The Dirty Dozen (1967)

Réalisateur:

Robert Aldrich

Scénaristes:

Nunnally Johnson (screenplay) and
Lukas Heller (screenplay) ...
(suite)

Date de sortie:

15 juin 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drame | Guerre

Accroche:

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

Intrigue:

A US Army Major is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead them into a mass assassination mission of German officers in World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Mission | Suicide Mission | Behind Enemy Lines | Nazi | Prisoner

Récompenses:

Won Oscar. Another 5 wins & 6 nominations

Avis des utilisateurs:

Excellent WWII Action Piece and Representation of 60s Pop Culture

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Nov. 27

4:30 AM

AMC

Ensemble

Lee Marvin	...	Major Reisman
Ernest Borgnine	...	General 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 (as Trini Lopez)
Ralph Meeker	...	Captain Stuart Kinder
Robert Ryan	...	Col. Everett Dasher Breed
Telly Savalas	...	Archer Maggott
Donald Sutherland	...	Vernon Pinkley
Clint Walker	...	Samson Posey
Robert Webber	...	General Denton
Tom Busby	...	Milo Vladek
Ben Carruthers	...	Glenn Gilpin
Stuart Cooper	...	Roscoe Lever
Robert Phillips	...	Corporal Morgan
Colin Maitland	...	Seth Sawyer
Al Mancini	...	Tassos Bravos
George Roubicek	...	Pvt. Arthur James Gardner
Thick Wilson	...	General Worden's Aide
Dora Reisser	...	German Officer's Girl
reste de la distribution par ordre alphabétique:
Gerard Heinz	...	Cardplaying german officer (uncredited)
John G. Heller	...	2nd German Sentry at Chateau (uncredited)
John Hollis	...	German porter at chateu (uncredited)
Hildegard Knef	...	(uncredited)
Richard Marner	...	German sentry at chateau (uncredited)
Dick Miller	...	MP At Hanging (uncredited)
Suzanne Owens	...	Prostitute (uncredited)
Frederick Schiller	...	Drunken German General (uncredited)
Richard Shaw	...	German Officer who seals the Bunker (uncredited)

Réalisé par
Robert Aldrich

Scénaristes
Nunnally Johnson		(screenplay) and
Lukas Heller		(screenplay)
E.M. Nathanson		(novel)

Produit par
Raymond Anzarut	....	associate producer
Kenneth Hyman	....	producer

Musique originale
Frank De Vol		(as De Vol)

Image
Edward Scaife		(director of photography)

Montage
Michael Luciano

Direction artistique
William Hutchinson		(as W.E. Hutchinson)

Maquillage
Ernest Gasser	....	makeup artist
Wally Schneiderman	....	makeup artist (as Walter Schneiderman)

Directeur de production
Julian Mackintosh	....	unit production manager

Assistant réalisateur
Bert Batt	....	assistant director

Département Art
Tim Hutchinson	....	set designer (uncredited)
Mickey Lennon	....	assistant property master (uncredited)

Technicien du son
Claude Hitchcock	....	sound recordist
Franklin Milton	....	sound recordist
John Poyner	....	sound editor
Van Allen James	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Effets spéciaux
Cliff Richardson	....	special effects supervisor
Alan Barnard	....	special effects (uncredited)
Jimmy Harris	....	special effects (uncredited)
Peter Hutchinson	....	special effects assistant (uncredited)
Garth Inns	....	special effects (uncredited)
Roy Whybrow	....	special effects (uncredited)
Jack Woodbridge	....	special effects (uncredited)

Cascadeur
Ken Buckle	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gerry Crampton	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Gerry Crampton	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jim Dowdall	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Dunne	....	stunts (uncredited)
Romo Gorrara	....	stunts (uncredited)
Loren Janes	....	stunts (uncredited)
William Offer	....	stunts (uncredited)
Terence Plummer	....	stunts (uncredited)
Nosher Powell	....	stunts (uncredited)
Mike Reid	....	stunt driver (uncredited)
Terry Richards	....	stunts (uncredited)
Rocky Taylor	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paul Weston	....	stunts (uncredited)

Caméra et Département Electrique
Alan McCabe	....	camera operator
Tony Spratling	....	camera operator
Chris Ashbrook	....	focus puller: second unit (uncredited)
Jim Dawes	....	grip (uncredited)
Dennis Fraser	....	grip (uncredited)
Paul Wilson	....	camera operator (uncredited)
David Wynn-Jones	....	clapper loader (uncredited)

Département Musique
Bob Bain	....	musician: guitar (uncredited)
Frank De Vol	....	conductor (uncredited)
Bronislau Kaper	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Miklós Rózsa	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Département Transport
Walter Lesley Tiley	....	truck driver (uncredited)

Divers
Angela Allen	....	continuity
Walter Blake	....	title designer: main title
Jim Dowdall	....	armorer (uncredited)

Companies de production

• MKH
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
• Seven Arts Productions

Distributeurs

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1967) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1967) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1967) (France) (theatrical)
• Filmipaja (1967) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1970) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1975) (USA) (theatrical)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1986) (Finland) (TV) (2005)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1990) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Entertainment (1991) (USA) (video)
• Warner Home Video (1993) (Finland) (video)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1996) (Finland) (TV) (1998) (2000)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Creative Design (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. Home Video (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Cinéma International Corporation (CIC) (1976) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1967) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Neue Visionen Filmverleih (????) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (2007) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Warner Home Video (????) (West Germany) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD) (HD DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Autres Companies

• Karma Transport  transportation

Durée:

150 min

Pays:

UK | USA

Langue:

Anglais | Français | Allemand

Couleur:

Couleur (Metrocolor)

Rapport de forme:

1,75 : 1

Son:

Stereo | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Classification:

USA:Approved (certificate #20802) | Iceland:16 | UK:12 (2006) | West Germany:16 (f) | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Australia:PG (cable rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1968) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating)

Lieux de tournage:

Aldbury, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Société:

MKH

Anecdotes:

Donald Sutherland was a late casting decision, replacing an actor who dropped out because he thought the role was beneath him.

Goofs:

Continuité: Towards the end of the film, the Major is shot in the shoulder as he drives across the bridge. He immediately grabs the shoulder with his left hand in the wide shot. In the next close-up, that hand and forearm are covered in blood, but when the shot widens again there is no blood.

Guillemet:

Pinkley: [impersonating a general] Very pretty, General. Very pretty. But, can they fight?

Connexions De Film:

Parodié dans "Sanford and Son: Sergeant Gork (#5.23)" (1976)

Bande son:

Einsam

Excellent WWII Action Piece and Representation of 60s Pop Culture

Acclaimed director Robert Aldrich (also famous to war film buffs for his rule-breaking drama, "Attack") twists the familiar 'unit picture' into a famous story of unexpected heroism in the midst of World War II. Instead of making his heroes clean-cut, American draftees, we're looking at the dirtiest convicts the Armed Forces has got to offer.

OSS Major Reisman (Lee Marvin, "Hell in the Pacific") is an insubordinate Army officer who's facing a court-martial, when he's given one last chance for a reprieve: select twelve Army prisoners from a maximum-security detention center, train them for a top-secret mission behind the German lines, and then lead them into battle. If they succeed in the mission, they'll be released. For Reisman, it's a tough call, but it's his only chance to save his career.

The men he was to work with are a mixed batch, and director Aldrich packs a lot of character development into a two-and-a-half-hour movie. The most important of the "Dirty Dozen" is Franko, a small-time Chicago hoodlum who's facing the gallows for robbery and subsequent murder of a British civilian. It's clear from the start that Franko is a loner who thinks he's big stuff, but Reisman manages to prove that he's really all talk. More than once, he considers and even attempts escape from the remote training camp that the Dozen are forced to build – but maybe, just maybe, beneath that rebellious attitude, there's a chance for redemption.

Then there are some more sympathetic types: Wladislaw (Charles Bronson, "Battle of the Bulge") was once a front-line infantryman who shot his platoon's medic when the medic got scared under fire and started running – Bronson says "He took off with all the medical supplies… only way to stop him was to shoot him." Jefferson (Jim Brown, "Ice Station Zebra") has been convicted for murder – his defense is he was defending himself from vicious, racist MPs who were abusing him. Wladislaw and Jefferson find themselves allied in order to get Franko on their side, because they have faith in Reisman and aren't willing to let Franko's rebellion become infectious.

Also in fine support is Clint Walker ("None But the Brave") as the big Navajo, Posey, who punched a man too hard for shoving him. He really didn't mean to kill him; he just doesn't like being pushed. Posey comes off as a cuddly teddy bear who'd never intentionally hurt a soul, and it's clear from the start that he's one of the good guys. Finally, Telly Savalas ("Kelly's Heroes") lends a hand as the psychotic, racist, religious fanatic Maggot, who believes his job is to punish the other 11 men for their "wickedness". His motives are never really clear; all we really know is that Maggot is somewhat unhinged and potentially dangerous.

Even though Reisman and his squad don't get along, they're forced to become allied against a common enemy – the American General Staff, who want to do nothing short of shut the operation down. Aldrich again breaks the rules, making the conventionally "good guys" into the enemy. The Germans are barely mentioned throughout the first two acts, and only become involved for the explosive finale. The heart of this movie is anti-establishment behavior, right in the vein of the protest culture of the 60s: the good guys are the unshaven criminals, and the bad guys are the clean-cut, well-dressed Generals who come across as stupid and vain. As Colonel Everett Dasher Breed, Robert Ryan ("Flying Leathernecks") makes an excellent bully, a villain that the Dozen eventually unite to take action against.

Once the men have been trained and are finally cooperating and acting as a unit, it's time to set them loose on the Nazis. And still, the story doesn't become stereotypical. The mission is simple: the men will parachute into occupied France, penetrate a château being used as a rest center for high-level German officers, and kill as many of said officers as possible in a short amount of time. This operation involves stabbing defenseless women, machine-gunning prisoners, and finally, locking several dozen German officers and their mistresses in an underground bomb shelter, pouring gasoline down on them through air vents, loading said air vents with hand grenades, and then blowing up the whole place.

Characters and story aside, the film benefits from some superb editing by Michael Luciano. Director Aldrich and cinematographer Edward Scaife work hand in hand to compose every shot. The cramped, dank prison cells in the first act are utterly convincing, and the layout of the huge, magnificent German-occupied château looks, quite appropriately, like a cross between a marvelous mansion and an impregnable fortress. The battle scenes are well-choreographed, too. Never does a moment go by where we do not know where one encounter is happening in relation to what the rest of the squad is dealing with in and around the Château. Frank de Vol's sweeping score is used sparingly, and adds to both the humor and suspense of the picture. One scene, in which Donald Sutherland's character "inspects" a platoon of the 82nd Airborne, is set to a live orchestra's performance perfectly.

War is a really a dirty business – this isn't a movie about men playing by the rules. It's about breaking every rule in the book to get a job done, and if a few innocent bystanders get in the way, they're simply collateral damage. On a higher level, Aldrich's film reflects culture attitudes of the late 60s. Moviegoers wanted a film which encouraged breaking the rules, which showed the higher levels of the American military as deeply flawed, and made the dregs of society into the heroes of the piece. It's a cynical representation of the time it was made in, but holds up flawlessly 40 years later, in a culture which has probably been shaped by the attitudes the film reflects in every frame.

10/10