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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
There's no mistaking the 1968 mood of Play Dirty: this cynical war movie could only have been made during the disillusioned Vietnam era, despite its WWII subject. Michael Caine plays a British captain in North Africa, tapped to lead a suicidal mission across the desert to destroy a German fuel depot. He's got a scurvy band of mercenaries to help him (this was a year after The Dirty Dozen, so keep that in mind), although most of the time they seem indifferent to both the job and Caine's survival. Nigel Davenport plays Caine's black-hearted yet lethally competent assistant, possibly the most nihilistic character on the side of the good guys in any war movie. Large patches of the film play without dialogue, including a grueling sequence in which vehicles are winched up the side of a hill, but somehow this adds to the grim, fatalistic atmosphere. The hard edge suits the style of director Andre De Toth, veteran maker of many a B-picture (this was his next-to-last effort). Caine plays it repressed and close to the vest, the better to contrast with Davenport's Mephistophelian soldier of fortune. Oh, and the ending--well, you'll want to stick around for the ending. It was 1968, after all. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Never heard of it before? Well there is a reason
Quite in the same line as the Dirty Dozen and Kelly's Heroes I was surprised never to have heard about this film and seeing that it had great reviews I bought a copy.
The movie is entertaining but no masterpiece. The plot is very 1968'ish, with total disregard of actual facts, well except for the Germans vs. Britain bit. In many ways it is a remake of Sea of Sand (which remains the superior movie). We have a long range desert group sent to blow up Rommel's fuel dump. Michael Caine and ... Read More
Rating: - Michael Caine does another bang up job on this movie
I've always been a fan of Mr Cains as far as I can remember, this movie is very good. Well worth owning to your WW2 collection, I like this movie very much and I'd say go and buy this too. You will enjoy it, no bull here.
Rating: - "Play Dirty"
Not Michael's best, I found it a little confusing. The mission seemed to be a waste of time. May be it was supposed to be, but I couldn't see why. Good desert scenes, more real than many. Good interpretation of desert warfare generally.
Rating:  - Dirtier Than The Dozen
Here's another underated Caine winner. He's a nice-guy engineer leading a band of criminals through the desert to blow up Rommel's fuel supplies. These guys aren't the leering whackos or lovable losers of The Dirty Dozen, they're clear-eyed, ice cold [...]. The whole picture is informed with a brutal, anti-heroic take on "The Good War" that goes beyond mere hip 60s cynicism.
There are a couple of great set pieces, one's a tense minefield in an oasis and earlier there's a drawn out ... Read More
Rating:  - WWII film made in the anti-war Sixties has disappointing ending
The best thing about this film is Michael Caine's performance, but if you know Caine's film history, he's been in some clunkers. As the other reviews allude to, this is a pseudo "Dirty Dozen" clone. The plot's pretty unimaginative, with the greatest disappointment being the ending, but considering it the anti-war era when the film was made, not unexpected. You'll wince when you see a character attempting to return to Allied lines wearing a German officer's uniform, which is incredibly stupid, considering ... Read More
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