That was an excellent one.

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Excellent but underrated film

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

In many ways, "Play Dirty" is like taking "The Dirty Dozen" and merging it with the director's cut of "Lawrence of Arabia". The film is about a group of cutthroats and criminals who are on a mission behind enemy lines AND it has TONS and TONS of long and dry (no pun intended) desert scenes where very little is happening. Considering that these two other films were made before "Play Dirty" and are much better films, then you can guess some of my feelings about the film.The film begins with an officer and petroleum expert (Michael Caine) being forced to go on a crazy mission behind enemy lines in North Africa to destroy fuel depots during WWII. I say crazy because the other officer he'll be serving with is a real rogue--and was let out of prison for the mission. This guy has a group of equally nasty rogues who are all experts at playing dirty and NOT abiding by the rules of warfare and this includes dressing up as Italian soldiers.Too much of the film is spent on the team's trek across the desert...way too much. It makes for a terribly paced film and it only improves later in the film when they FINALLY make it to their objective. Additionally, unlike "The Dirty Dozen", most of the rogues (with the exception of their leader, played by Nigel Davenport) have no real personalities and are nothing like the cast of "The Dirty Dozen". They are just faceless scum. The ending is decent because it is very different--otherwise, I thought the film amazingly dull.Best moment of the film--when Davenport says "I didn't like the tea". Worst moment--when EVERYONE stood near the guy as he disarmed a German booby trap! Why, in the name of all that is holy, didn't they take cover...FAR away from the guy with the pliers disarming the bomb?! And, why didn't anyone tell the two gay guys that the place was booby trapped so they wouldn't blow themselves up?! Also, although it worked out well in the end, there is an attempted rape in the film that is pretty disturbing--particularly for folks in the audience who have themselves been victims, so be forewarned.By the way, if you care, a lot of the equipment in the film is neither German nor Italian. This is no surprise, as little of it survived the war. The German halftrack vehicles, for instance, are American M3 models.

Andre De Toth directs this lumbering war drama. Michael Caine plays Captain Douglas, a British army officer in North Africa, that is ordered to lead a mission in the desert. Brigadier Blore(Harry Andrews)wants a German fuel reserve knocked out but he doesn't trust Colonel Masters(Nigel Green)with the task after failing several times doing so. Douglas is chosen to lead mercenaries in this latest mission; but Cyril Leech(Nigel Davenport), a war experienced mercenary, is hired to guide Captain Douglas and his motley band into the desert. Needless to say Douglas and Leech don't really have any use of the other since their methods are so polarized. Nazis are on their trail and Brigadier Blore has sold them out. But Douglas and Leech managed to put up a heroic fight after arriving at the German fuel dump. Some decent war action with a few strange characters to watch. The finale is unexpected. Also featured in the cast: Bernard Archard, Mike Stevens, Enrique Avila, Aly Ben Ayed, Mohsen Ben Abdullah, Scott Miller and Vivian Pickles.

What stands out in this film is its noir-like qualities; in so many war-related historical fiction films of the 60s and 70s there are "good guys" and they conquer against amazing odds. Where Eagles Dare, Operation Crossbow and Guns of Navarone are examples. Trobruk is a good exception blurring the lines a bit and bringing a "grit" factor.Play Dirty goes even further showing extreme ruthless and deceit in all directions -- VERY GRITTY. If there was an official War Film Noir genera, this would top my list. The action scenes are fairly limited. This film trades action for plot and character development. It also brings the classic dry dialogue we expect from British made WWII films. Finally, the desert landscape in Panavision is a visual pleasure.I generally like to do historical fiction with the kids but this film has a couple of really tough scenes that you might avoid with younger ones, screen the scenes first.

Tough, macho Nigel Davenport matches wits with firm English captain Michael Caine as they team up to kick axis butt in this two-fisted war movie that will keep you glued to the screen.The harshness of the unforgiving desert and the danger of combat is expertly presented by director Andre de Toth. The storyline is intelligent and the characters believable whereas the battle scenes are excellent as well as a scene in a desert windstorm that is my favorite. Nigel Davenport is an underrated actor and the tension between him and Michael Caine is nicely understated, which gives it more power. One of the top war movies from its era.