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Dirty Dozen, The (HD DVD)
Warner Bros. // Unrated // September 26, 2006 // Region 0
List Price: $28.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"So what does that give you?"
"Doesn't give me anything. But along with these other results, it gives you just about the most twisted, anti-social bunch of psychopathic deformities I have ever run into! And the worst...the most dangerous of the bunch...is Maggott. You've got one religious maniac, one malignant dwarf, two near-idiots...and the rest I don't even wanna think about!"
"Well, I can't think of a better way to fight a war."
War is hell. The Cold War and the conflict in Vietnam wiped away Hollywood's romanticization of World War II, and 1967's The Dirty Dozen presents a world in which the only people capable of taking the depraved actions necessary to truly vanquish the enemy are murderers and lunatics. When it's discovered that a well-guarded French chateau is the regular meeting place of high-ranking German officers, the Army brass "volunteers" embittered Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin) to train a suicide squad of twelve convicts to storm the palatial house and butcher everyone in sight. A successfully executed mission means a commuted sentence, and as these men are faced with long prison stays or the hangman, the choice between certain death and near-certain death isn't a difficult one to make. Reisman's orders aren't easily carried out: these volatile men don't get along with each other, they share Reisman's revulsion of authority, and none of them are particularly competent soldiers. No one has any confidence in Reisman or his men, but be it out of a sense of obligation or just self-preservation, they work tirelessly -- bucking authority and unrelentingly frustrating stodgy generals along the way -- to prove everyone wrong.
Apocalypse Now it's not: The Dirty Dozen is a straightforward action movie, and although it has an unambiguously anti-war message, it's not weighed down by any ham-fisted messages or moral lessons. If director Robert Aldrich shot any footage that wasn't calculated to make the audience cheer, pump their fists, or laugh, it was left on the cutting room floor. I mean that in a good way, though. The general premise is fairly stereotypical, and the movie doesn't exactly boast the richest characterization, but it's a hell of an action movie, and sometimes that's really all that matters. The pacing is surprisingly nimble for a two and a half hour movie, and even with such a beefy runtime, there's not a moment that seems inessential.
The movie's greatest asset is its cast. John Wayne was initially considered for the part of Major Reisman, but it's such an iconic role that I can't imagine anyone but Lee Marvin taking the reins. Even considering Lee Marvin's impressive résumé, when I think of Marvin, I think of The Dirty Dozen, and vice versa. The Dirty Dozen portrays Reisman as embodying everything the military needs in a man that doesn't need the military: unflinchingly authoritarian, willing to disregard the rules if they stand in his way, but still keeping his men's best interests at heart. Unlike Wayne, he's not a man whose manner or actions scream patriotism or heroism, regardless of how the mission ends.
The 'dirty dozen' themselves -- so nicknamed because the soldiers bond over a refusal to shave with cold water and are then deprived of showers and shaving kits -- consist of an exceptional ensemble cast. Among the most notable characters are smartassed Victor Franko (John Cassavetes, nominated for an Oscar for the role), depraved religious zealot Archer Maggott (Telly Savalas), the proud black man he detests (Robert Jefferson, played by football star Jim Brown), laconic and disinterested Joseph Wladislaw (The Great Escape alum Charles Bronson), and awkward simpleton Vernon Pinkley (Donald Sutherland). The movie fleshes out these characters as much as the story demands and not a line of dialogue more, and it accomplishes this off without any meandering bonding scenes or dated montages. Some movies are defined by exceptionally strong characterization and quieter, more reflective character moments, but The Dirty Dozen doesn't need 'em or want 'em. Still, I can't think of another action movie off-hand where the climax has its heroes doing something so thoroughly repulsive. Bearing in mind how many of its characters are alleged murderers, The Dirty Dozen does a remarkable job humanizing them...making them likeable. There is some conflict in both wanting to see them succeed in their mission while still remaining horrified that they're torching a roomful of at least partially innocent Germans as they claw at the walls and frantically scream for their lives. The film recognizes this and doesn't take a heavy-handed stance either way, contributing to its unromanticized, hardly-stereotypical-Hollywood ending.
Even close to forty years after it first roared into theaters, The Dirty Dozen still stands out as one of Hollywood's best action flicks, and for those who've never gotten around to giving it a look, this is a movie worth discovering on HD DVD.
Video: The 1.75:1 high-definition presentation is inconsistent, although as film historian Robert Harris has confirmed, some of the presentation's eccentricities date back to the way The Dirty Dozen was originally assembled. Every moment with any optical work -- the opening credits, subtitles over the German dialogue, and, most frequently, dissolves from scene to scene -- the image heavily degrades. Since dissolves are used so frequently throughout the film, the softness that accompanies each transition starts to become a calling card that a scene is about to end. I'm used to older movies where the appearance of the image flutters immediately before and after a dissolve, but in The Dirty Dozen, the entire shot is affected, even if there's 30 seconds preceding the change. Color saturation is also variable throughout; some of this can be explained by the turbulent weather that made shooting in England such a hassle for the cast and crew, but even some of the interiors look unusually drab and lifeless compared to a handful of the more vibrantly saturated exterior shots. The source material appears to be in good shape, with speckling remaining light and unintrusive. The presence of film grain varies greatly throughout, and thankfully, no digital noise removal appears to have been applied to smoothen out its occasionally grainy texture.
This HD DVD is a mix of a few really extraordinary looking shots, a handful more that are disappointing, and the remaining majority falling somewhere in between. The Dirty Dozen may be the least immediately impressive of Warner's older catalog titles to date, but a glance at almost any moment of this disc makes it clear that this is an HD DVD and a far cry from what standard definition DVD has to offer.
Audio: The score by four-time Academy Award nominee Frank De Vol is by far the most prominent aspect of the disc's Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtack. Despite approaching its fortieth birthday, the score is in such immaculate shape that it almost sounds out of place over some of the grainier, more drab stretches of The Dirty Dozen, and its thundering drums resonate throughout the room even at a more modest volume. Other elements of the mix sound alright but don't impress in quite that same way. The surround channels are reserved primarily to reinforce the score along with some of the gunplay in the climactic siege on the chateau. Even with all of the gunfire and the megaton explosions near the end of the film, bass response for many of the sound effects can be uneven. Still, the mix met my expectations (and in the case of the score, greatly exceeded them), so I won't pretend to be disappointed.
The disc also includes subtitles in English, French, and Spanish along with a monaural Spanish dub and a six-channel French track.
Supplements: Far too often, it seems as if "special edition" is a studio codeword for "filler", but along with The Adventures of Robin Hood and Grand Prix, The Dirty Dozen is one of three classic films Warner Bros. simultaneously issued on HD DVD where almost all of the extras are compelling.
I say "almost" because one of the extras is the 1985 made-for-tv sequel The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission. Despite passing itself off as a sequel, it's more of a low-rent remake, marching in lockstep with the basic story of the original film without any of its skilled craftsmanship or charm. Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Richard Jaeckel reprise their roles in a movie set just a few short months after the original despite obviously having aged nearly two full decades. I guess war really is hell. This TV movie is pointless and borderline-unwatchable, and I especially wouldn't recommend trying to watch it back to back with the original Dirty Dozen.
The disc also features an audio commentary, piecemealing together comments by surviving cast members Jim Brown, Trini Lopez, Stuart Cooper, and Colin Maitland as well as producer Kenneth Hyman, novlist E.M. Nathanson, film historian David J. Schow, and "veteran military advisor to the movies" Captain Dale Dye. With such a wide variety of participants, it follows that a wide variety of topics and perspectives are covered, particularly some of the military inaccuracies in the film, numerous historical notes, changes made from the original novel in the screen adaptation, and the usual set of production anecdotes, including a shoot that ran so far overschedule that Trini Lopez felt obligated to drop out and continue pursuing his singing career.
Some of these same topics re-emerge in the half-hour documentary "Armed and Deadly: The Making of The Dirty Dozen". Unlike the making-of features on more recent films that are essentially extended trailers with lightweight interviews about how wonderful everything and everyone is, this anamorphic widescreen documentary isn't weighed down by any of that unnecessary filler. After covering the evolution of the project from the printed page to production, "Armed and Deadly" devotes most of its runtime to tales about then-recent Oscar winner Lee Marvin and eccentric director Robert Aldrich as well as the cast spouting off some of their favorite stories of their days on the set and how much of an impact The Dirty Dozen had on their careers. Especially for those not interested in investing two and a half hours in the disc's audio commentary, "Armed and Deadly" is essential viewing.
An even more extraordinary documentary is "The Filthy Thirteen: Real Stories from Behind the Lines". The original novel was based more on unverifiable stories than fact, but there was a strikingly similar ragtag group of soldiers who volunteered for a suicide mission that played a key role in the war. Led by Jake McNiece, 'The Filthy Thirteen', as they were dubbed, were a small group within the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. They weren't convicts, although some of them did have criminal records, and that went for McNiece himself who went AWOL because the lines to the bars and cathouses in town were too long for him to get any action. McNiece is a fascinating character, and there's something intriguing about a man in his 80s talking about volunteering for a mission with little-to-no chance of survival just because of easy access to co-eds and whiskey. I was pleasantly surprised by how comprehensive this documentary is; running 47 minutes, considerably more time is spent exploring the life and times of McNiece and his men than "Armed and Deadly" does The Dirty Dozen.
I'm fascinated by the way movie promotion has evolved over time, and this HD DVD includes both an anamorphic widescreen theatrical trailer and a vintage featurette titled "Operation Dirty Dozen". This 9 minute clip has some behind the scenes footage but seems more determined to paint the movie's cast as real action men on their downtime during the movie's shoot in London.
Though it's more of a curiosity along the same lines of The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission, also included is a half hour training film about leadership skills in the Marine Corps that was hosted by Lee Marvin shortly before his death. The last of the disc's extras is a three and a half minute introduction by Ernest Borgnine that's surprisingly comprehensive considering its short length.
Conclusion: Nearly forty years after its original release, The Dirty Dozen still manages to outclass almost every action flick released since, and it's one of a select few that can get away with a two and a half hour runtime. It's the Quint-smashing-a-beer-can-against-his-forehead of World War II action movies...a man's movie...but there's also a message to it beneath the semi-automatic weapons, sweat, and posturing. Great movie. Great extras. Inconsistent but generally solid visuals. Highly Recommended.
"Doesn't give me anything. But along with these other results, it gives you just about the most twisted, anti-social bunch of psychopathic deformities I have ever run into! And the worst...the most dangerous of the bunch...is Maggott. You've got one religious maniac, one malignant dwarf, two near-idiots...and the rest I don't even wanna think about!"
"Well, I can't think of a better way to fight a war."
War is hell. The Cold War and the conflict in Vietnam wiped away Hollywood's romanticization of World War II, and 1967's The Dirty Dozen presents a world in which the only people capable of taking the depraved actions necessary to truly vanquish the enemy are murderers and lunatics. When it's discovered that a well-guarded French chateau is the regular meeting place of high-ranking German officers, the Army brass "volunteers" embittered Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin) to train a suicide squad of twelve convicts to storm the palatial house and butcher everyone in sight. A successfully executed mission means a commuted sentence, and as these men are faced with long prison stays or the hangman, the choice between certain death and near-certain death isn't a difficult one to make. Reisman's orders aren't easily carried out: these volatile men don't get along with each other, they share Reisman's revulsion of authority, and none of them are particularly competent soldiers. No one has any confidence in Reisman or his men, but be it out of a sense of obligation or just self-preservation, they work tirelessly -- bucking authority and unrelentingly frustrating stodgy generals along the way -- to prove everyone wrong.
Apocalypse Now it's not: The Dirty Dozen is a straightforward action movie, and although it has an unambiguously anti-war message, it's not weighed down by any ham-fisted messages or moral lessons. If director Robert Aldrich shot any footage that wasn't calculated to make the audience cheer, pump their fists, or laugh, it was left on the cutting room floor. I mean that in a good way, though. The general premise is fairly stereotypical, and the movie doesn't exactly boast the richest characterization, but it's a hell of an action movie, and sometimes that's really all that matters. The pacing is surprisingly nimble for a two and a half hour movie, and even with such a beefy runtime, there's not a moment that seems inessential.
The movie's greatest asset is its cast. John Wayne was initially considered for the part of Major Reisman, but it's such an iconic role that I can't imagine anyone but Lee Marvin taking the reins. Even considering Lee Marvin's impressive résumé, when I think of Marvin, I think of The Dirty Dozen, and vice versa. The Dirty Dozen portrays Reisman as embodying everything the military needs in a man that doesn't need the military: unflinchingly authoritarian, willing to disregard the rules if they stand in his way, but still keeping his men's best interests at heart. Unlike Wayne, he's not a man whose manner or actions scream patriotism or heroism, regardless of how the mission ends.
The 'dirty dozen' themselves -- so nicknamed because the soldiers bond over a refusal to shave with cold water and are then deprived of showers and shaving kits -- consist of an exceptional ensemble cast. Among the most notable characters are smartassed Victor Franko (John Cassavetes, nominated for an Oscar for the role), depraved religious zealot Archer Maggott (Telly Savalas), the proud black man he detests (Robert Jefferson, played by football star Jim Brown), laconic and disinterested Joseph Wladislaw (The Great Escape alum Charles Bronson), and awkward simpleton Vernon Pinkley (Donald Sutherland). The movie fleshes out these characters as much as the story demands and not a line of dialogue more, and it accomplishes this off without any meandering bonding scenes or dated montages. Some movies are defined by exceptionally strong characterization and quieter, more reflective character moments, but The Dirty Dozen doesn't need 'em or want 'em. Still, I can't think of another action movie off-hand where the climax has its heroes doing something so thoroughly repulsive. Bearing in mind how many of its characters are alleged murderers, The Dirty Dozen does a remarkable job humanizing them...making them likeable. There is some conflict in both wanting to see them succeed in their mission while still remaining horrified that they're torching a roomful of at least partially innocent Germans as they claw at the walls and frantically scream for their lives. The film recognizes this and doesn't take a heavy-handed stance either way, contributing to its unromanticized, hardly-stereotypical-Hollywood ending.
Even close to forty years after it first roared into theaters, The Dirty Dozen still stands out as one of Hollywood's best action flicks, and for those who've never gotten around to giving it a look, this is a movie worth discovering on HD DVD.
Video: The 1.75:1 high-definition presentation is inconsistent, although as film historian Robert Harris has confirmed, some of the presentation's eccentricities date back to the way The Dirty Dozen was originally assembled. Every moment with any optical work -- the opening credits, subtitles over the German dialogue, and, most frequently, dissolves from scene to scene -- the image heavily degrades. Since dissolves are used so frequently throughout the film, the softness that accompanies each transition starts to become a calling card that a scene is about to end. I'm used to older movies where the appearance of the image flutters immediately before and after a dissolve, but in The Dirty Dozen, the entire shot is affected, even if there's 30 seconds preceding the change. Color saturation is also variable throughout; some of this can be explained by the turbulent weather that made shooting in England such a hassle for the cast and crew, but even some of the interiors look unusually drab and lifeless compared to a handful of the more vibrantly saturated exterior shots. The source material appears to be in good shape, with speckling remaining light and unintrusive. The presence of film grain varies greatly throughout, and thankfully, no digital noise removal appears to have been applied to smoothen out its occasionally grainy texture.
This HD DVD is a mix of a few really extraordinary looking shots, a handful more that are disappointing, and the remaining majority falling somewhere in between. The Dirty Dozen may be the least immediately impressive of Warner's older catalog titles to date, but a glance at almost any moment of this disc makes it clear that this is an HD DVD and a far cry from what standard definition DVD has to offer.
Audio: The score by four-time Academy Award nominee Frank De Vol is by far the most prominent aspect of the disc's Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtack. Despite approaching its fortieth birthday, the score is in such immaculate shape that it almost sounds out of place over some of the grainier, more drab stretches of The Dirty Dozen, and its thundering drums resonate throughout the room even at a more modest volume. Other elements of the mix sound alright but don't impress in quite that same way. The surround channels are reserved primarily to reinforce the score along with some of the gunplay in the climactic siege on the chateau. Even with all of the gunfire and the megaton explosions near the end of the film, bass response for many of the sound effects can be uneven. Still, the mix met my expectations (and in the case of the score, greatly exceeded them), so I won't pretend to be disappointed.
The disc also includes subtitles in English, French, and Spanish along with a monaural Spanish dub and a six-channel French track.
Supplements: Far too often, it seems as if "special edition" is a studio codeword for "filler", but along with The Adventures of Robin Hood and Grand Prix, The Dirty Dozen is one of three classic films Warner Bros. simultaneously issued on HD DVD where almost all of the extras are compelling.
I say "almost" because one of the extras is the 1985 made-for-tv sequel The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission. Despite passing itself off as a sequel, it's more of a low-rent remake, marching in lockstep with the basic story of the original film without any of its skilled craftsmanship or charm. Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Richard Jaeckel reprise their roles in a movie set just a few short months after the original despite obviously having aged nearly two full decades. I guess war really is hell. This TV movie is pointless and borderline-unwatchable, and I especially wouldn't recommend trying to watch it back to back with the original Dirty Dozen.
The disc also features an audio commentary, piecemealing together comments by surviving cast members Jim Brown, Trini Lopez, Stuart Cooper, and Colin Maitland as well as producer Kenneth Hyman, novlist E.M. Nathanson, film historian David J. Schow, and "veteran military advisor to the movies" Captain Dale Dye. With such a wide variety of participants, it follows that a wide variety of topics and perspectives are covered, particularly some of the military inaccuracies in the film, numerous historical notes, changes made from the original novel in the screen adaptation, and the usual set of production anecdotes, including a shoot that ran so far overschedule that Trini Lopez felt obligated to drop out and continue pursuing his singing career.
Some of these same topics re-emerge in the half-hour documentary "Armed and Deadly: The Making of The Dirty Dozen". Unlike the making-of features on more recent films that are essentially extended trailers with lightweight interviews about how wonderful everything and everyone is, this anamorphic widescreen documentary isn't weighed down by any of that unnecessary filler. After covering the evolution of the project from the printed page to production, "Armed and Deadly" devotes most of its runtime to tales about then-recent Oscar winner Lee Marvin and eccentric director Robert Aldrich as well as the cast spouting off some of their favorite stories of their days on the set and how much of an impact The Dirty Dozen had on their careers. Especially for those not interested in investing two and a half hours in the disc's audio commentary, "Armed and Deadly" is essential viewing.
An even more extraordinary documentary is "The Filthy Thirteen: Real Stories from Behind the Lines". The original novel was based more on unverifiable stories than fact, but there was a strikingly similar ragtag group of soldiers who volunteered for a suicide mission that played a key role in the war. Led by Jake McNiece, 'The Filthy Thirteen', as they were dubbed, were a small group within the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. They weren't convicts, although some of them did have criminal records, and that went for McNiece himself who went AWOL because the lines to the bars and cathouses in town were too long for him to get any action. McNiece is a fascinating character, and there's something intriguing about a man in his 80s talking about volunteering for a mission with little-to-no chance of survival just because of easy access to co-eds and whiskey. I was pleasantly surprised by how comprehensive this documentary is; running 47 minutes, considerably more time is spent exploring the life and times of McNiece and his men than "Armed and Deadly" does The Dirty Dozen.
I'm fascinated by the way movie promotion has evolved over time, and this HD DVD includes both an anamorphic widescreen theatrical trailer and a vintage featurette titled "Operation Dirty Dozen". This 9 minute clip has some behind the scenes footage but seems more determined to paint the movie's cast as real action men on their downtime during the movie's shoot in London.
Though it's more of a curiosity along the same lines of The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission, also included is a half hour training film about leadership skills in the Marine Corps that was hosted by Lee Marvin shortly before his death. The last of the disc's extras is a three and a half minute introduction by Ernest Borgnine that's surprisingly comprehensive considering its short length.
Conclusion: Nearly forty years after its original release, The Dirty Dozen still manages to outclass almost every action flick released since, and it's one of a select few that can get away with a two and a half hour runtime. It's the Quint-smashing-a-beer-can-against-his-forehead of World War II action movies...a man's movie...but there's also a message to it beneath the semi-automatic weapons, sweat, and posturing. Great movie. Great extras. Inconsistent but generally solid visuals. Highly Recommended.
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