News has got out that a senior German general is planning to kill Hitler; one would expect the Allies to be pleased but it is feared that the war could drag on for years if Hitler were to be replaced by a competent general. It is known that the general will be on a train in France soon so a mission to assassinate him is planned. As in the original film Major John Reisman is called in and ordered to assemble another team of military criminals facing death or long sentences. They spend a little while training before heading to France where things don't quite go according to plan.'The Dirty Dozen' was a great Boy's Own style war film full of well-known actors and lots of spectacular action… this is not 'The Dirty Dozen'. In many ways it is trying to replicate the success of the original but sadly fails; not enough time is spent on the training/team bonding so it is hard for the viewer to care about this team. The mission itself more far-fetched; it starts with them flying into a German airfield in a Dakota that is painted in German colour and have a shootout with the Germans. When they realise the train has gone they somehow get back on the Dakota and parachute to a site near the train without any explanation of how they got to the plane or how they could successfully jump without parachute training. The ultimate shootout is exciting enough in a televisual way but nowhere near as good as the finale of the original film. On the plus side Lee Marvin is still pretty good as Reisman even though this was made almost twenty years after the original film. Overall I wouldn't call this a must see film but if like me you get the original on DVD that includes this as a bonus feature it is worth watching… although the fact that it is hidden amongst the extras rather than sold as a two-film box says a fair bit.

The original The Dirty Dozen had Lee Marvin and his jail house crew on a mission that took place inside occupied France days before the D-Day invasion at Normandy. The mission this second trained dozen performs is a few months later.A few months in World War II time, but unfortunately 18 years for the returning cast members from the original cast, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Richard Jaeckel. They've all aged considerably and sad to say it shows. Especially on Marvin. Due to health problems, Lee Marvin's cinema appearances were cut down considerably during the Eighties. Still Marvin's the same maverick Major Reisman as before. Not too much time is devoted to the training as in the original because that's where we got to know some of the dozen as individuals.The new group is a rather faceless and personalityless lot. None of them stand out in the way that John Cassavetes, Clint Walker, Donald Sutherland, or Telly Savalas did. Of course they were all killed so we couldn't bring them back. Just as well for the producers because those salaries in 1985 would have busted the budget.Still this talented group of players put over an extremely preposterous story back in 1967. This story is more preposterous and it doesn't have the talent to back it up and put it over.Would you believe that the army wants to assassinate S.S. General Sepp Dietrich because they think he might be looking to assassinate Hitler? I didn't think anyone would, I sure didn't. I'd really stick with the original here.

1944: Major Reisman (Lee Marvin) is in trouble again. Whilst out on a mission, he ordered his men to hijack a truck full of steaks and scotch that was on its way to a banquet for top Nazi officers. Facing years of hard labour in a military prison and dismissal from service, Reisman is reprieved by General Worden (Ernest Borgnine) to form another Dirty Dozen (made up of military prisoners on death row or facing long term imprisonment) to undertake another suicide mission. This time they must sneak into occupied France and hijack a train in order to assassinate a Nazi general because he is planning to kill Hitler.Nearly twenty years after the release of Robert Aldrich's classic war movie, THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967), came this preposterous made for TV sequel in which the plot bares no credibility what so ever. There's a ridiculous climatic sequence where Reisman and his men come within yards of Hitler himself and the Major has to persuade his man to shoot the general and not Hitler as he's tempted to do just that. In reality of course, they wouldn't have got within fifty yards of him and there is no suspense to be had here as we know that they wouldn't have shot Hitler anyway as this would have made the tale even more absurd than it already is. On the positive side, Lee Marvin is still fun to watch as the tough Major Reisman and he is reunited with Richard Jaeckal as Sgt Bowren and Ernest Borgnine as General Wordon who still offer good performances and there's some slick action sequences to enjoy before the absurd climatic showdown.Nevertheless, it was still unwise to have made this film but two sequels followed. They were: THE DIRTY DOZEN: THE DEADLY MISSION (1987) and THE DIRTY DOZEN: THE FATAL MISSION (1988), which brought back Telly Savalas whose character was killed off in the original, but this time he was back as the man training the men as one Major Wright.

This film is definitely more of a remake of the classic THE DIRTY DOZEN than a sequel. (Although the events here are said to take place in September 1944.) There's a lot of the same dialog as in the original movie and even the same type of characters! There's a Telly Savalas clone, a Jim Brown clone, a Charles Bronson clone, Marvin, Borgnine and Jaeckel reprise their original roles, and all three look about ready to drop dead on the set. At the time of filming, Marvin was about 60, Borgnine almosty 70 and Jaeckel is almost 60. All too old to be in combat operations.) You'll feel as though you're watching the same characters (meaning the 12, not the officers leading them) from the original, except played here by new actors. The mission is even similar: kill a Nazi general, rather than the many of the first movie. This time there is no character development and little training. (It's almost an hour shorter than the original film, too) The men land and trek across France, whining all the way, always about to rebel but turning to Marvin's widsom in the end. Same stuff as before. The climax was decent and I liked the action theme more than the music of the original movie.I'd watch this only to see how badly a movie can be remade / followed-up when a studio tries to make money. Here they failed miserably. I paid $.50 cents to watch this at a rental store. It's not worth much more if you've seen the original 1967 film.