After a year of failed missions that produced no results, British commando leader Colonel Masters (Nigel Green) has been given one last chance to do something positive. He has reports of a German fuel dump that is key to Rommel's success. The high command's only demand is that Masters send a British officer along with to lead the mission. In steps Capt. Douglas (Caine), a British petroleum official, who instantly clashes with his second-in-command and Masters' officer, Capt. Leech (Nigel Davenport). That might be the least of his problems. Trekking across 400 miles of desert, Douglas leads a small team of convict commandos, battling German patrols, murdering Arab tribesmen, and everything the desert can throw at them. Something else might be waiting for them too, something none of them could plan for.
Director Andre De Toth has a hidden gem here in this WWII story. It borrows liberally from other North Africa WWII movies like Tobruk or TV shows like The Rat Patrol. But something just clicks here that's hard to explain. It is a minimalist war movie if there ever was one. It is cynical beyond all belief, the headquarters officers (including Harry Andrews in a small part) clueless but brimming with pride and ego. The commandos are murderers, rapists, drug dealers and arms smugglers, only joining Masters' force because it got them out of prison. The effect is a winner. It's an honest, downright filthy look at WWII. As the tagline said, 'Throw out the medals, forget the rule book, if you want to survive...play dirty.'
Playing a cat and mouse game on the mission is Caine as Douglas and Davenport as Leech. Michael Caine plays the stiff upper-lip officer perfectly, prim and proper trying to do things by the book. He doesn't realize he's basically a sacrificial lamb, trying to pull off this suicidal mission. He receives little help from Capt. Leech, a man interested only in which side will pay more for his services. The problem is, he's damn good at his job and is working with a pay-off in mind. Seeing these two men go toe to toe is fun, like a heavyweight bout where both sides land punch after punch. It's not great performances on their own, but together they carry the movie. Douglas just wants to accomplish the mission placed in front of him, even with the men behind him possibly gunning for him. Leech is going to do what it takes to ensure his own survival, and hopefully Douglas' life too.
Like Tobruk, the basic mission is simple. In the desert, gasoline and water are key if you want to keep your vehicles moving. The men on a mission angle isn't played up much after an early introduction scene of the convict commandos. More focus is placed on Douglas and Leech, but the commandos include Sadok (Aly Ben Ayed), explosives expert, Kostas Manou (Takis Emmanuel), black market arms dealer, Kafkarides (Enrique Avila), the drug dealer and driver, Boudesh (Scott Miller), a brawler, and Hassan (Mohsen Ben Abdallah) and Assine (Mohamed Kouka), the two gay Arab trail guides. Among the group, there's maybe 15 or 20 lines combined. It's more what they are that's important. They're the lowest of the low and no one much cares what happens to them. None of these actors were anything more than background players, and for some, they were only in three or four movies at all. They still do a solid job giving Douglas' team an eclectic mix of sordid individuals though.
The minimalist aspect helps make this movie better than other similar WWII stories. The mission is painfully simple. Travel across the desert and blow up the fuel dump. Done, no detours. A long sequence has them navigating a steep cliff face trying to get their vehicles to the top. They change countless tires. They run into patrols, Arab tribesmen, avoiding mine fields and booby traps. Michel Legrand's musical score never provides any clues as to what's about to happen, the story surprising you instead. The pacing may seem a little slow, but this is what faces them. Survival at its most base in the desert. You do what you need to do to keep moving. For these men, it's always moving forward because what awaits them is better than what they're leaving behind.
Above all else though, the final 30-45 minutes makes Play Dirty a near classic. I'm going to give away the ending so stop reading if you don't want to know. SPOILERS STOP READING SPOILERS Making it all the way to the dump, Douglas' team doesn't realize their mission has become compromised. The fuel dump is in reach of Allied forces and can be saved, not destroyed. British headquarters contacts double agents and tells them a team of commandos is gunning for the fuel. All but Douglas and Leech are killed in the attempt, the two officers making it out. Not bad, right? Late 1960s cynicism at its best. There's more. The next morning, the duo (in German uniforms) attempts to surrender to advancing Allied forces. Hands up, white flag in sight, they're accidentally gunned down by British troops. A soldier apologizes to his officer, claiming he didn't see the flag, credits roll. END OF SPOILERS
Just in terms of sheer guts to actually use that ending, Play Dirty gets a ridiculous amount of credit from me. I can think of maybe three or four other movies that surprised me, just completely caught me off-guard in a shocking way. First, that many main characters getting killed off is an oddity. But that's what works. People get killed during war, often in situations where mistakes are made and soldiers have to be sacrificed. One of the best shocker endings I've ever seen in one of the most underrated WWII movies around.
Play Dirty <--- opening credits (1968): *** 1/2 /****
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