It's judgement day, sinners!

Rating: Null/10 (27 July 2011)

Robert Aldrich directs "The Dirty Dozen", an intentionally morbid and sadistic war film which attempts to run WW2 era combat iconography through a certain Vietnam Era prism.
And so in Aldrich's hands, Allied soldiers become a band of murderers, rapists, racists, criminals and thugs, who outsmart their foes with underhanded methods and embark on a mission to ruthlessly slaughter both unarmed Nazis and German civilians, all of whom are caged within a European château.
At its best, the film forces you to reassess typical WW2 "boys adventures" ("The Great Escape", "Where Eagles Dare", "The Guns of Navarone" etc), with several uncomfortable passages involving a near-demonic Telly Savales and the cold slaughter of German officials. But despite its typical early 60's "anti establishment", "anti military", "anti government", "anti religion", "pseudo nihilistic", "anti everything" stance, and its vein of anarchic, oddball humour, "The Dirty Dozen" ultimately functions along the same lines as more conservative WW2 adventures. Our criminal heroes are too handsome, too endearing, we too heavily identify with them, and their last act slaughter becomes a moment of redemption rather than condemnation. In short, like his later war film, "Too Late The Hero", the mythology Aldrich hopes to desanctify here remains sanctified.
"The Dirty Dozen's" held up better than most of its big budget "men on a mission" siblings. Actors Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Ernest Borgine and John Cassavetes in particular do nothing but dispense memorable moments. Still, the film's ultimate worth boils down to how much irony you attribute to Aldrich's macho bloodiness and glorification of war crimes.
8/10 – Worth one viewing. For similar fare, see the counterculture war-comedy, "Kelly's Heroes". See too Cox's "Walker" and Pontecorvo's "Burn!".