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People are voting emotionally.

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The sixties saw a slew of war films being made focusing on WWII with many that are still considered classics. Both THE GREAT ESCAPE and THE DIRTY DOZEN were made during this time. But with the Vietnam War losing steam and support and more anti-war protests going on it was only a matter of time before the two collided. This was the case with PLAY DIRTY.The war in Africa carries on and the allied forces are doing all they can to bring it to an end. Col. Masters (Nigel Green) has been sending out forays into the area and learning from them while casualties increase among those groups. He believes he has found Rommel's gasoline dump and wants to send in an elite group to take them out. While chastised by his superior Brig. Blore (Harry Andres) he's given the go-ahead and allowed someone who knows about gasoline depots to go along in charge. Once he leaves Blore presents the same concept and takes credit for the plan.Capt. Douglas (Michael Caine) is the unfortunate gas expert to go along. Relatively new to command he's an ex-British Petroleum employee. He meets with Masters and learns what his mission will be. He is accompanied by Capt. Cyril Leech (Nigel Davenport), a ruthless scoundrel more inclined to save his own skin rather than follow through with a mission. Masters agrees to pay Leech 2,000 pounds in return for Douglas' safe return.What follows is a rather lengthy trek across the desert with all that is included there. Sandstorms, an oasis and enemies galore attempt to prevent the motley crew from their goal. Each member of this group has some sordid past to contend with. Among them are murderers, traitors, rapists and a gay Arabian couple which I would think was quite controversial at the time. As proof of how despicable they are when they find a Red Cross truck for the Germans their first thought is to rape the nurse inside. One of the two Arabs stops this with Leech following up.Leech and Douglas have no use for one another. Douglas may not be a battle weary soldier but he knows his duty and follows through. Leech on the other hand is willing to go along until something better comes up. Along the way the combative duo eventually come to terms with their situation.Setbacks happen and problems force the team to rethink what to do next. Communications become impossible when their radio is damaged. Now on their own they continue to complete the mission, completely unaware that circumstances have changed and the higher ups now want the fuel left intact. These same men in charge feel that the task set for Douglas and his team is impossible and have no problem letting them be killed as acceptable losses. As a matter of fact they're counting on it. It isn't until the last portion of the film that the fate of Douglas and all in his command is revealed.I enjoy war movies as well as anyone. I realize that a number of them made during WWII were done as entertainment but propaganda pieces as well. Why would you want to make a war film during wartime that helped the enemy? But movies made following the war still carried on a somewhat patriotic flair to them which is not always a bad thing.The metaphors for the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement of the time had to eventually filter into the movies being made. While some of what happens in here is probably part true the movie at moments feels too over the top in its depiction of top level commanders seeking fame and glory at the expense of those beneath them. There were moments when watching that I wondered just who the bad guys in the story really were.As far as the movie itself is it is slow going. The trek across the desert moves at a snail's pace. The grit of the sand filling every uncovered inch of person and equipment can be felt while watching but the endless stretch of tan and brown doesn't make for exhilarating entertainment. The choice to focus on the two main protagonists of Douglas and Leech leaves the rest of the team relatively unknown with little or no dialogue with their dialogue extremely limited.In the end it was interesting to view from a historic aspect, a movie made against war about war, but I found little else to make me recommend this film to anyone but die hard WWII movie fans and Michael Caine fans. It's not something I'd go back to revisit.Twilight Time has released the film with their standard of perfection when it comes to the picture quality. Extras are limited to an isolated music and effects track and the original theatrical trailer. As with all Twilight Time releases copies are limited to just 3,000 copies so if you're interested make sure you get one before they're gone.

Other reviewers have noted some similarities of "Play Dirty" with the earlier blockbuster film, "The Dirty Dozen." I can see only two. Both films have military convicts make up a core group of combatants, and both have the word "dirty" in their titles. But for those, the two movies are vastly different. Perhaps the producers of this movie that premiered in January 1969 wanted to capitalize on the success of "The Dirty Dozen" that opened in June 1967. But the title for "Play Dirty" aptly fits the plot and script of this film. Most of the WW II movies I've seen about action in North Africa are of a gritty nature. The European theater obviously lent itself to war romances, dramas, espionage and thrillers as well as combat action. Not so, the war in Africa. It was gritty, with few places or instances or Allied nations with which to incorporate wartime diversions of love and drama. And, this film must be among the grittiest. Other reviewers describe the special unit that Michael Caine's character, Capt. Douglas, gets assigned to for a special mission. Of course, there were various small special operations by the Allies during the war. But did they have renegade bandit groups such as portrayed in this film that operated mostly on their own? Or any units made up of convicts? Given the total lack of discipline even among the officers here, I doubt very much that such a unit existed in the British Army. The special operations groups and others didn't use convicts and were highly disciplined. When this film came out, Caine had been a movie actor nearly 19 years. But it was only in the past four that he had starring roles. For the first 14 years of his career, he was in 40 films and played mostly bit parts, including many uncredited ones. But, his supporting role in the 1964 blockbuster, "Zulu," catapulted him in his film career. He soon was starring or co-starring in a variety of films including dramas, mysteries, comedies, romances and thrillers. This film is interesting in that Caine shares the spotlight with Nigel Davenport as Capt. Cyril Leech. In a few of his earlier films, Caine had bit parts in which Davenport had supporting roles. Caine and Davenport, and their relationship, are the substance of this movie. It's an interesting film with considerable desert action. The ending may surprise many, but I think it's perfect for this film. This is a good movie that should be in any serious war film collection. Here are some favorite lines. For more dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie. Brig. Blore, "Modern warfare has nothing whatsoever to do with the activities of Alexander the Great or Hannibal."Col. Masters, "It appears the Mujabra tribesmen have learned how to use the Brownie cameras I have supplied them with."Col. Masters, "War is a criminal enterprise. I fight it with criminals."Col. Masters, "Two men are going to stop Rommel. One of them is Adolf Hitler who cannot give him enough fuel, and the other is me, who's going to blow up the little he has."Brig. Blore, revising for himself what Col. Masters had said earlier, "Rommel's going to be defeated by two men. Adolph Hitler who can't give him enough fuel, and me, because I'm gonna blow up what little he has."Brig. Blore, "Oh, by the way, I'm sending a decoy group ahead of you. You know Masters' bunch?" Maj. Alan Watkin, "Not those gangsters, sir?" Brig. Blore, "Yes. They start off a day before you. Same route, same orders. If there's any trouble, let them catch it."Capt. Douglas, pointing to figures on a wall map, "Are those Rommel's positions, sir?" Col. Master, "No. Those are the positions of the Carthaginians in the year 215 B.C."Capt. Cyril Leech, "What's all this about?" Col. Master, "Brig. Blore is not very pleased with our record. He insists. We'll have to take him." Capt. Leech, "I'll take him." Col. Master, "If he doesn't come back alive, we're out of business." Capt. Leech, "Hmph. You're out of business." Col. Master, "You get well paid for these trips, don't you, Leech?" Capt. Leech, "Not really." Col. Master, "I'll give you a bonus if you get him back." Capt. Leech, "How much?" Col. Master, "Dead, nothing. Alive, 2,000 pounds." Capt. Leech, chuckling, "You just bought yourself an Englishman." Capt. Douglas, turning off jeep ignition after the driver turns left, "I said we go to the right." Capt. Leech, from the back seat, "That road was mined by the Italians a week ago. They don't put it all on the map." Capt. Douglas, "You play dirty, Capt. Leech." Capt. Leech, "The way to survive here is to watch, listen and say nothing. I play safe."Capt. Leech, "You want to forget the noble sentiments if you want to live." Capt. Douglas, "I'll manage." Capt. Leech, "Funny thing, survival."

Play Dirty (1969)You almost have to see this anarchic, nasty, selfish, brutal WWII movie as a comment on Vietnam, and on war. It's 1969. At first you think Michael Caine, for all his talent, is miscast, but the odd displacement of his character among a lot of very hardened, serious men is part of what works.This is not like any WWII you've seen. It's an odd mixture of hardship, tedium, humor, and straight up masculine grit. It's set in the Sahara, so dunes and sand and dry nasty weather rules. There is a mission at hand, and these men have to be unorthodox and ruthless to succeed. But there are long stretches of just traveling and conquering the desert, of going day after day through storms and lack of storms. There is also fighting amongst the men, a somewhat horrifying (and unnecessary) attempted rape, some bloody carnage of natives, and of Germans, a long twenty minutes of Fitzcarraldo heroics with some cables, and so on.But in the end, it really does capture something essential of war, including the nonsense of some of it, and the lack of rules, and the lack of personal safety that comes from chaos, and the difficulty of companionship and trust.

Not the best of war movies, and the type of story line that's been done before...However, I was fascinated to note that the screenplay was written by Melvyn Bragg who, in the 1990s, went on to produce a great documentary about the English language. How the world turns...Anyway – this effort does have some great and witty lines delivered by Caine and Davenport as the two rival captains on a mission to blow up a German petrol dump in the Libyan desert during the second world war's African campaign. On that basis, it's somewhat pedestrian – many scenes of travelling through desert areas, naturally; getting bogged down in the sand, naturally; meeting and killing Arabs at an oasis, naturally; and generally verbally fighting with each other, as each tries to assert their individuality.Where the narrative is different, however, is first, the twists in the story that produce some worthwhile surprises; second, the grittiness of the situations that serve to highlight the totally amoral attitudes of all concerned; third, the irony of the true nature of the German dump; and finally, the tongue-in-cheek chutzpah of the ending which, for me, almost turned the whole movie into a very long shaggy-dog story. I could imagine Bragg having a real giggle about it as he wrote it – and that's not maligning him at all.All of the main characters provide suitably professional performances, Caine once again with that disdainful and bored attitude reminiscent of his role in Zulu (1964) as Lt. Gonville Bromhead; Nigel Davenport gives a terrific performance (he outshines Caine, in my opinion) as Caine's rival; while the likes of Harry Andrews and Nigel Green exemplify the vacuous and glory-seeking nature of all military top brass. The standout performance, however, goes to Vivian Pickles as the German nurse who shows all the British soldiers what it means to stand up for your rights – not to be missed.As war movies go – perhaps anti-war – it's well done, but not without its faults, particularly some of the gaps in the narrative, sloppy editing and inexplicable jump cuts. Maybe, on TV, I saw a badly edited version to allow for too many commercial breaks? I'll assume so.Recommended for those who like war action.