Movie Review: The Dirty Dozen (1967)

The movie stars Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Sutherland, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and Jim Brown.

I was fighting some sort of bug the past few days and, on Sunday, finally had time to get some rest and get over it. Well, actually, I still had plenty I needed to do. But, it was pretty nasty outside so I figured I would procrastinate.

As I was resting, I remembered this movie was on Netflix. And, since it had been a while since I last watched it, I figured it was as good of a choice as anything else. I didn't regret that decision.

I think the most entertaining thing about this movie is the way the men under Maj. Reisman's (Marvin) command never become predictable. The men were in prison/facing execution for everything from a spur-of-the-moment decision to obvious mental health issues and, because of that, it was never a certain they would follow his orders to the letter or would ultimately betray him when it mattered.

Also, unlike a lot of older war movies, this one doesn't sugar coat the realities of war. Watching the heroes of the film crossing some lines, such as killing civilians, did give the film a bit of a sobering effect during the final battle. On one hand, you want the heroes to win. But, on the other hand, the movie does make you question whether or not they really went about achieving their mission in the right way.

I only have two real complaints about this film. The first is there is a bit too much lead-in to the final mission than I would prefer. Between the training sequences and the decision to let the prisoners take part in a war games activity, I realized their actual mission is really a very small part of this film. As a result, I would have liked to have seen less filler and more action.

I also thought Reisman was in desperate need of a better backstory. The movie makes it clear he has disciplinary issues himself. But, it never really fills in any of the details. I think it would have been good to have had some examples of why nobody wants him under their command even though he has been successful enough to reach the rank of major.

I don't watch a whole lot of war movies. But, this is a classic film that I'll make an exception for and I'm glad I took the time to watch it again this past weekend.

My Grade: A