A War Story About A Nearly Impossible Mission

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2016)

There have been plenty of films about small groups of soldiers pitted against superior forces or given special training to achieve a seemingly impossible task. And many of those films involved ragtag misfits given a chance to avoid far worse ends than death in battle.
But "The Dirty Dozen" is notable for its less biased portrayal of Americans at war. Unlike the war films produced during WWII, "The Dirty Dozen" paints both sides of the conflict with the brush of realism. We see American soldiers commit crimes and act out of malice.
Another notable aspect of the film is that one of the dozen was portrayed by Jim Brown, active NFL running back. As an Ohio native and a fan of Brown (and the Cleveland Browns), it was novel to see the athlete--certainly one of the best athletes of all time and the best running back ever by most accounts--on the big screen.
The story, which portrays the hellish nature of war, including the slaughter of noncombatants, still has a humorous side. The dozen, who are recruited for a mission behind the German lines, have no respect for authority or discipline. Their recruiter (Lee Marvin) uses novel ways to gain their respect and to convince them that he values them as men and soldiers. On one occasion, he imports prostitutes into the training camp for their entertainment. And the men display cleverness and outside-the-box thinking (something most soldiers have drilled out of them) to prove their mettle and earn the chance to attempt the mission.
As in detailed bank heists, Marvin trains his men thoroughly and tests them repeatedly. But things never go exactly as planned. During the mission, they have to be creative.
In an odd way, this film probably appeals to those who like films of wartime and those who possess more anti-war sentiments. The all-star cast is largely responsible, though the story is certainly engaging.