The impact of The Dirty Dozen on the decade cannot be overstated – here was a big-budget, Hollywood star-powered blockbuster, about a popular topic, that simply didn’t hold back. Toss on the fact that there was no rating system at the time, it’s very likely Little Timmy didn’t know what he was getting into when he decided to go see that new World War II movie. With a few well placed curse words and a few dozen dead Nazis, director Robert Aldrich ushered a whole new era of screen violence into the American consciousness.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna discuss the legacy of The Dirty Dozen by going straight to the immediate rip-offs that followed in its wake. There’s at least two surprisingly underseen gems in the bunch, as well as one other massive hit, all of which bring up the body count even as some question their own morality. Finally, some war movies even Bart can enjoy!

The following films are discussed:

• The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson

• Dark of the Sun (1968)
Directed by Jack Cardiff
Starring Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Brown

• The Devil's Brigade (1968)
Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
Starring William Holden, Cliff Robertson, Vince Edwards

• Play Dirty (1969)
Directed by André De Toth
Starring Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green

• The Wild Bunch (1969)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan

• Battle of the Commandos (1969)
La legione dei dannati
Directed by Umberto Lenzi
Starring Jack Palance, Thomas Hunter, Curd Jurgens

Cinema60 is back with a ghost guest in order to highlight some notable opinions on film. Dwight Macdonald, a celebrity film critic of the ‘50s and ‘60s who is now more remembered as a cultural critic and political pundit, had a lot to say about the dumbing down of high art to appeal to middlebrow tastes. Championing films that challenged audiences, he famously took on Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad as one of the most difficult films to ever be embraced by American audiences.

While he does not consider the film one of his favorites, he admires its techniques and ambitions. He would use it as a touchstone through his career to describe the type of film that pushes boundaries of what cinema can do and engages on a higher level. In this episode, Bart and Jenna respond to Macdonald, muse on the actual difficulty of such a film and use his word to illustrate their own mission statement.

The following film is discussed:
•Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
L'année dernière à Marienbad
Directed by Alain Resnais
Starring Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff

Text discussed:
• On Movies (1969) by Dwight Mcdonald

Other films mentioned:
• Citizen Kane (1941)
Directed by Orson Welles
Starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore

• Children of Paradise (1945)
Les enfants du paradis
Directed by Marcel Carné
Starring Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur

• Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Directed by Alain Resnais
Starring Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Stella Dassas

• Breathless (1960)
À bout de souffle
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Jean-Pierre Melville

• La Dolce Vita (1960)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée

• Jules & Jim (1962)
Directed by François Truffaut
Starring Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre