Play Dirty (1968)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

André De Toth

Writers:

Melvyn Bragg (screenplay)
Lotte Colin (screenplay)

Release Date:

1968 (UK)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | War

Tagline:

Forget the medals, throw away the rule book, if you want to survive.... Play Dirty

Plot:

The Dirty Dozen meet the Stiff Upper Lip. A British Petroleum executive (Michael Caine) is assigned...

Plot Keywords:

British Army | German Army | Oasis | Sabotage | Afrika Corps

Cast

Michael Caine	...	Capt. Douglas
Nigel Davenport	...	Capt. Cyril Leech
Nigel Green	...	Col. Masters
Harry Andrews	...	Brig. Blore
Patrick Jordan	...	Maj. Alan Watkins
Daniel Pilon	...	Capt. Allwood (Blore's adjutant at Special Forces HQ)
Martin Burland	...	Dead Officer
George McKeenan	...	Corporal at Quayside
Bridget Espeet	...	Ann
Bernard Archard	...	Col. Homerton
Aly Ben Ayed	...	Sadok
Enrique Ávila	...	Kalarides (as Enrique Avila)
Mohsen Ben Abdallah	...	Hassan
Mohamed Kouka	...	Assine
Takis Emmanuel	...	Kostos Manov (as Takis Emmanouel)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Arabic | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:15 | UK:AA (original rating) | Singapore:PG | West Germany:16 (f) | USA:PG (certificate #21963) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:M (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Lowndes Productions Limited

Trivia:

Nigel Davenport was first cast in a key supporting role, but upgraded to the second lead when Richard Harris was fired.

Quotes:

Capt. Douglas: ...How did the other English officers die?
Capt. Cyril Leech: Unexpectedly.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Harry Saltzman: Showman (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Tornerai

A virtually unknown British masterpiece from the 60's.

A virtually unknown British masterpiece from the 60's.

Its cynical and bleak portrayal of men in war is only matched by its lack of notoriety which is a shame considering how powerful the films message is. Admittedly Caine is a little wooden as the straight laced British Officer, but it is the much less known Nigel Davenport who steals the show as the hard bitten second in command. The films cynicism is the sum of it's ending which is suitably negative but still unsuspected. With all the flag waving war films out there its good to see the odd one which suggests the end never justifies the means.