THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967). There was no shortage of grand-slam WWII action flicks in the 1960s, and one of the best was this box office smash cast to perfection with an all-star lineup and directed in his typically punchy style by Robert Aldrich (The Longest Yard — the 1974 model). Lee Marvin, as bad-ass as they come, stars as Major Reisman, an out-of-favor officer who’s ordered to take 12 military convicts — a cheerful assortment of murderers, thieves and rapists — turn them into efficient fighting men, and lead them behind enemy lines on a suicide mission aimed at taking out top Nazi brass. The thugs are alternately sympathetic (Charles Bronson), sweet-natured (Donald Sutherland), sarcastic (John Cassavetes, earning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod) and sadistic (Telly Savalas), yet their hatred of authority provides them with a common ground that allows them to come together as a fighting unit. Extras in the two-disc DVD set include the inferior 1985 made-for-TV sequel The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission; audio commentary by cast members Jim Brown and Trini Lopez, original novelist E.M. Nathanson, and others; new and vintage featurettes; and an introduction by cast member Ernest Borgnine.
Movie: ***1/2
Extras: ***
THE 400 BLOWS (1959) / VIRIDIANA (1961). Criterion’s May roster includes two masterworks from two masters of cinema: Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows and Luis Buñuel’s Viridiana.
After carving out a living as a film critic, Truffaut elected to try his hand at making his own motion picture: The result not only kicked off Truffaut’s acclaimed career as an auteur but also helped usher in the French New Wave that galvanized international cinema. The 400 Blows is at once beautiful and sorrowful — an honest, semi-autobiographical look at the travails of troubled young Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud). The final freeze frame of Antoine is one of the most famous shots in film history, though the character would reappear in four subsequent Truffaut titles.
Viridiana, meanwhile, finds Buñuel doing what he does best: both challenging and shocking the status quo. Banned in his homeland of Spain but finding favor at Cannes (where it took the Palme d’Or), this centers on the title character (Silvia Pinal), an icy blonde whose plans to become a nun are interrupted when she agrees to visit her estranged uncle (Fernando Rey). Those protesting The Da Vinci Code would faint if they saw the unforgettable image dreamed up here by Buñuel, a facsimile of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” populated exclusively by violent, drunken bums!
Extras on The 400 Blows include audio commentaries by film professor Brian Stonehill and Truffaut’s longtime friend Robert Lachenay, footage from that year’s Cannes Film Festival (where Truffaut won Best Director), and vintage interviews with Truffaut. Extras on Viridiana include interviews with Pinal and author Richard Porton, a look at Buñuel’s early career, and the theatrical trailer.
The 400 Blows: ****
Extras: ***
Viridiana: ***1/2
Extras: **
This article appears in May 24-30, 2006.
