Review of The Dirty Dozen (1967) by Chris W — 31 Mar 2010

If this isn't the definition of a 'man's movie', then I don't know what is. It's a rough, tough and entertaining story about a hard ass who trains a group of unruly death row inmates to take on a suicide mission on the eve of D-Day.

Besides swimming in testosterone, this film is littered with wry humor, and an anti-establishment attitude perfectly the era it was made during. Along with that are great perforances from one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled.

Marvin, Bronson, and Sevalas are brilliant, Cassavetes, and Brown show their chops, and Sutherland steals the show with his wonderfully screwball characterization. The direction is incredibly strong, as are the camera work and editing.

A lot of what is on display is pretty innovate and artistic for the time, and can be seen in many films to follow. I'm glad I finally got around to seeing this, because I now know where Tarantino gets much inspiration from, both in general and for his own WWII epic.

Bottom line: go out and see this-it's hard to dislike.