Anybody that dismisses director Andre De Toth's amoral World War II adventure thriller "Play Dirty" with Michael Caine as just another "Dirty Dozen" clone entirely misses the point of this first-rate combat epic. First, "Play Dirty" overflows with irony that is sorely lacking in "The Dirty Dozen." Second, the surprise ending of "Play Dirty" is nothing like the semi-happy ending of "The Dirty Dozen." Third, "Play Dirty" paints a negative image of the British military that Hollywood would never have done in the 1960s with "The Dirty Dozen." Fourth, characters in "Play Dirty" are seen puffing on the demon weed of marihuana. Fifth, "Play Dirty" has two homosexual characters. Sixth, aside from the Michael Caine protagonist, none of the characters in "Play Dirty" is sympathetic. Seventh, the least objectionable character in "Play Dirty" who found the men for his expedition speaks plainly when he advocates the use of criminals: "War is a criminal enterprise. I fight it with criminals." Eighth, the British criminals that Caine leads into combat are prepared to sacrifice their own professional counterparts to the German enemy without a qualm. Furthermore, regular British officers are just as willing to sacrifice Masters' men for the greater good of Queen and country. Ninth, the men that our hero supervises during the mission plunder the corpses of English soldiers after the Germans have ambushed them. The earliest big-screen American World War II movie with an Allied character that plundered war casualties was in John Guillerman's "The Bridge at Remagen" (1969) and the corpses were dead Germans, not his own countrymen. Altogether, De Toth and his writers depict warfare as unglamorous. One seasoned criminal character advises the hero: "You want to forget the noble sentiments if you want to live."Indeed, "Play Dirty" and "The Dirty Dozen" are similar in that each occurs behind Nazi lines with unsavory Allied personnel perpetrating acts of sabotage against an unsuspecting enemy. Unlike the death row inmates that Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin) recruited for his suicidal mission to kill a château of dissolute Nazi generals, however, the convicts that Colonel Masters (Nigel Green of "Tobruk") uses for his mission have been on his payroll for some time and his dubious outfit with its record of one failure after another (eight, to be precise) is about to be disbanded by his superior officer, Brigadier General Blore (Harry Andrews of "633 Squadron"), while he plans to reassign Masters as warden of a P.O.W. camp. Mind you, Masters is no spit and polish officer. Unkempt, unshaven, and circumspect with regard to military decorum, Masters approaches his task with the mind of a university scholar and relies on unconventional methods that have yet to yield results. Masters reminds Blore: "The principles of desert warfare have not changed." Blore retorts: "The principles of getting value for your money haven't changed either." Here, Blore refers with sarcasm to the 17 jeeps, 24 trucks, 3 British officers, and 43-thousand of Her Majesty's pounds squandered in Masters' futile efforts. Masters convinces Blore to postpone disbanding his outfit after he outlines a provocative plan. Says Masters: "Two men are going to stop Rommel. One of them is Adolf Hitler who cannot give him enough fuel, and the other is me who's going to blow up the little he has." Masters shows Blore a series of photographs that African tribesmen have taken of an enemy fuel depot with Brownie cameras that he supplied them. Blore has little confidence in Masters, but he allows him one last chance to make good. However, he forces Masters to use a regular British Army officer, Captain Douglas (Michael Caine of "Alfie"), while Masters demands that Captain Cyril Leech (a mustached Nigel Davenport of "Nighthawks") bring Douglas back alive (as opposed to dead) unlike his numerous predecessors. Masters provides the incentive of two thousand British pounds to ensure Leech's cooperation. Captain Douglas, a conventional officer on loan from British petroleum, isn't overjoyed about being posted to Masters' outfit. Initially, Douglas argued that he wasn't a field officer, but his protests get him nowhere when his superior points out that he is dressed in the uniform of Her Majesty's Army. Reluctantly, Douglas embarks on this new mission with misgivings. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Masters, Blore appropriates Masters' plan as his own plan. Moreover, he has arranged for another group of regular army led by Captain Alan Watkins (Patrick Jordan of "You Only Live Twice") to shadow Douglas and Leech. Blore refers to Masters' group as a decoy that he considers expendable. The 400 mile journey of hardship behind enemy lines through the Sahara toward their objective amounts to a test of wills between Douglas and Leech. Douglas cherishes the misguided notion that he commands the mission, but Leech gives the real orders. Later, when Masters' men pose a threat not only to Hitler's army but also to the British, Blore compels Masters to commit treason in the name of the Queen and inform the Nazis that commandos have infiltrated their oil depot. Principally, things have changed and the same Nazi oil that the Allied had planned to destroy has since become valuable to the British. Ironically, even when the Germans inform Masters' group that they have been betrayed, our anti-heroes carry out their mission with spectacular but fatal results. "Play Dirty" contains several memorable lines of dialogue. The older, wiser, as well as wolfish Captain Leech advises naive young Captain Douglas about the rudiments of staying alive in wartime. "The way to survive here," he indicates, "is to watch, listen, and say nothing."Altogether, "Play Dirty" qualifies as an excellent World War II actioneer dripping with irony and sarcasm. World War II buffs with a jaundiced eye about patriotism will enjoy it. James Bond producer Harry Saltzman shot this exciting saga in Spain and the Iberian scenery provides a suitable substitute for the sun-drenched Sahara.

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.

Tough, macho Nigel Davenport matches wits with firm English captain Michael Caine as they team up to kick axis butt in this two-fisted war movie that will keep you glued to the screen.The harshness of the unforgiving desert and the danger of combat is expertly presented by director Andre de Toth. The storyline is intelligent and the characters believable whereas the battle scenes are excellent as well as a scene in a desert windstorm that is my favorite. Nigel Davenport is an underrated actor and the tension between him and Michael Caine is nicely understated, which gives it more power. One of the top war movies from its era.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Thank God I saw it for free. I would have hated to waste my money on it.First off, there isn't a character in the movie that is in any way likable. Michael Caine comes close, but even he is pretty flawed. The rest of the "commandos" are made up of disgusting ex-cons. There are the two gay Arabs, and three guys who try to rape a red cross nurse, and the "leader" who has no trouble sending his men off to get killed so he can escape.The "mission" is anything from suspenseful. They are to blow up a fuel dump. Sounds exciting, right? Well, the footage follows them through endless sandstorms and fixing flat tires. Yes, you read that right. The "suspense" is whether they will run out of spare tires. We actually WATCH them change something like 12 flats on the way. That's how incredibly exciting this movie is.They get to the fuel dump to find that it is a decoy. So, nothing to blow up. And at this time, for some very convoluted reason, the British army decides that they don't need these guys anymore, and radios their whereabouts to the Germans to kill them.So, now at least we'll have an exciting race to freedom? Nope, instead, they decide to blow up a different fuel dump, to create a diversion. But, when they get into the place, they set off a trip wire, and the Germans come to get them -- calling out their names over a loudspeaker.Really weird. If the Germans knew where they were and where they were going, why did they let them get all the way into the dump before springing the "trap?" Instead, they wait until they get into the fuel depot, and set all of their charges. Yeah. Right. That would happen.So, they blow the dump, the leader sells out all of his men -- except for Michael Caine, since he's been offered $2000 to bring him back alive.OK... so, the men are all betrayed and killed, and Michael Caine and Nigel Davenport survive. The British troops come in with tanks, and they decide to go get rescued. Since they are wearing German uniforms (they wore them to blow up the dump) they tie a white flag around a stick and walk out into the road.Some British guy walks up behinds them and machine guns them to death. Credits roll.Yep. The two "Heroes" of the movie die due to a random act of violence.It's almost like the movie suddenly ran out of budget and decided: "That's a wrap. Kill them off and we'll go home." I wasted 2 hours of my life watching this tired, unimaginative and totally unrealistic movie that ended with a gracefulness of a bomb.