The 1960s' Version of World War II

Rating: 8/10 (15 September 2009)

Robert Aldrich's hugely entertaining WWII film channeled through the anti-establishment sentiments of a 1967 America.
Lee Marvin plays a troublesome Army major who's given the assignment of training a bunch of convicts for a suicide mission behind German enemy lines. Half of the film is a precursor to Army comedies like "MASH" and "Private Benjamin," complete with hijinks and wargames. The second half, which shows the actual mission put into play, turns serious and contains the film's most unsettling commentary on war. What these murderers and rapists are asked to do by the military is almost too heinous even for them, yet the ones who survive are commended by the very people who treated them like scum before.
The Dirty Dozen of the film's title is comprised of a host of recognizable faces like Donald Sutherland (superb as a dimwit), Charles Bronson (surprisingly good; I never gave him much credit for being a good actor), Telly Savalas (grossly overplaying his murderous religious fanatic character), John Cassavetes (Oscar-nominated) and Clint Walker (built like a brick s*ithouse!). The Army brass is played by Ernest Borgnine, George Kennedy and Robert Ryan, who gets a chance to show off his comedic side as Marvin's arch rival.
This film, and especially its last half, provided much of the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's latest (and also very good) WWII film, "Inglourious Basterds."
Grade: A