A dress rehearsal for "M*A*S*H"

Rating: 6/10 (17 June 2013)

"The Dirty Dozen" moves ensemble war movies a few giants strides in the direction of "M*A*S*H" (1970). Zany march music plays as the anti-heroes gallivant around causing an almost uncomfortable amount of chaos. The movie is darkly comedic, irreverent, and strangely gruesome. The characterizations are cliché and the plot is predictable from the outset, but it is fun to see actors like Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas in full madcap mode. Still, "The Dirty Dozen" doesn't do enough to distinguish itself among 1960s war films. We'd had World War II romps before that were richer in emotion and loftier in tone, like "The Great Escape" (1963), and "M*A*S*H" would soon go to in the opposite direction to illustrate the insanity of war. "The Dirty Dozen" is caught in between and is perhaps chiefly interesting as a stepping stone.