Play Dirty (1969)

During the Desert War in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised in Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.

Director:

André De Toth (as Andre De Toth)

Writers:

Melvyn Bragg (screenplay), Lotte Colin (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

The Dirty Dozen meet the Stiff Upper Lip. A British Petroleum executive (Michael Caine) is assigned to work with the British Army in North Africa handling port duties for incoming fuels. This gives him the official rank of Captain in the British Army. The Colonel (Nigel Green) in charge of the Dirty Dozen is told he must have a British officer accompany his men on a dangerous mission 400 miles behind the German lines and is saddled with the Petroleum executive, who tries to argue his way out by saying that his contract states he is to only work port duties. That argument is lost on the Brigade Commander (Harry Andrews) who simply points out that the executive is wearing a British uniform. The real leader of the Dirty Dozen (Nigel Davenport), a released prisoner himself, doesn't need or want the British officer, who's supposed to be in charge, but he's promised an extra 2,000 British Pounds if he gets him back alive. Disguised as Italians, their trek across Rommel's Africa includes ...

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Plot Keywords:

british army | commando | desert | scorpion | world war two | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Arabic German

Release Date:

1 January 1969 (UK)

Also Known As:

Dai shinryaku

Filming Locations:

Cabo de Gata, Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lowndes Productions Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor) Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie is considered a "Dirty Dozen" influenced picture. Both movies' story-lines involve convicts going on a World War II deadly mission. This film even uses the word "Dirty" in its title like The Dirty Dozen (1967). Interestingly, this movie's cinematographer Edward Scaife was also the D.O.P. on The Dirty Dozen (1967).

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Goofs

Just before Capt Leech massacres the Arabs, he sees Capt Douglas' identity disc, which is shown tucked inside his unbuttoned shirt. Afterwards, his identity disc is now outside his shirt - presumably so that Capt Leech can rip it from his neck in one smooth move rather than having to reach inside his shirt to get to it.

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Quotes

Col. Masters: War is a criminal enterprise. I fight it with criminals.

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Connections

Referenced in Harry Saltzman: Showman (2000)

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Soundtracks

Tornerai
Music by Dino Olivieri
Lyrics by Nino Rastelli

User Reviews

Workmanlike fare – good but rather plodding at times

After yet another failed covert operation, a specialist unit is given one last chance to show success to account for losses. When the commander learns of an oil station many miles behind enemy lines it is selected for the mission. Capt Douglas is chosen to head the team of ex-criminals to carry out the destruction. However a large military unit is sent out behind them. When the military unit are all killed, Douglas is forced to abandon his training and become a little more like the un-gentleman-like Capt Leech, and play dirty.

I had only seen this film once almost 15 years ago and had reasonable memories of it. I watched it again today because of this memories and it goes to show that a good end to a film can wipe out everything else that you could remember. I loved the ending to this film – I won't even talk about why in case I spoil it because it loses it's impact after seeing it once. However the rest of the film isn't up to the same sort of value. As it is, the plot is very much a version of the Dirty Dozen but in reality it doesn't have any training or recruiting that film does but instead leaps straight into `the action'. I say `action' because, although it sustains the interest, it is a rather plodding film that is consistent but has no high points as a result.

The story is good but the delivery is one that is clearly meant to make a point rather than entertain in the way Dirty Dozen does. Caine is good in the lead – one of his `young officer' roles a la Zulu. However he doesn't have much in the way of chemistry with xxxx, really there needed to be a lot more friction and sparks between the two, sadly the tension between the two was only very basic. It is mostly Davenport's fault as I found him to be lacking in real screen presence. He easily had the best character but failed to dominate with it – also I found it distracting that he looked a little like Sean Connery, I assumed that Sean was unavailable. The support cast are unmemorable – whereas many people can name all the dirty dozen, none of these really make an impression – only the gay pair stick but mainly because of how surreal it feels in the setting.

Overall this is an OK film with a good ending. It is consistently fair and never really dips above or below that standard. Worth a watch once but don't expect it to bare anything other than a passing resemblance to the Dirty Dozen – certainly not in the same league entertainment wise.