 and D12 World in 2004. ... For the professional wrestling tag team, see Americas Most Wanted (professional wrestling). ... Image File history File links Dirty_moviep. ... Robert Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was a United States film director, writer and producer notable for a number of films including What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and The Dirty Dozen. ... E.M. Nathanson (1928- ) is the author of the 1965 novel The Dirty Dozen. ... Nunnally Hunter Johnson (December 5, 1897 - March 25, 1977) was an American filmmaker who wrote, produced, and directed films. ... Lukas Heller was a German screenwriter and winner of an Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Motion Picture for Hush. ... Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. ... Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino in Hamden, Connecticut on January 24, 1917[1][2] ) is a Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Award winning American actor. ... For other persons named Charles Bronson, see Charles Bronson (disambiguation). ... Jim Brown (born February 17, 1936) is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor and social activist. ... Frank De Vol (September 20, 1911 - October 27, 1999) was an American composer of film and television music. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Image File history File links Dirty12_set. ... Image File history File links Dirty12_set. ... Lauren steiger, born in 1992 at Royal Womens hospital started acting and modelling at the age of 2 and is now currently 15 working in Milan on the catwalks. ... The war film is a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. ... Robert Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was a United States film director, writer and producer notable for a number of films including What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and The Dirty Dozen. ... E.M. Nathanson (1928- ) is the author of the 1965 novel The Dirty Dozen. ... Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. ... Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino in Hamden, Connecticut on January 24, 1917[1][2] ) is a Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Award winning American actor. ... Aristotelis Telly Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was a prominent Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor whose career spanned four decades. ... For other persons named Charles Bronson, see Charles Bronson (disambiguation). ... Jim Brown (born February 17, 1936) is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor and social activist. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Plot

In England, in the spring of 1944, as Allied forces in the UK prepare for the D-Day invasion. Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin) is ordered to witness the hanging execution of a U.S. soldier. Reisman, an OSS officer, then meets with Regular Army Major General Worden (Ernest Borgnine). In the anteroom to the general's office, personal enmity surges when Maj. Reisman and Col. Everett Dasher Breed (Robert Ryan) confront each other. Land on Normandy In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. ... Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. ... The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency and was the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, the Special Forces, and Navy SEALs. ... The Regular Army is the permanent force of the United States Army or any Countrys army that is maintained during peacetime, as opposed to those persons who may be part of a reserve or national guard outfit. ... Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino in Hamden, Connecticut on January 24, 1917[1][2] ) is a Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Award winning American actor. ... Robert Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an Irish-American Oscar and Bafta award-nominated actor born in Chicago, Illinois. ...

Entering the meeting room, Maj. Reisman encounters friend Maj. Armbruster (George Kennedy) who advises him to mind his manners, establishing Reisman as an individualist. Tension further mounts when Gen. Worden has Reisman hold his salute for a long time, before acknowledging it. Reisman sits before a panel of staff officers; Gen. Worden reviews his service record, noting aloud: "Lots of fireworks", Worden notes ". . . . and very short on discipline . . . . very short on discipline"; yet his bravery and operational successes are commended, despite exceeding orders and insubordination. Maj. Reisman ironically comments, "I didn't write those reports." Asked to explain his meaning, he adds, "I'm only interested in results, not embroidery." The offended staff officers dress him down for impertinence. Afterwards, Reisman is assigned his mission: training twelve American soldiers (all either serving lengthy prison terms or on death row), attack a Wehrmacht target behind enemy lines, kill as many enemy as possible, and return to Allied lines. George Harris Kennedy, Jr. ...

Reisman asks what is the designated target, noting that if he is being offered leadership of the mission, it is reasonable to know the target's 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: a large château near Rennes, in Brittany, is used as a retreat for senior Wehrmacht officers. In preparation for the D-Day invasion, Maj. Reisman's commando team parachute in, kill the officers, and destroy the château, to disrupt the Wehrmacht chain of command against the D-Day invasion. The surviving soldiers will receive "special consideration for those who really distinguished themselves". The General asks the Major for comment: Château de Chenonceau in the Loire valley, France A rural château in France. ... Historical province of Brittany, showing the main areas with their name in Breton language The traditional flag of Brittany (the Gwenn-ha-du), formerly a Breton nationalist symbol but today used as a general civic flag in the region. ...

Worden: Well, what do you say, Major?

Reisman: I'd say it confirms a suspicion I've had for some time now, sir.

Denton: You think we might share that suspicion, Major?

Reisman: Yes, sir, I think you should. Since I'll have to assume that we're over here to try to win the war, I don't think it'll pay to advertise the fact that one of the men that we're working for has to be a raving lunatic.

The story proper, in three parts, begins: (i) the training, (ii) an FTX (field training exercise) wherein the Dozen prove their soldierly worth and (iii) the suicide attack on the château.

The individualists who are the dozen convicts are shown to mature, grow and coalesce in to a team, at one point resolving to not shave or bathe until given hot water, hence, becoming The Dirty Dozen. Later, they prove their regained military value in an FTX that suits Major Reisman's professional and personal goals in his feud with Colonel Breed. In the course of the first part, the soldiers represent the good, bad, and mediocre of American society during the war time shown. Yet director Aldrich's themes are externally directed at the current American war against Communist Vietnam.

The team demonstrates its unity with the operational count-off: "One: down to the road block, we've just begun; Two: the guards are through; Three: the Major's men are on a spree; Four: Major and Wladislaw go through the door; Five: Pinkley stays out in the drive; Six: the Major gives the rope a fix; Seven: Wladislaw throws the hook to heaven; Eight: Jiménez has got a date; Nine: the other guys go up the line; Ten: Sawyer and Gilpin are in the pen; Eleven: Posey guards points five and seven; Twelve: Wladislaw and the Major go down to delve; Thirteen: Franco goes up without being seen; Fourteen: Zero-hour, Jiménez cuts the cable, Franco cuts the phone; Fifteen: Franco goes in where the others have been; Sixteen: we all come out like it's Halloween."

Landing in France, they discover themselves short one man; Jiménez broke his neck in the parachute jump. They approach the château gate in German uniform, shooting (with silenced pistols) and knifing the guards, commando-style. Wladislaw and Reisman enter the château as guests, register and go to their room, where they let in several men, but the plan goes awry when a German woman walks into the room where Maggot is hiding. He pokes his bayonet to her throat, pushes her out to the hallway. Yielding to his sadism, he urges her to scream, then stabs her. Downstairs, the Wehrmacht officers mistake her death scream for passion, only Maggot's gunfire alerts them of the attack. Panic ensues, and is aggravated by Gilpin's (Ben Carruthers) exploding the rooftop radio-telephone antenna, killing himself in the process. The Germans flee to an underground bomb shelter; Wladislaw and Reisman lock them in.

Resorting to plan-B, they seed the shelter's air vents with hand grenades, then pour gasoline down the vent shafts; Jefferson is assigned to run to each vent, drop a live grenade, and escape. The German officers and their women will be incinerated alive, a brutal tactic in the Nazi style. Meanwhile, most of the Dirty Dozen are killed by snipers and German soldiers counter-attacking from the main road. Fighting their way out, Maj. Reisman, Wladislaw, Sgt. Bowren (Richard Jaekel) and Franco escape in a German heavy half-tracked transport (hot wired by the criminally-resourceful Franco); Reisman, Bowren and one of the Dirty Dozen, Wladislaw, survive the suicide mission after Franco having boasted that they've made it before getting shot in the back by a surviving German soldier. The SdKfz 7 is a half-track military vehicle used by the German Army in WWII. SdKfz 7 Development of the SdKfz 7 can be traced back to a 1934 requirement for an eight-tonne (7. ...

The conclusion shows the generals, who earlier berated Maj. Reisman, suddenly proud of him, saying how glad they are that "you made it back"; prompting Reisman and Sgt. Bowren to smirk over to Wladislaw, who replies: "Killin' generals could get to be a habit with me".

Cast

Wladislaw and Reisman (Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin), disguised as German officers.

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

Image File history File links 200755. ... Image File history File links 200755. ... For other persons named Charles Bronson, see Charles Bronson (disambiguation). ... Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. ... Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. ... Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino in Hamden, Connecticut on January 24, 1917[1][2] ) is a Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Award winning American actor. ... For other persons named Charles Bronson, see Charles Bronson (disambiguation). ... Jim Brown (born February 17, 1936) is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor and social activist. ... John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929–February 3, 1989) was a Greek American actor, screenwriter, and director. ... Richard Jaeckel Richard Hanley Jaeckel (October 10, 1926 - June 14, 1997) was an American actor. ... George Harris Kennedy, Jr. ... Trini Lopez (born May 15, 1937) is a Mexican-American singer and guitarist. ... Meeker as Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly Ralph Meeker (November 21, 1920 - August 5, 1988) was a film actor who appeared as Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly. ... Robert Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an Irish-American Oscar and Bafta award-nominated actor born in Chicago, Illinois. ... Aristotelis Telly Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was a prominent Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor whose career spanned four decades. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Norman Eugene Clint Walker (born May 30, 1927) is an American actor best known for his cowboy role as Cheyenne Bodie in the TV Western series, Cheyenne. ... Robert Webber (October 14, 1924 - May 19, 1989) was an actor who starred as Juror #12 in the 1957 hit movie 12 Angry Men. ... Tom Busby (1936–2003) was a British actor and agent. ... Robert Phillips (born April 10, 1925; age 82) was an American actor who portrayed the Space Officer seen in Star Trek: The Original Series : The Cage and later in The Menagerie, Part II. In the movie The Dirty Dozen, he was Corporal Morgan, the MP Guard who asked who is...

Reception and criticism

For the 1960s, The Dirty Dozen was an unconventional, extremely violent war movie. The violence shocked Midwesterner Roger Ebert, who, in his first year as a movie reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote: Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ... The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago. ...

Truth or fiction?

• As a preface to the novel, author E.M. Nathanson states that he heard of a legend of men like these, but found no record of it. As stated in both the movie and the book, it would be exceedingly unlikely that anyone would be able to take a group of violent sociopaths with an inborn hatred of all authority and transform them into a disciplined, motivated and highly skilled commando unit that willingly embarks upon what can best described as a suicide mission. It is felt that much of the popularity of the film (then and now) stems from the audience strongly identifying with the trouble making, boat rocking Major Reisman who proceeds to pull off the impossible much to the chagrin of the brasshats.
• Executions for capital crimes in the U.S. Army at that time were not uncommon, though the most famous U.S. military execution, that of Eddie Slovik, was the only one for the crime of desertion. HMP Shepton Mallet prison was entirely staffed by American military personnel during this period. Under the provisions of the Visiting Forces Act of 1942, a total of eighteen American servicemen were executed within the prison walls. Sixteen were hanged in the execution block and two were shot by firing squad in the prison yard.
• Though there are frequent rumors of the existence of such units, The Dirty Dozen is based on the Filthy Thirteen, a small group of airborne demolition experts whose story was documented by a book by the same name.^[1] Unlike the Dirty Dozen, the Filthy Thirteen was not a unit composed of convicts, though some in the unit had criminal records. The leader of the Filthy Thirteen was Jake McNeece who wrote the book. He has lectured all over Europe, especially during D-Day celebrations (50th and 60th anniversary). He lives in Oklahoma. He retired as a Private as he was continually demoted for insubordination.

The military of the United States has executed 160 soldiers and other members of the armed forces between 1942 and 1961 (these figures do not include German prisoners of war, war criminals and saboteurs executed by military authorities between 1942 and 1951). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Shepton Mallet Prison HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a prison located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. ... A Visiting Forces Act is a law governing the status of military personnel while they are visiting within areas under the jurisdiction of another country and/or while forces of one country are attached to or serving with forces of another country, and may also apply to some foreign nonmilitary... The Filthy Thirteen was the name given to the 440th Troop Carrier Group. ...

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Although Robert Aldrich had tried to buy the rights to E.M. Nathanson's novel "The Dirty Dozen" while it was just an outline, MGM succeeded in May 1963. It was a best-seller on publication in 1965.

• The château was built especially for the production, by art director William Hutchinson, it was 240 ft. wide and 50 ft. high, surrounded with 5,400 sq. yds. of heather, 400 ferns, 450 shrubs, 30 spruce trees and 6 weeping willows.

• Construction of the faux château proved too good. 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.

• The Jiménez (Trini López) character was to have been heroic, igniting the dynamite that would destroy the château.

• Lee Marvin (Marines), Telly Savalas and Charles Bronson (Army), Ernest Borgnine (Navy) and Clint Walker (Merchant Marine) all served in World War II.

• Donald Sutherland was a late inclusion, replacing the actor who quit, because he thought the role beneath him.

• Robert Aldrich was told he could win a best-director Oscar if he deleted the scene of Jim Brown dropping hand grenades into the bomb shelter vents. The scene was controversial, because a Black man was killing white Germans (including women) locked inside the cellar. Aldrich considered it, but let it remain to show that war is hell.

• Jack Palance refused "Archer Maggot" role, Telly Savalas's character.

• Major Reisman was based on John Miara, of Malden, Massachusetts, who was a close friend of Lee Marvin, while both served in the Marine Corps during WW II.

• Trini López's character was killed early after his agent unwisely demanded more money. Instead of conceding, director Aldrich killed the character.

• Jim Brown's character is named "Napoleon Jefferson" in the original U.S. trailer.

• In the "Last Supper" scene, Maggot is in the Judas traitor position, foreshadowing his betraying the team during their mission.

• Jim Brown announced his retirement from professional football during the filming.

• Lee Marvin, a WWII combat veteran, provided technical assistance with uniforms and weapons to create realistic portrayals of combat, yet bitterly complained about the falsity of some scenes. He thought Reisman's wresting the bayonet from the enraged Posey to be particularly phony. Aldrich replied that the plot was preposterous, and that by the time the audience had left the cinema, they would have been so overwhelmed by action, explosions, and killing, that they would have forgotten the lapses.

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Jack Palance (February 18, 1919 - November 10, 2006) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. ...

References