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Holistic Guidance - The Dirty Dozen
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List Price: $12.98
Our Price: $8.99
Your Save: $ 3.99 ( 31% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Starring: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes
Directed By: Robert Aldrich
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781419811050
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 1419811053
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2005-05-03
Running Time: 150
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1967-06-15
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Editorial Reviews:
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A group of conscripted convicts, most already destined for death row, are drafted to go on a near-suicide mission with the understanding that if the Nazis don't kill them, the U.S. Army won't, either. In the hands of hardboiled director Robert Aldrich and a tough-as-leather cast headed by Lee Marvin (as a troublesome U.S. Army major), that's all the plot that's needed to make one rip-roaring World War II action flick. Marvin's mission is two-fold: first turn his dozen prisoners into a fighting unit and then turn them loose on a French chateau occupied by partying German officers. His crime-minded charges include John Cassavetes as a chronic malcontent, Telly Savalas as a ready-to-blow psycho, Donald Sutherland as a lame-brained lummox, and Charles Bronson and then-just-retired NFL superstar Jim Brown as a couple of clutch performers. The first half of the film allows the colorful cast of character actors to have their fun as they get their tails whipped into shape and develop shaky bonds with their commander. The second part is all action, as the culprit commandos wreck havoc and then run for their lives. Despite the fact that few of the "heroes" survive the bloodbath, the message here isn't that war is hell. Rather, it seems to be: war can be a hell of a good time... if you've got nothing to lose. --Steven Stolder
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Classic
Comment: This is a classic movie that I saw in the theater, when it first came out. I just had to have a copy for my collection. The movie is just as good now as it was then.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Wreckless Redemption"
Comment: After I read the book, I had to see this movie. How would this all- star cast of moviedom's all-time tough guys, Marvin, Bronson, Borgnine, Savalas, Casavettes, put on a production and not overshadow each other? Well, they did so beautifully, and we have an extremely entertaining movie, as Marvin who is trying to redeem himself with superiors is given a suicide mission that he must execute with a troop of dangerous criminal types and murderers. It is unforgettable and entertaining, to say the least.
Customer Rating:
Summary: THE DIRTY DOZEN
Comment: SERVICE WAS FAST . THIS ALL - TIME CLASSIC WAS JUST GREAT IN HD. DVD . A MUST BUY IN HD. OR BLU-RAY .
Customer Rating: 
Summary: I've always prefered The Devil's Brigade
Comment: I remember seeing this film when it originally played in the theaters in the summer of 1967 (the same summer as my favorite Bond Film, You Only Live Twice.) While I liked it a lot, especially the performances of Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, who I was already a big fan of from "The Great Escape" and "Battle of the Bulge," I was never that thrilled with the action sequences. I much preferred "The Devil's Brigade," which was a much more exciting film, much larger in scale and actually had some truth behind it (although, of course, many aspects were Hollywoodized.) It also had a terrific cast starting with William Holden and Cliff Robertson and was directed by action veteran, Andrew V. Mclaglen. It has always been unfairly accused of being a Dirty Dozen rip-off. As stated, I think it is far superior and would loved to see it released on blu-ray.
Customer Rating:
Summary: THE DIRTY DOZEN is not a great film.
Comment: Let's set the record straight. THE DIRTY DOZEN is not a great film, not even a great WW II flick. It is a fantasy on every level, from Donald Sutherland masquerading as a visiting general inspecting the troops to the impossible insubordination of the "dirty dozen" belting other G.I's and holding their commander at bay with machine guns. How about Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson passing themselves off as real Germans at a
Nazi chateau party without being detected. Or Lee Marvin, again, firing a real machine gun at a soldier's rear to train him to climb up a rope. Give me a break! What the movie is (if you are willing to suspend your belief) is simply a very fun entertainment. Everybody wants to root for the underdog and we, the audience, grow to sympathize with these down and out renegade soldiers, losers who blew it in life and get one more chance to redeem themselves. (Not to say, of course, that a suicide mission gives them much to look forward to). The cast is stellar, the acting competent and the dialogue is often over the top (John Cassavetes really gets into his role, like when he yells in defiance he will not obey an order to cold shave: "NO SIR! I WILL NOT SHAVE")! My satellite network shows this movie sometimes twice a week, yes, twice a week, and when it's on I'll invariably watch it. The story moves and although fanciful, you wonder what inane pranks will follow. Telly Savalas as the psycho GI is unique to WWII military movies as is Jim Brown doing what he did best on the football field.
I must add this. The Warner Brothers version I purchased was a disappointment. The print appears to be an old theatre print with faded
colour, magenta skin tones and numerous image sequences streaming with lots of dirt. WARNER, which typically has the highest DVD transfer standards in the industry, just didn't seem to care about getting this one right. From my reading of other reviews, however, the double DVD special edition set is superior. I suggest you buy that and not the WARNER 2005 version that I've just written about. Overall, THE DIRTY DOZEN is a real romp, kind of what HOGAN'S HEROES was as a German prisoner of war camp. Entertaining but YOU BELIEVE THIS?
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