The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission Blu-ray Movie Review

A tidy WWII film.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 14, 2015

'The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission' is currently available only as a double feature with 'The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission' from Olive Films. For more screenshots, please click through the first link.

Major Wright (Telly Savalas) has just pulled off a successful hit-and-run mission in Northern Italy against the Nazis. He returns back to England where he's briefed by General Sam Worden (Ernest Borgnine) concerning a new Nazi threat: intercontinental rockets that are capable of hitting the U.S. Eastern seaboard and also capable of carrying chemical warheads. It turns out the Nazis are stockpiling the deadly chemical in a French monastery. Wright's mission is to assemble a team of prisoners, infiltrate the monastery, destroy the chemicals, and safely return six captive scientists. His team includes imprisoned soldiers with various skill sets, including a brother tandem that knows its way behind the wheel of a car (Vincent Van Patten and James Van Patten), A German speaker (Gary Graham), a hulking Swede (Randall 'Tex' Cobb), a middle-aged con man (Paul Picerni), and a volatile French linguist (Bo Svenson).

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission, a 1987 made-for-television film, follows its popular 1967 predecessor very closely in terms of structure and basic plot contrivances. The film follows a simplified plot that depicts a leader assembling his team, which consists of a ragtag bunch of prisoners nobody will miss should they die in the line of duty, but all of whom bring some specific skill set to the mission; an extended training montage; and the various ins-and-outs and ebbs-and-flows of the mission itself. It's a solid entertainer, nowhere near as memorable as the original film, but a generally sound and well-crafted wartime time killer that should satisfy genre fans in search of a movie that's familiar and easy on the eyes and the mind.

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p, 4x3 1980s television-standard format aspect ratio. The image is fairly healthy, offering a bit of grain and a fair, nicely defined image that's crisp and smartly detailed, bringing out solid core facial, clothing, and urban and wooded textural accents. Colors are mostly of the drab, earthy variety but splashes of bold hues, such as the red on Nazi flags, stands out nicely. Blacks are deep and honest and flesh tones don't stray from basic natural shades. Minor wear is evident but there's no sign of obtrusive banding, blocking, aliasing, or other eyesores.

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. Nothing here enjoys the sort of pinpoint, naturally detailed accuracy of the best tracks, but there's a fair bit of general clarity to music and gunfire. The former plays with a fair front end balance, but most sound effects, such as gunshots, explosions, rolling tanks, and other wartime bits, are cramped in the middle with a hint of crunchiness about them. Dialogue delivery is stable and clear.

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission contains no supplemental content.

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission is a basic "build the team, run-and-gun" sort of movie that offers just enough characterization and action to satisfy both requirements. The movie doesn't live up to the original despite its core similarities, but it's a serviceably fun little time waster that War film fans will want added to their home video collection. Olive Films' Blu-ray release of The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission offers good video and decent audio. No extras are included. Recommended as a buy if found at a comfortable sale price.