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Play Dirty (1969) - Footage Included
Play Dirty - Available on DVD in the U.S.
Director: Andre De Toth
Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews, Patrick Jordan
A selection of shots from Play Dirty.
Released two years after The Dirty Dozen the film, based on the novel by George Marton was unfairly deemed a knock off upon release. Admittedly the premise of a squad of criminals hired as mercenaries sent on a suicide mission is a similarity but even when its themes echo Alderich’s classic, De Toth’s compelling staging, British casting and sheer gusto make it a standalone gem.
Right from the opening frames (See clip below) it is evident we are in for a treat. An army jeep careens across the endless African desert at speed. A radio in the back blares French songstress Lili Marlene as Captain Cyril Leech (Nigel Davenport) leaps dunes, surging forward over harsh stony terrain. Weather beaten, obviously exhausted he carries a dead passenger beside him.
Returning to an isolated British outpost, he is nonchalant despite the fact he is the sole survivor of a bloody assignment that saw the rest of his team killed.
Barely given time to rest Leech’s superior, Colonel Masters (Nigel Green) tells him that his next job is an important mission to penetrate behind Rommel’s lines and destroy a critical fuel depot. The only stipulation is that a British Officer with knowledge of petrol depots must lead.
A reluctant Captain Douglas, (Michael Caine) an executive for British petroleum on loan to the army is stationed in North Africa. Recruited despite protest, soon the rag tag crew of miscreant criminals is surging through the harsh environment. Facing insurmountable obstacles that test their wills and corrupt any semblance of morality, war is a dirty game and self preservation dictates behavior.
Michael Caine packing gung ho artilery.
Play Dirty banner with Andre De Toth
John Doe says:
Sand blasted performances, attentive camerawork and thoughtfully staged action scenes all lift Play Dirty to an above average station. That the ending serves as a punctuation mark to the films themes just serves to strengthen the impact.
Director Andre De Toth (Crime Wave, Day of the Outlaw) is not interested in empty thrills. The psychological shrapnel of the battle field is what intrigue’s. De Toth’s Sherman tank plowing through a reinforced concrete wall attitude makes this macho adventure lug a rucksack of substance. There is fun to be had in the boys own way, but the harrowing and filthy tarnish of truth flanks any romantic ideals of war.
The mercinaries caught in a sand storm.
There is a military like strategy to some of the extensive, dialogue free scenes of destruction that rivet as they unfold. Edward Scaife’s (The Dirty Dozen, Khartoum) well positioned cinematography uses long shots that fill the screen with a minimal of movement. When the camera is in motion it creates a momentum that lets the coverage become visceral. The impressive pyrotechnics in the final act are given abundant force through Scaife’s work.
The use of music in the film also serves a very crucial narrative point. Highlighting the power of cultural associations that can convince of nationality without exchange as Italian, French and German tunes shroud the team’s identity.
Released the same year as The Italian Job,Michael Caine is in top form as the outclassed outsider. As the story progresses his characters ingenuity saves lives and earns respect. Onscreen he mixes English cool into a ball of frustration for the first third of the running time and slowly injects confidence as events prove his metal.
Michael Caine and Nigel davenport face off
Nigel Green (The Ipcress File, Zulu), Harry Andrews (Battle of Britain, Too Late the Hero) Patrick Jordan (The Frightened City, Too Late the Hero) and the rest of the cast all maintain the authenticity of the Officers and the down and dirty mercs.
Produced by Harry Saltzman (James Bond, The Ipcress File) the film is not so much ahead of its time as right on the cutting edge of a revolutionary era. The Wild Bunch was released the same year, Bonnie and Clyde had come out a couple of years prior and Play Dirty also succeeds in subverting the genre film. For John Doe this was a quality deglamorized war story that was happy to muck around in the diseased pool of humanity slain and at the same time entertain with testosterone fueled bravado.
The Jeep in the desert opening scene from Play Dirty
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