Criminal
01-21-2002, 09:52 PM
Though this posting is about a movie, it is a historical topic so I posted it here.
One of my favorite war movies is the Dirty Dozen, with Lee Marvin and 12 other big time actors. Most people who are into war movies already know the story, but for the rest of you peeps, heres the low down:
This maverck Major, played by Marvin is reluctantly forced to take 12 men from a Millitary Prison, each one convicted of a serious offence, and train them to be commandos and then lead them in a suicide mission behind enemy lines just before D Day. The movie is very funny at the beginning but the war action is extremely violent and realistic.
Well, anyway I have always wondered if the story behind this movie is real so I did a bit of research on the subject and this is what I found:
http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/d/dirty_dozen.html
According to a film review by James Berardinelli:
"Based on the novel by E.M. Nathanson, the script has no specific historical antecedent, although it has been a common practice in wars to place criminals in the front lines with the promise of a full pardon if they survive. Much has been written about whether something along the lines of The Dirty Dozen actually occurred during World War II, but there is little evidence one way
or another. In essence, therefore, the film should be treated as entirely fictional. It does not claim to be based on a true story, which is fortunate, because, when it comes to details, the production often gets things wrong."
I did learn from someone else on a Millitary History News group to which I suscribe, that during WW2, inmates in millitary prisons were released to serve in combat duty. Most of these were convicted of less serious crimes, however, then the individuals shown in the movie. Murderers, rapists and armmed robbers were not put back into millitary units.
Though not exactly the same story, the Movie, "The Devil's Brigade" about a group of motly misfits who went on to become an elite commando unit in the Italian campaign of WW2 is entirely true.
One of my favorite war movies is the Dirty Dozen, with Lee Marvin and 12 other big time actors. Most people who are into war movies already know the story, but for the rest of you peeps, heres the low down:
This maverck Major, played by Marvin is reluctantly forced to take 12 men from a Millitary Prison, each one convicted of a serious offence, and train them to be commandos and then lead them in a suicide mission behind enemy lines just before D Day. The movie is very funny at the beginning but the war action is extremely violent and realistic.
Well, anyway I have always wondered if the story behind this movie is real so I did a bit of research on the subject and this is what I found:
http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/d/dirty_dozen.html
According to a film review by James Berardinelli:
"Based on the novel by E.M. Nathanson, the script has no specific historical antecedent, although it has been a common practice in wars to place criminals in the front lines with the promise of a full pardon if they survive. Much has been written about whether something along the lines of The Dirty Dozen actually occurred during World War II, but there is little evidence one way
or another. In essence, therefore, the film should be treated as entirely fictional. It does not claim to be based on a true story, which is fortunate, because, when it comes to details, the production often gets things wrong."
I did learn from someone else on a Millitary History News group to which I suscribe, that during WW2, inmates in millitary prisons were released to serve in combat duty. Most of these were convicted of less serious crimes, however, then the individuals shown in the movie. Murderers, rapists and armmed robbers were not put back into millitary units.
Though not exactly the same story, the Movie, "The Devil's Brigade" about a group of motly misfits who went on to become an elite commando unit in the Italian campaign of WW2 is entirely true.