PLAY DIRTY (1968)
DIRECTOR:
Andre de Toth
CAST:
Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews, Patrick Jordan, Bernard Archard, Aly Ben Ayed, Enrique Avila, Mohsen Ben Abdallah, Mohamed Kouka, Takis Emmanuel and Scott Miler.
REVIEW:
At first glance, this English film from 1968 seems like a takeoff on “The Dirty Dozen”, but you’ll have soon forgotten that classic and been sucked into a story all-its-own.
In 1943, British Colonel Masters (Nigel Green, “Zulu”) runs a specialized commando outfit – he hires international ex-cons to carry out raids behind the German lines. Brigadier Blore (Harry Andrews, “Battle of Britain”) is displeased with Masters’ lack of success; but when Masters learns that the Germans have constructed a large fuel depot 400 miles away, Blore agrees to let Masters have one more try at a mission – only this, it must be commanded by a British officer. Captain Douglas (Michael Caine, “The Eagle has Landed”) is the only spare officer on hand, so he is given command of the unlikely “heroes”.
The script, written by Melvyn Bragg, Lotte Colin and George Marton provides a great story, and gives the leads plenty of room to work. Caine, now a veteran actor, is at his best as Captain Douglas. He’s quiet and laid-back, going with the flow and often leaving the major command decisions up to his second-in-command, Captain Leech (the underrated Nigel Davenport). Davenport is the real star, here, as the hard, cynical officer who doesn’t want interference from the regular army. He doesn’t have much of a past and isn’t living for the future, either – only for the moment. Survival is Leech’s goal, not much else matters in the harsh Sahara desert. The rest of the commandos are never given much to do, but the important conflict is between Douglas and Leech – it’s never really clear who’s in charge, and the two must work together if they want their mission to succeed.
There are plenty of unexpected obstacles which await these “commandos” in the desert. Should they trade with suspicious Arab nomads, or ambush them? How do they bypass a virtually 90-degree cliff? The tension builds and there are many surprises, possibly because the music and direction never hint at what’s coming next. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat simply because you don’t know what to expect or when something important may happen.
What’s interesting here is that de Toth is trying to get a point across. War is bad and, when put into tense situations, reason tends to get lost and urgency and instinct take over. The Allied fighting men are no more good or bad than their German adversaries. Two back to back scenes, the first involving the ambush of a British patrol and the subsequent burial of the dead, are stark and haunting. Most of the film was shot in and around Almeria, Spain, and the desert looks incredibly harsh – especially in the widescreen photography. To top such scenes off, de Toth ends them without cliché – the film’s final scene is one of the biggest, quickest surprise endings ever put to film.
“Play Dirty” is a fantastic anti-war picture, often overlooked by critics and the mainstream audience because of it’s lack of notoriety (due in part to the fact that it’s never had a domestic video or DVD release in North America). This is a well-made, entertaining film, one of the best sleepers in the genre.
SGT. SLAUGHTER'S RATING:
4 Bullets
