Like the world championship football has shown, it’s very important that there is one team who all have the same goal (no pun intended). It takes time before each team member knows what he can expect of the rest and even longer before they work together as a team. If there is any friction in the team during the matches, chances to win are a lot smaller, as France has shown.
When the American army has to do a very difficult mission against the Germans in the second World War they ask Major Reisman to lead a team into this mission. When he hears that this team consists of soldiers that are on death row he’s not too thrilled to do it. Because of previous behaviour he has no choice, has to accept and will have to work with these 12 convicts.
The dozen is a difficult group, they do not trust each other and they definitely do not want to listen to Reisman’s orders. So it is a very difficult job to get the team ready for their mission. There are a lot of famous actors in the team, of which Telly Savalas (Kojak), Charles Bronson and Donald Sutherland are still well-known.
The movie is very enjoyable, with the group having fun, trying to do things they are not supposed to which slowly results in the group slowly morphing into a team.
The final mission, an attack on a castle in which high-ranking German officers are present, is very thrilling and has you watching it on the edge of your seat. It could have been even more thrilling if the editing was better. There are moments when shots are shown of something that’s about to happen, but after this it actually takes too long for that action to happen. Somehow the movie reminded me a bit of the A-team (the series), very enjoyable and it is clear the people had fun making it.
The Dirty Dozen has been an inspiration for more movies with the same concept, an example is the 1978 version of Inlgorious Basterds, which inspired Tarantino for his version. So after more than 30 years it’s influence can still be seen.
Score: 8