Robert Aldrich’s iconic ensemble action movie is brimming with testosterone, redemption arcs, and more little gags than you would probably guess. Lee Marvin uses 12 no-hope inmates’ basic distrust of authority as glue to bind them, wind them up, and whips them into Nazi-slaughtering shape on a suicide mission. For some, freedom and redemption hang in the balance; for others, nothing much at all.

Let’s take it apart: Its struggle to balance so many Guys, cynicism about who really wins wars, why the hell Maggott is even here, the crappy TV sequels, and more.

References:

• Actor Jack Palance Won’t Play Racist for $141,000 (Jet, March 10, 1966)
• “What are We, Some Kind of Dirty Dozen?” by Finn Odum for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
• “The Dirty Dozen: Your Dad’s Favorite Movie Before FOX NEWS Got To Him” by Phil Kolas for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
• Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices!
• Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets
• Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog

#NazisWeHateTheseGuys #DCP

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Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “The Bramble Bush” by Trini Lopez from the THE DIRTY DOZEN soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 349: THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967)

3:08 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

7:29 - It's a lot of guys

12:28 - A movie with less action than training

25:47 - The Dozen’s total commitment to the mission

33:22 - The length, the pacing, the training segment with Breed’s team

41:47 - The complicated Major Reisman (Lee Marvin)

51:31 - Maggott…

1:02:06 - The Junk Drawer

1:09:25 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1967

1:13:57 - Cody’s Noteys: The Bird-y Dozen (ornithological terminology trivia)