The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985) (TV)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writers:

Lukas Heller (characters)
Nunnally Johnson (characters)

Release Date:

4 February 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | War

Tagline:

They're back... and deadlier than ever!

Plot:

Major Reisman is "Volunteered" to lead another mission using convicted army soldiers, sentenced to either death or long prison terms...

Plot Keywords:

Mission | Soldier | Convicted | Prison | Army

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	Maj. John Reisman
Ernest Borgnine	...	Gen. Worden
Ken Wahl	...	Louis Valentine
Larry Wilcox	...	Tommy Wells
Sonny Landham	...	Sam Sixkiller
Richard Jaeckel	...	MP Sgt. Clyde Bowren
Wolf Kahler	...	Gen. Sepp Dietrich
Gavan O'Herlihy	...	Conrad E. Perkins
Ricco Ross	...	Arlen Dregors
Stephen Hattersley	...	Otto Deutsch
Rolf Saxon	...	Robert E. Wright
Jay Benedict	...	Didier Le Clair
Michael John Paliotti	...	Baxley
Paul Herzberg	...	Reynolds
Jeff Harding	...	Sanders

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:PG | Singapore:PG | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 (video premiere)

Filming Locations:

Nene Valley Railway, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Company:

MGM/UA Television

Trivia:

The operation count-off is as follows: One: Sixkiller and Otto hop in the freight, the rest of us in position and wait; Two: The choo-choo stops for a brew, lowers the spout and Sanders comes out; Three: The engineer has life to fear, Otto and Sanders have their guns in the air; Four: The Major and Dregors are at the front door, Valentine and Le Clair support the rear; Five: We catch the krauts by surprise, we do our job and get out alive; Six: The Germans are caught in a bad fix; Seven: Demolition of the car by grenades, Baxley and Wells blow them to hell; Eight: The General and the devil keep their date, Wright and Anderson makes sure they're dead - everyone gets a bullet in the head; Nine: We board the train and take out the line; Ten: Kilometers more for The Dirty Dozen; Eleven: We turn the train over to our French friends - we're flown out and home again; Sixkiller only: And the army lets us out of the pen

Goofs:

Continuity: As the Dirty Dozen fly into France in a disguised C-47, one team member asks why they did not parachute in. Major Reisman replies that they have no parachute training and would likely die trying to parachute in. 20 minutes later, after the team tries to mutiny in the French church, there is a scene in which the entire team parachutes into France.

Movie Connections:

References The Dirty Dozen (1967)

More of a remake than a sequel.

This film is definitely more of a remake of the classic THE DIRTY DOZEN than a sequel. (Although the events here are said to take place in September 1944.) There's a lot of the same dialog as in the original movie and even the same type of characters! There's a Telly Savalas clone, a Jim Brown clone, a Charles Bronson clone, Marvin, Borgnine and Jaeckel reprise their original roles, and all three look about ready to drop dead on the set. At the time of filming, Marvin was about 60, Borgnine almosty 70 and Jaeckel is almost 60. All too old to be in combat operations.) You'll feel as though you're watching the same characters (meaning the 12, not the officers leading them) from the original, except played here by new actors. The mission is even similar: kill a Nazi general, rather than the many of the first movie. This time there is no character development and little training. (It's almost an hour shorter than the original film, too) The men land and trek across France, whining all the way, always about to rebel but turning to Marvin's widsom in the end. Same stuff as before. The climax was decent and I liked the action theme more than the music of the original movie.

I'd watch this only to see how badly a movie can be remade / followed-up when a studio tries to make money. Here they failed miserably. I paid $.50 cents to watch this at a rental store. It's not worth much more if you've seen the original 1967 film.