45 Secrets About The Dirty Dozen Fans Won’t Be Able To Wipe From Their Minds
“It’s judgment day, sinners! Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Bolder, brasher and bloodier than any World War II movie before, The Dirty Dozen changed the game in 1967. You may have watched it more than a dozen times since, but these little-known facts will make you see all that dirtiness in a whole new light. Any questions?
45. Lee Marvin kinda hated the movie
“Just a dummy money-maker.” That was one of the harshest criticisms of The Dirty Dozen – but it didn’t come from the press. The line came from its leading man! Yes, even though Lee Marvin found The Dirty Dozen entertaining, he believed its story had little to do with the realities of war. The legendary actor, who played Major John Reisman, was much more satisfied with his later war film, The Big Red One.
44. Clint Walker turned down one of the most famous scenes
Remember when Donald Sutherland’s Vernon L. Pinkley impersonates the troop-inspecting general? Of course you do. It’s one of the film’s most memorable moments! But did you know the impersonator was actually supposed to be Clint Walker’s Samson Posey? Sutherland was only chosen at the last minute by director Robert Aldrich because Walker said he couldn’t do the scene.
43. It made Jim Brown retire
Footballer-turned-actor Jim Brown was still contracted to the Cleveland Browns when he took the role of Robert T. Jefferson. So when filming of The Dirty Dozen looked like it would delay his return to training, the NFL told Brown that he’d face suspension and a hefty financial punishment. Not appreciating the ultimatum, Brown informed the media that he’d be stepping away from the sport for good.
42. Charles Bronson’s father really was a coal miner
Art imitated life in at least one of The Dirty Dozen’s backstories. Charles Bronson’s Joseph Wladislaw reveals at one point that his dad used to work in the mines back in Poland. And the actor’s real father actually did the same job in his Lithuanian homeland. Bronson had first-hand experience of coal mining while growing up in Pennsylvania as well.
