OK, this movie is sooo far out and divorced from reality, that I wasn’t going to mention it, but if post Kelly’s Heroes and Where Eagles Dare, why not?
Synopsis - a group of 12 US army convicts with life (or death - pun intended) sentences is given a choice - die in prison with dishonorable conduct on your record or participate in practically suicide mission to blow up the German high command in France during a ball in a French castle (yeah, and this is the BELIEVEABLE part) before the invasion. Of course, they all accept, go through a rigorous training, have to prove themselves during war games, complete the mission with a 90% casualty rate.
I saw the movie in Poland in 1979 (I think it was released in 1967), and it was an absolute hit. It’s well made, fast paced, and has the The Cast for an adventure movie
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Directed by
Robert Aldrich
Writing credits
E.M. Nathanson (novel)
Nunnally Johnson (screenplay) …
(more)
Tagline: Train them! Excite them! Arm them!..Then turn them loose on the Nazis!
Plot Outline: 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.
User Rating: 7.7/10 (8,693 votes)
Cast overview, first billed only:
Lee Marvin … Maj. John Reisman
Ernest Borgnine … Maj. Gen. Worden
Charles Bronson … Joseph T. Wladislaw
Jim Brown … Robert T. Jefferson
John Cassavetes … Victor R. Franko
Richard Jaeckel … Sgt. Clyde Bowren
George Kennedy … Maj. Max Armbruster
Trini López … Pedro Jiminez (as Trini Lopez)
Ralph Meeker … Capt. Stuart Kinder
Robert Ryan … Col. Everett Dasher Breed
Telly Savalas … Archer J. Maggott
Donald Sutherland … Vernon L. Pinkley
Clint Walker … Samson Posey
Robert Webber … Brig. Gen. Denton
Tom Busby … Milo Vladek
It doesn’t hurt that Bronson plays, well himself ( a polish-american, raised in the coal country in Pennsylvania, in jail for shooting an officer who was running away under fire with the only first aid kit. 8) a perfect Saturday night guy movie.