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Memorable, crazy movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This is a short film promoting the forthcoming MGM feature film "The Dirty Dozen" (1967) and its star Lee Marvin. In London, "action guy" Marvin arrives for work on the new motion picture. The tough cast is introduced - they are so tough our narrator implies they willfully put their very lives in danger during the shoot. This is the roughest, most demanding of Marvin's approximately 100 film roles. Marvin is a pleasure to work with and makes everyone involved love the shoot...This hyperbole is accompanied by some good behind the scenes footage of "general" Robert Aldrich shooting some key scenes. During their time off, the stars go out to mod London and swing. The guys enjoy themselves on the town and "charge their batteries." Football player Jim "Jimmy" Brown is welcomed by all as a movie star. We're led to believe the actors loved risking their lives and crunching their bones so you can thrill to "The Dirty Dozen" from your seat in the cinema.**** Operation Dirty Dozen (1967) Ronald Saland ~ Lee Marvin, Fred Foy, Robert Aldrich, Jim Brown

The beginning of this short has LEE MARVIN reporting for work in London enroute to a filming location 17 miles northeast of the city where some of the early scenes for THE DIRTY DOZEN are being shot. In the film, Marvin plays the leader of a dozen prisoners selected to destroy a Nazi hideout who will be rewarded for their efforts.The narrator claims that Marvin considered it his toughest assignment to date, having to learn judo and commando tactics as the trainer of men at an army prison compound. The actors are shown doing a few strenuous stunts under the supervision of director Robert Aldrich, who has quite a job supervising all the equipment, tanks and crew needed for this project.For the final scene, destroying the Nazi headquarters, they move to a new locale where split second timing is needed for actor JIM BROWN, who has to set off the initial explosion. The castle, which took four months to build and six months of planning to destroy, is shown at the film's explosive climax.The actors are shown in town at the end of a six day work week, enjoying a meal and touring around the mod Carnaby street area of London before returning to work on the set.An interesting, all too brief look at film-making procedures.

What a film is and how it is marketed are usually different. The film itself is a comparatively raw take on war. A central element is the contrast between the British and German whores, and the burning alive of the latter with their masters in a makeshift furnace. The film also has some quaint cultural elements, especially the handling of race, but for Hollywood, it was quite a statement.But you can't sell statements. So we have this advertisement which emphasizes the mod scene of London. Both films have lost their punch as the culture has shifted. But this is most strange: essentially the Beatles and the new drug culture (strictly anti-war) are being used to promote a pro-war film!