Dirty Dozen (Blu-ray)

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There are times when a movie can review itself by title alone. "The Dirty Dozen" is one of those films. How many people honestly do not know about Robert Aldrich´s incredible film "The Dirty Dozen"? There are other times when a film´s cast is so strong, that the plot can hardly matter. Lee Marvin. Ernest Borgnine. Charles Bronson. Jim Brown. Telly Savalas. Donald Sutherland. This is an absolutely stellar cast and I didn´t even mention always funny George Kennedy. The fact is, I don´t really need to review "The Dirty Dozen" to push or pull anybody towards watching the film. This isn´t "Lucky Number Slevin," a film that was easily one of the best in 2006, but missed by far too many. This isn´t "The Marine," a film that can harm an adolescent for life if they are subjected to it. This is "The Dirty Dozen," one of the greatest war movies ever made.

However, there are people out there that have lived sheltered lives and never actually seen "The Dirty Dozen" and may think it has something to do with a large family and their children who have poor personal hygiene habits. "The Dirty Dozen" is the story of an Army Major, John Reisman (Lee Marvin), a hard nosed major that finds himself in trouble with his superiors when he refuses to follow certain army regulations and engage in activities that are to the chagrin of his superior officers. To keep from facing a strong discipline, Reisman is volunteered into a very risky operation that is to occur before the large invasion of Normandy. He is to take twelve convicted felons that are former Army soldiers and train them for this operation and succeed, regardless of cost. To get these twelve soldiers to embark on the mission, Reisman is allowed to dangle reinstatement into the military and amnesty from their crimes.

After being given the assignment from Major General Worden (Ernest Borgnine), Reisman finds a motley crew of misfits who have committed crimes ranging from murder to theft. Joseph T. Wladislaw (Charles Bronson) has the ability to speak the German language. Robert T. Jefferson (Jim Brown) is the lone African American of the group; a problem considering the German´s views towards on Anglo-Saxon persons. Victor R. Franko (John Cassavetes) has a serious problem with seniority and with Reisman. Archer J. Maggott (Telly Savalas) is a racist who doesn´t much care for Jefferson and doesn´t care much for helping his fellow members of the "Dirty Dozen." Vernon L. Pinkley (Donald Sutherland) takes nothing serious and pushes Reisman to the limits of his patience with his antics. These are just some of the misfits that must work together and help Reisman murder as many high ranking German officers at a large French Chateau before the Normandy invasion.

"The Dirty Dozen" is simply a classic film and has a classic cast. Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson were serious badasses in their day and their characters are representative of their personalities. This dirty dozen of soldiers who do not shave and do not bathe succeed purely because of the strength of their cast. Lesser known actors such as Trini Lopez and Richard Jaeckel do not spend as much time on-screen as their more famous co-actors, but they hold their own nicely when they are given screen time. Much of the draw and desire to watch "The Dirty Dozen" is purely for the strength of the famous cast. Some of these actors have passed away and we are no longer entertained by them in new films, but it is these timeless classics like "The Dirty Dozen" that allows to forever enjoy and remember them.

The story itself is very nicely done. The band of misfits do not like one another and do not want to spend much time with one another during the early stages of the film. Through strenuous work and difficult situations, Lee Marvin´s character brings them together and the hard laborious training the Dirty Dozen is subjected to is a truer look at basic training than most other military films. The crack teams methods of defeating their competing team during a training exercise is the film´s more lighthearted act and allows the audience to relax and enjoy themselves before the film´s third and final act. The Dirty Dozen has bonded and share a brotherhood and they enjoy their new skills as elite soldiers. This is not long lived, as the film´s climax may not be the most engaging combat sequence in cinematic history, but the film´s brutal honesty in systematically eliminating the members of the Dirty Dozen is something you do not routinely see. In most films, the heroes win. In "The Dirty Dozen," the heroes learn the harsh reality of war and that is the fact that people die. When the third act reaches its conclusion, there is no doubt in knowing that the audience has just watched a classic film.

Video:
"The Dirty Dozen" is presented in a finely detailed and great looking 1.85:1 transfer. The VC-1/1080p compressed image brings new life to this forty year old film. Before thinking this is the end-all, best looking catalog title of all time; I must inform you that it is not. The overall look of "The Dirty Dozen" is very good, but it is not without its blemishes. There are certain amounts of film grain and scratches that are a result of the older source materials. Some of the scene transitions are also noticeably soft, but this lengthy two and a half hour film finds the vast majority of its running time looking absolutely fantastic. The film´s color was remarkably vivid. I had honestly expected a lot of the film looking washed out and about as exciting as Green Drab. It easily exceeded my expectations and even little elements such as the red and blue armbands of the film´s second act were wonderfully done. Contrast is good and black levels are good. There are times when the blacks were not as deep as I would have hoped, but this was not a hindrance to the overall enjoyment of the film. "The Dirty Dozen" won´t unseat the amazing "The Searchers," but it is an above average transfer for an older catalog title.

Sound:
The English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is another solid aspect of this Blu-ray transfer. "The Dirty Dozen" is not as aggressive and dynamic as today´s war films and extremely mild and tame when compared to the audible assaults heard in "Saving Private Ryan" or "Letters From Iwo Jima," but it is better than expected for a forty year old film. The film´s final climax is the audible showcase of "The Dirty Dozen" and the explosions, gunfire and theatrical score are all powerfully done and inhabit not just the three primary speakers, but the rear surrounds and the .1 LFE subwoofer. Though much of the film´s running time, the front speakers handle most of the load, but when the familiar musical score populates the soundtrack, it comes alive. The overall sound spectrum is handled valiantly by the remastered soundtrack. Higher range sounds sometimes feel harsh, but the rest of the sound range has no problems what-so-ever. Dialogue is overly clear and the "Dirty Dozen" are never dirty in their vocals. If you aren´t expecting a modern soundtrack, then you will certainly not be disappointed by "The Dirty Dozen."