This is What Happens When You let Criminals Fight Nazis

Rating: 8/10 (30 March 2010)

A dangerous mission to infiltrate the Nazis has been planned. It means certain death. Who better to recruit than prisoners who have already been sentenced to death (or at least hard labor) for murder, rape and theft? These twelve men will become the Dirty Dozen.
The cast here is amazing. Lee Marvin, Telly Savalas as the psychotically religious Archer Maggott, Donald Sutherland as Vernon Pinkley, and even an early uncredited appearance by Dick Miller. Savalas really steals the show with his uncontrollable behavior. Can he denounce the army for its immorality but yet be commanded by God to rape? He thinks so.
I found the film a bit unbalanced, with more focus on recruiting and training than the actual operation. I could have used more Nazi bashing. ("Inglorious Basterds" has a similar theme about men recruited to infiltrate the Nazis, though they are generally not criminals -- but the focus there is more on the fighting, which pays off.) The recruitment is good, and the training is fine (establishing their "dirty dozen" name), I just think the divisions were slightly off.
A fine film, just the same. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who likes World War II flicks, or criminal rehabilitation, or Lee Marvin... or Telly Savalas. Really, it's a pretty great film.