Based on a novel of the same name by E.M. Nathanson,
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film based on what was once thought a real group called 'The Filthy Thirteen'. Directed by Robert Aldrich of
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? fame, this pre D-Day WWII movie tells a captivating story of twelve convicts recruited specifically for a top secret mission. With the promise of their sentences being commuted, the long serving felons agree to take part in a pre-invasion mission to infiltrate and attack a meeting of dozens of high rankingNazi officers in order to reduce German response to D-Day. Filmed entirely in England and starring Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Jim Brown and John Cassavetes, the film was received by critics as both bold and gruesome, and considered controversial in its very explicit depiction of the horrors of war. While it may not be a lighthearted watch,
The Dirty Dozen is certainly a
Cockpit USA classic not to be missed.
