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The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Runtime: 2 hrs 48 mins
Synopsis: An all-star cast energizes Robert Aldrich's classic World War II action drama about a group of 12 American military prisoners assembled by tacticians and ordered to perform a suicide mission: infiltrate a well-guarded château and kill the Nazi officials vacationing there. The... An all-star cast energizes Robert Aldrich's classic World War II action drama about a group of 12 American military prisoners assembled by tacticians and ordered to perform a suicide mission: infiltrate a well-guarded château and kill the Nazi officials vacationing there. The incarcerated soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, jump at the chance to redeem themselves. Major Reisman (Lee Marvin), the noncriminal in charge of the group, whips the men into a crack unit, uses them to best the troops of his by-the-book superior officer, Colonel Breed (Robert Ryan), in war games, then leads the steely antiheroes on their perilous assault. The film is studded with standout performances, including Telly Savalas as a religious psychopath with a febrile animosity toward Germans and John Cassavetes in an Oscar-nominated portrayal as an insubordinate, poison-tongued hothead. Ernest Borgnine, Donald Sutherland, Charles Bronson, and football legend Jim Brown further round out the impressive collection of talent. Aldrich, who by the time of THE DIRTY DOZEN had been fathoming the darker side of life onscreen for more than a decade (KISS ME DEADLY, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?), scored a huge hit with this rousing thriller laced with a stinging cynicism perfectly in tune with the increasingly skeptical tenor of the times. [More]
Genre: Action/Adventure
Starring: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Robert Ryan
Producer: Kenneth Hyman
Screenwriter: Lukas Heller, Nunnally Johnson
Composer: Frank DeVol
DVD Info
Release:
May 4, 2008
Blu-ray Disc Features:
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 - English, French
- Dolby Digital Surround 1.0 - Spanish
- Subtitles - English, French, Latin Spanish - Optional
- Closed Captioned - English - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Trailers - 1. Theatrical Trailer
- Introductions - 1. Ernest Borgnine - Star
- Commentaries - 1. Jim Brown, Trini Lopez, Stuart Cooper, and Colin Maitland - Stars, Kenneth Hyman - Producer, E.M. Nathanson - Source Writer, David J. Schow - Film Historian, Capt. Dale Dye - Veteran Military Advisor to Movies
- Featurettes - 1. "Bonus Movie - THE DIRTY DOZEN: NEXT MISSION - The 1985 Sequel with Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Richard Jaeckel Reprising Their Original Roles"
- 2. "Armed and Deadly: The Making of THE DIRTY DOZEN"
- 3. "The Filthy Thirteen: Real Stories from Behind the Lines"
- 4. "Marine Corps Combat Leadership Skills - Vintage Recruitment Documentary Featuring Lee Marvin"
- 5. "Operation DIRTY DOZEN - Vintage Featurette"
Reviews
One of those movies in which you ask yourself, "So, who isn't in this movie?" The answer? Not many.
It's a cholesterol-free action-packed war drama and not a tale about an unsanitary egg carton.
...we expect action-adventure flicks to embroider reality. This one does so without stretching credibility to the breaking point and provides a good time in the process.
A macho male fantasy that still plays to the inner rebel in all viewers who harbor such a streak.
Upped the level of violence in cinema by leaps and bounds, and was a great movie, to boot!
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