ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

During World War II, Major Reisman is given the suicide mission to recruit and train hardened and condemned US military convicts to attack a critical German target behind enemy lines.

Major Reisman, "What do you think Sergeant?
Sergeant Bowren, " I think you'll do just fine, sir.
Major Reisman (emphatically)," Don't give me that! I said what do you think?"
Sergeant Bowren, looking at the trucks loaded with the prisoners as they embark to the training camp, "I think the first chance one of those lovers gets, he's going to shoot the Major right in the head....sir."
Major Reisman, "Thank you, Sergeant.

[scotpens]

[Pow]

Thanks, Scotpens, I corrected that error.

The Dirty Dozen is one of my favorite movies with a sensational cast. It has an epic scale to it, humor, action and well written directed.

Lee Marvin who had been a Marine in World War II and was wounded hated the film because it did not realistically depict war as he knew it.

I certainly respect his opinion. However, TDD is an entertaining film nonetheless in my opinion.

[Bud Brewster]

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One of my favorite scenes is this one.

Donald Suthereland is the poor witless guy that Lee Marvin orders to impersonate a general who's supposedly making a surprise inspection of the egotistical Robert Ryan's "crack troops".

Sutherland saunters slowly down the line of soldier standing at attention, wearing their white gloves and dress uniforms.

Donald stops in front one young guy who looks proud to be noticed by this high-ranking officer.

Sutherland: "Where ya from, son?"

Young Soldier (looking pleased by this high-level attention): "Madison City, Missouri, sir!"

Sutherland: (Shaking his head and looking unimpressed) " . . . Never heard of it."

The young soldier's proud smile evaporates and he hangs his head, crushed by the "general's" hurtful remark.

The scene is a great example of the humor which Pow praised in this movie.

__ The Dirty Dozen (1967) - Pinkley Plays General


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

After being given a description of the mission Major John Reisman is to undertake.

Major General Worden: What do you say, Major?

Reisman: It confirms a suspicion I've had for some time, sir.

Worden: Think we might share that suspicion?

Reisman: Since we are over here to try to win the war, it shouldn't be advertised that someone we work for is a raving lunatic.

[Bud Brewster]

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I was amazed to discover that YouTube had the full movie.
And the picture quality is very qood! _

Enjoy! _

____________________ The Dirty Dozen 1967


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

From IMDB.

The French chateau constructed for the film was designed by artistic director William Hutchinson and required a crew of 85 to build it.

It was one of the largest sets built for a feature film at that time. It was 240-feet across, 50-feet high. The gardens surrounding the chateau were 5,400-yards and consisted of 400-ferns, 30-spruce trees, and 6-fill grown weeping willows.

The chateau construction was so good that 70-tons of explosives would have been needed for its destruction in the finale. Instead, sections of it were rebuilt and made from cork and plastic.

Lee Marvin (USMC) provided technical assistance with the uniforms and weapons in order to create a realistic portrayal of combat. Marvin bitterly complained about the falsity of some scenes and strongly disliked the film.

Lee Marvin (USMC), Telly Savalas (Army), Charles Bronson (Army), Ernest Borgnine (Navy), Clint Walker (Merchant marines), Robert Ryan (USMC), George Kennedy (Army) all served in World War II.

Joseph Wladislaw (Charles Bronson born Charles Buchinsky) tells Major Reisman that his father was a coal miner from Silesia. Bronson's father was from Lithuania and was a coal miner in Pennsylvania. Bronson worked in the mines there as a boy.

Donald Sutherland was cast late in order to replace the actor who had left the film because he felt the role was beneath him.

It was originally scripted to have Samson Posey (Clint Walker) pose as a general who inspected Colonel Breeds troops. Walker felt uncomfortable with the scene and asked director Robert Aldrich if someone else could do it?

We never see the death of Posey in the film.

As a joke, Aldrich set up a scene placing Bronson who was 5'9" between 6'6" Clint Walker & 6'4" Donald Sutherland.
Aldrich laughed for ten minutes over Bronson's perturbed reaction to it all.

Bronson did not care for the film because he felt it was too violent. He walked out of the premiere.

Cleveland browns' fullback Jim Brown had his part beefed up by Aldrich because he (RA) was a big football fan.

Musician Trini Lopez demanded a bigger role or he'd walk off the film. Not wise to do this with director Robert Aldrich.
In retaliation Aldrich wrote Lopez's character out as having died from a broken neck after parachuting during the mission.

It's mentioned that it was an apple tree which was a dig at Lopez who had a hit at the time called Lemon Tree.

Many of the actors in the film were considered too old for their roles.

Lee Marvin felt that everyone was well cast in their respective roles.

Sergeant Clyde Bowren (Richard Jaeckel) is seen participating in the assault on the chateau even though he wasn't officially assigned to the mission. In a scene edited from the final print of the movie it was shown that Bowren secretly stowed away on the plane taking Reisman & the dozen to the chateau.

The opening credits to the film don't occur until about 12-minutes into the movie. This is a common practice nowadays, but in 1967 it was unusual.

Muhammad Ali visited the set when they were filming in England to see his friend Jim Brown.

The film's enormous financial success allowed Robert Aldrich to purchase his own film studio.

[Bud Brewster]

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Excellent post, Mike! I hereby award you the Silver Star!

Those trivia items are terrific, and I know everybody loves learning those facts about this fine movie.

Concerning Richard Jaeckel joining the group as a stowaway, I guess that means the The Dirty Dozen should actually be called —

The Dirty Baker's Dozen

— since that phrase means 12 + 1.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)