The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988) (TV)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Lee H. Katzin

Writers (WGA):

Nunnally Johnson (characters in screenplay) and
Lukas Heller (characters in screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 February 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | War

Plot:

A team of renegade soldiers of World War II try to avoid the constitution of the IV Reich. |

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Sequel | TV Sequel To Theatrical Movie

Cast

Telly Savalas	...	Maj. Wright
Ernest Borgnine	...	Gen. Worden
Hunt Block	...	Joe Stern
Matthew Burton	...	Gen. Richter
Jeff Conaway	...	Sgt. Holt
Alex Cord	...	Dravko Demchuk
Erik Estrada	...	Carmine D'Agostino
Ernie Hudson	...	Joe Hamilton
James Carroll Jordan	...	Lonnie Wilson
Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini	...	Tim Ricketts (as Ray Mancini)
John Matuszak	...	Fred Collins
Natalia Nogulich
Heather Thomas	...	Lt. Carol Campbell
Anthony Valentine
Richard Yniguez		(as Richard Yñiguez)

Runtime:

Spain:100 min | USA:100 min

Country:

USA | Yugoslavia

Language:

German | Serbo-Croatian | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Zagreb, Croatia

Company:

Jadran Film

Trivia:

The dozen are armed with M3 submachine guns, called 'Grease Guns' because of their resemblance one.

Goofs:

Factual errors: A US WWII M1 steel helmet consists of two major parts, the outer steel shell which affords some ballistic and fragmentation protection together with the inner lightweight (non-steel) helmet liner. Telly Savalas wears the helmet liner without the steel shell - that would never occur in combat. It is a common Hollywood war movie cheat to reduce fatigue and strain on the actor's head and necks.

Movie Connections:

Features Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (1987) (TV)

Soundtrack:

In the Mood

Embarrassing dross of the highest order

It really was that bad. On a par with the (mercifully!) short-lived "Dirty Dozen" TV series that starred Ben Murphy and was made at around the same time (also on the cheap in Yugoslavia).

I was embarrassed for the cast members of this film - and for Telly Savalas in particular. He was waaaaaay too old and fat for the role (pushing 70 when he made this garbage), and the reviewer who draws parallels with Telly the Greek in this and John Wayne in "The Green Berets" pretty much sums it up.

Other reviewers have pointed out some of the many laughable howlers that this crime against celluloid contains, so I won't repeat them here. But I will add that I'm amazed that no-one's yet mentioned the ridiculously tiny-looking helmet that Savalas wears on his big, bloated head.

I'm also astonished that this trainwreck of a film has a rating as high as 4.7 here at IMDb.

As far as I'm concerned, it's a "1" right across the board. If you want a good example of why flogging a franchise to death really is a bad idea (especially 20-plus years after the original) - look no further than "The Dirty Dozen - The Fatal Mission".

Awful - avoid!!!!