“The Dirty Dozen,” first released in 1967, stands as an enduring – if still controversial – game-changing WWII movie.
“The Dirty Dozen,” first released in 1967, stands as an enduring – if still controversial – game-changing WWII movie.
In a starry movie year that included “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The Graduate,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “Cool Hand Luke” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” it ranked as the Number One film at the box-office.
Dwayne Epstein’s “Killin’ Generals: The Making of The Dirty Dozen” (Citadel Press, $28) takes its title from the last line in Robert Aldrich’s now-classic film and considers its roots in a bestselling 1965 book, the ensemble cast led by Oscar-winner Lee Marvin and its legacy.
Was it based on an actual assignment – or not? No one really knows whether a group of American soldiers imprisoned in the UK, some slated for execution, were given a suicide mission: To parachute behind enemy lines in France just prior to D-Day.
