CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Cortechba Overrated

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

HotToastyRag Play Dirty is quite possible the worst war movie I've ever seen, and considering I've seen a lot, that's saying something. Unless you like terribly upsetting films that don't seem to serve a purpose, I can't really recommend it.Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, and Harry Andrews star in this Desert War film, involving British soldiers, Italian soldiers, North African terrain, and Nazis. There are sneak attacks and plans and supposedly suspenseful scenes, but all of that is overwhelmed by the upsetting violence and treatment of the one female character who inexplicable finds her way into the middle of the soldiers' camp. You can only imagine what atrocities befall her. I'm sure it's a very realistic representation, but it's hardly fitting to be included in a film that's meant to entertain.Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to upsetting violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it. Also, there may or may not be a rape scene.

Michael O'Keefe Andre De Toth directs this lumbering war drama. Michael Caine plays Captain Douglas, a British army officer in North Africa, that is ordered to lead a mission in the desert. Brigadier Blore(Harry Andrews)wants a German fuel reserve knocked out but he doesn't trust Colonel Masters(Nigel Green)with the task after failing several times doing so. Douglas is chosen to lead mercenaries in this latest mission; but Cyril Leech(Nigel Davenport), a war experienced mercenary, is hired to guide Captain Douglas and his motley band into the desert. Needless to say Douglas and Leech don't really have any use of the other since their methods are so polarized. Nazis are on their trail and Brigadier Blore has sold them out. But Douglas and Leech managed to put up a heroic fight after arriving at the German fuel dump. Some decent war action with a few strange characters to watch. The finale is unexpected. Also featured in the cast: Bernard Archard, Mike Stevens, Enrique Avila, Aly Ben Ayed, Mohsen Ben Abdullah, Scott Miller and Vivian Pickles.

DKosty123 I am impressed with this British production. The landscapes look much like the Mirsch produced Rat Patrol produced a couple of years earlier though that is not a problem.Michael Caine is good in a story of a group whose assignment is to blow up a German Fuel Dump. The group gets lost and put behind due to a lot of circumstances that combine to put them way behind.By the time the group reaches their goal, the Germans are in full retreat and the British want to capture the fuel intact. The British command even puts out orders to kill the group.This is a solid film though I always wonder about whether or not the forces for both sides really had as many trucks and jeeps in World War 2 as are depicted here. Still, it fits into the war drama mold pretty solidly with a good script.

lost-in-limbo After a string of failures, Col. Masters is given one last chance by General Blore with his information taken from behind enemy lines, which involves blowing up a Nazi fuel depot in North Africa. Masters gets a seven-man unit of criminals ready, led by mercenary Captain Leech, but Blore wants a British officer in charge and Captain Douglas with his oil experience gets picked. After they head off, we learn that they're a decoy for another patrol to fulfil the assignment, but this is unknown to them. Leech and Douglas clash over who's in command, but Leech sees Douglas' honoured methods aren't well suited for their situation and lets Douglas string them along, as there's a money reward for him if he returns back with Douglas alive.What hits me straight away is the comparisons to Robert Aldrich's 1967 film "The Dirty Dozen", which gets unfairly lumped onto this feature. Honestly this low-key WW2 British production has some similarities, but it has its own story to tell and it's a real good one too. Andre De Toth's direction is resourcefully efficient and randomly unpredictable in detailing the plight.What George Marton's originally cunning story does, is leave behind all of those slapdash clichés. Looking for something more compact, taut and venomously scathing. It's so open minded, it's hard to tell what's going to occur next and while there might not be much background to these characters. This shows how expendable these men are when at war, but the lack development can be put down to the character themselves. Their here for the present, and they got a job to be done and there's not time for personal insight, because they just don't care. The custom pattern that occurs in a jaggedly slow tempo feels deliberate by trying to get the viewer to experience the rugged path that could lead to their impending doom, before even encountering the enemy. These are the moments when the tension really holds up. Glory and principal is discarded in very cynical fashion, in favour of primal instinct for one self. These are a unlikeable bunch. Exciting entertainment this is not, because it stays pretty level with the film's natural grit, devious intentions and lack of reasoning for the mission. Thrown in are one or two daring and unusual aspects, like the two candidly gay Arabs. The bone-dry script (penned by Melvyn Bragg and Lotte Colin) simply grits its teeth with bitter, ironic and stern dialogues that snaps with tersely realism. You can just see why this wasn't a commercial success (say like Aldrich's war film), and the sourly unrewarding and sudden conclusion is the icing on the cake. I liked this final curve-ball.The harshly barren and dusty terrain depicts the unsparing tone of the film superbly with Edward Scaife's illustratively expressive camera-work skilfully mixing its scenic and upfront shots within the aim of the story's actions. Michael Legrand's understated music score is goes by virtually unnoticed, but this only heightens the tension because there's no real cues. Most of the music comes from a radio playing on the journey. De Toth gustily demonstrates convincing action scenes. They might be quick and few, but when they happen it's chaotic, rough and relentlessly staged with conviction. Just look at the eruption of explosions towards the dying end. His pacing can be off and get rather padded, but he never loses what his trying to say within these scenes and actually they probably add more to wearily sparse tone. Michael Caine and Nigel Davenport do a serviceable job in their parts and the pair's edgily unsure relationship is quite a compelling one. Caine's professionally stout and well-judged performance as Captain Douglas works fine and a slyly hard-boiled performance by Nigel Davenport as the rogue Captain Leech is that of high quality and the pick of the lot. Living it up in minor roles are Nigel Green and arrogantly gusto turn by Harry Andrews. The rest of the support roles pale in the light of the two leads. However they are solid and gritty performances that fit the mould.This one undeservedly gets left in the dark, but this hardy effort is a well made and acted war piece due for rediscovery. Recommended.