The Dirty Dozen

"Train them! Excite them! Arm them!...Then turn them loose on the Nazis!"

1967 2h 29m EN

🙌

7.6

BANGER

🍅

82%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.7

IMDB

★7.6TMDB · 1,381🍅82%Rotten Tomatoes●73Metacritic★7.7IMDB · 83,516

ActionAdventureWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

12 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.

“Train them! Excite them! Arm them!...Then turn them loose on the Nazis!”

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Cast

Lee Marvin
Maj. John Reisman
Ernest Borgnine
Maj. Gen. Worden
Charles Bronson
Joseph Wladislaw
Jim Brown
Robert Jefferson
John Cassavetes
Victor Franko
Richard Jaeckel
Sergeant Bowren
George Kennedy
Major Max Armbruster
Trini López
Pedro Jiminez

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Robert Aldrich
Writers: Nunnally Johnson, Lukas Heller
Languages: Latin, English, German, French, Spanish
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 8.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

59 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 5 languages: Latin, English, German, French, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Dirty Dozen Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Robert Aldrich, shot by Edward Scaife. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Luciano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Aldrich directs. Edward Scaife behind the camera. Frank De Vol scores. Michael Luciano cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in Latin, English, German, French, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 8.4× over at the box office.
259 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 5 languages: Latin, English, German, French, Spanish.
4International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
5Part of the "The Dirty Dozen Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Robert Aldrich, shot by Edward Scaife. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Michael Luciano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Train them! Excite them! Arm them!...Then turn them loose on the Nazis!".
11IMDB entry: tt0061578 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 19 themes, including "mission", "based on novel or book", "nazi", "secret mission".
13Released under 17 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Edward Scaife
Original score: Frank De Vol
Editing: Michael Luciano
Makeup / hair: Ernest Gasser
Sound: Franklin Milton
Stunt coordinator: Gerry Crampton
Runtime: 149 min · 2h 29m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $5,400,000
Box office: $45,300,000
Return: 839% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Rotten Tomatoes: 82% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 73/100
IMDB rating: 7.7/10 · 83,516 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 9 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Sound Editing

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

The Dirty Dozen Collection

An action war film series based on E. M. Nathanson's novel of the same name. The original theatrical film was released in 1967, and was followed by three TV movie sequels in the mid-to-late 1980s.

Also by

Robert Aldrich

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

talisencrw2016-08-14
★ 9/10
I loved this. Right up there with my favourite Aldrich films (though maybe 'Kiss Me Deadly' is still my number one), and of the greatest performances of both Lee Marvin and John Cassavetes (who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at both the Golden Globes and Oscars for his work here). This hearkened back to the heady times when if you got a great cast and director together, you were virtually guaranteed you'd come out of it, because of comparatively little studio interference, with a bonafide classic piece of cinema. People thought the studio system was broken and needed fixing, by films such as 'Easy Rider'? THIS, along with other fine Aldrich works from this period, age a lot better and hold up much finer today than Dennis Hopper's so-called 'masterpiece' and its ilk.
John Chard2019-01-02
★ 10/10
One of the most quintessential macho movies of all time. The Dirty Dozen is directed by Robert Aldrich and adapted for the screen by Nunnally Johnson & Lukas Heller from the novel by E. M. Nathanson. It stars Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Donald Sutherland, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Ryan and Jim Brown. 1944, just prior to D-Day. Major Reisman (Marvin) is a none conformist kind of guy and he riles the higher brass no end, so it comes as no surprise to him that he is the man assigned the unenviable task of assembling a suicide squad of army criminals for a mission to destroy a château in France. This particular château has no military value as such, but as it is used by many of the Nazi big chiefs, destroying it whilst they relax inside will upset the German plans immensely. But can this rag tag band of murderers, rapists and thieves shape up into something resembling a fighting force? Their reward, should they survive the mission, is amnesty, but Reisman for sure has his hands full on both sides of the war. "One: down to the road block, we've just begun.. Two: the guards are through.. Three: the Major's men are on a spree.. Four: Major and Wladislaw go through the door.. Five: Pinkley stays out in the drive.. Six: the Major gives the rope a fix.. Seven: Wladislaw throws the hook to heaven.. Eight: Jiménez has got a date.. Nine: the other guys go up the line.. Ten: Sawyer and Gilpin are in the pen.. Eleven: Posey guards points five and seven.. Twelve: Wladislaw and the Major go down to delve.. Thirteen: Franko goes up without being seen.. Fourteen: Zero-hour, Jiménez cuts the cable, Franko cuts the phone.. Fifteen: Franko goes in where the others have been.. Sixteen: We all come out like it's Halloween..." The Dirty Dozen has become one of those films that is a perennial holiday favourite like The Great Escape, Zulu and The Magnificent Seven. Which while it most definitely deserves such big exposure, it's a little surprising it's part of the holiday viewing schedules given its cynicism and amoral core, something which is one of the many great & intriguing things about Aldrich's testosterone laced movie. Met with mixed reviews on release, with the negative side of the fence bemoaning its nasty violence and preposterous plot, The Dirty Dozen none the less performed great at the box office where it was the fifth highest grosser of the year and the number one money maker in terms of profit to budget. Coming as it did during the middle of the Vietnam War, it was evident that the paying public quite easily bought into the thematics of it all. Over 50 years since it first lured people into the picture houses, Aldrich's movie shows no sign of aged frayed edges, or better still, and more remarkable, the enjoyability factors it holds has not diminished. What makes it a great film, then? First off is the all-star macho cast assembled by Aldrich and his team, big hitters like Marvin (stepping in when John Wayne balked at the script), Borgnine, Kennedy, Ryan and Bronson were already names to the public, but these are also supplemented by soon to be "stars" like Cassavetes, Sutherland and Savalas (also stepping into a role vacated by another, this time Jack Palance who didn't like the racial aggression of the character) & stoic performers like Jaeckel & Robert Webber. Into the mix is curio value with the casting of singer Trini Lopez and Gridiron star Jim Brown. Throw Clint Walker into the pot as well and you have got a considerable amount of beef in the stew! Secondly the film led the way for a slew of movies that featured bad guys as heroes, so with that Aldrich's film holds up well as being a hugely influential piece. Then thirdly is that not only is it intermittently funny as the violence explodes on the screen, but that it's also chocked full of action and adventure. All that and for those so inclined you can find questionable morals under scrutiny and see the "war is hell" banner firmly flown during the nastiness of the missions' culmination. Split into three parts - meet the guys - see them train - and then the mission, pic has been criticised for its lack of realism, but is that really needed in what is essentially a male fantasy piece setting out to entertain? Besides which, lets applaud it for acknowledging that brutality and atrocities were committed on both sides of the fence, rest assured, The Dirty Dozen still had enough edginess about it back in the 60s! It's also true enough to say that the characters, are in the main, stereotypes, and that the unravelling story is a touch clichéd, but these are men that men want to be (okay maybe not Savalas' religious maniac rapist!) and men that women can cast a flirtatious eye over - there's plenty of character here to hang your hats and undergarments on as they appeal to the inner rebel hidden away in many a viewer. The messages in here are not sledge hammered into the story (Aldrich always said he wasn't making a message movie, just a film about camaraderie and unlikely heroes), and the construction of the action is top notch from one of America's most under appreciated directors. It's nicely shot in 70mm MetroColor/MetroScope by Edward Scaife (Night of the Demon/Khartoum) and features a suitably boisterous music score from Frank De Vol (Cat Ballou/The Flight of the Phoenix). It's a far from flawless picture, of that there is no doubt, but it's loved by millions and continues to gain an audience yearly by those who are willing to view it on its own entertaining terms. As a boy I wanted to be Lee Marvin because of this film, as a middle aged man now, I still want to be Lee Marvin in this film. That's yet another reason why The Dirty Dozen is so great. 10/10
CinemaSerf2024-07-15
★ 7/10
Lee Marvin is charged with a mission to drum a dozen criminals and reprobates into some sort of cohesive military unit with a view to destroying an heavily guarded chateau that serves as a respite for high ranking Nazi officers. The challenge looks impossible as the band are assembled - a bigger crowd of cowards, thugs and zealots you would never hope to see; but with the assistance of his stoic sergeant (Richard Jaeckel) he manages to get the wacky zealot Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, Sonny Bono, Jim Brown and a woefully sleazy John Cassavetes to pull in the same direction. It's all good stuff, with plenty of humour to keep it all going nicely. Maybe a bit too long, but a good wartime action drama that builds well to a strong conclusion.