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Example research essay topic: The Dirty Dozen Movie Review - 1,394 words

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The Dirty Dozen- Movie Review Directed by Robert Aldrich, The Dirty Dozen tells the story of Major Reisman (Lee Marvin) and the twelve hardened convicts he selects to join him on a suicide mission behind German lines in 1944. The Dirty Dozen remains an interesting and popular film, as it is meticulously crafted, deftly edited, and features several future stars at the beginning of their careers (including Donald Sutherland, Charles Bronson, and Telly Savalas). Although released in 1967 at the height of the anti-Vietnam war movement, The Dirty Dozen was nevertheless a success, becoming one of the biggest box-office hits in Mgm's history. War protesters readily accepted the films depiction of officers as indiscriminate killers, while more militaristic moviegoers approved of the films brutal combat scenes. To continue, it is an important film, because it was the first one to acknowledge one fact, often ignored by the militarists and other war apologists - one of the character traits essential for being a good soldier is the lack of any moral inhibitions towards killing another human being.

Aldrich presents that fact by portraying the Dirty Dozen as a bunch of sociopath, raving murderers, rapists, religious fanatics and idiots; their characters are totally undesirable in any civilized society, and in civilian life they would all probably end up in jails, death rows or lunatic asylums. But in the context of war, those character traits prove quite useful and are actually encouraged by their less hypocritical superiors. Aldrich shows that ironic fact with a hard contrast between the Dirty Dozen, unshaved, dirty soldiers that resemble barbarians and their more civilized counterparts- first US paratroopers led by uptight Colonel Breed (played by Robert Ryan), then finally German soldiers, all in neat uniforms and probably much nicer human beings than any of Reisman's group. In the end, during the final battle, we actually see Dirty Dozen as group of remorseless, stone-cold killers that brutally massacre whole bunch of harmless old men, including their wives and girlfriends; in time of peace, such action, that painfully resembles Columbine High School shooting, would bring universal condemnation; in time of war it would actually bring decorations, promotions and heroic attributes. The plot, based on the novel by E. M.

Nathanson, is set in Spring of 1944. Allied forces in England are preparing for the D Day, and American top brass is planning to paralyze German command-and- control system by the behind-the-lines raid on French chateau that is always full of top German officers. The chateau is, however, fortified and heavily guarded and only the most expendable men could be used for this nearly suicidal mission. Major Reisman is an officer short on discipline, but with reputation of man who gets job done. He is given the task of selecting group of twelve soldiers, court-martialed and convicted for murder, rape and similar offences and offering them full pardon in exchange for their participation in the mission.

Since the alternative is decades behind bars, or, in some cases, even the death penalty, they all accept the offer. But that is the easy part for Reisman; being notoriously short on discipline they prove almost impossible to train. Despite that, Reisman is patient and his group, nicknamed The Dirty Dozen, soon begins to function as an effective military unit. Reisman's superiors, on the other hand, are having second thoughts and the unit must convince them of their abilities before being sent to combat. All this irony is, of course, very cleverly disguised in the form of extremely entertaining action picture. The action element, on the other hand, comes relatively late in the film, but we are instead introduced to the multitude of extremely colorful and interesting characters.

And those introduction s are perhaps even better than the final actions; we see whole bunch of very capable character actors in some of the most memorable roles of their entire careers. John Cassavettes is excellent as mean and mutinous petty gangster Franco; Telly Savallas shows evil charisma as murderous religious fanatic; young Donald Sutherland is good as units idiot. But the best performance comes from Lee Marvin, as tough, cynical officer who sees the world as it is; he doesn't need his MP Sergeant Clyde Born (played by Richard Jacket) to remind him that all those sweet-talking convicts happen to be rather mean characters. To continue, it is difficult to determine the level of leadership skills shown by every character in the movie. In other words, all of them are pure convicts who are ready to do everything in order to get their pardons after the war is over.

Furthermore, the whole situation is even more complex due to the criminal past of the members of this particular group. Each one of them can be considered to be a great leader of a certain kind. To elaborate on this topic, one should realize that it is not easy to become a well-known and notorious individual among the gangsters or bandits. Although being a criminal doesnt make a person look great before the society, examining the nature or character of the lawbreaker is very essential for the basic understanding of the concept introduced earlier in the paper. A criminal has to definitely be a leader in order to get or gradually build a reputation of the tough guy who is ready for everything in this life. The convicts depicted in the movie are able to get the adequate level of respect and support form the other members of the group only because they have proven to be leaders among their people.

One can notice that such skills are often not innate. On the contrary, they appear as the defensive reaction to many adverse aspects that inevitably happen in the gangsters life. On the one hand, members of the dozen have to stay strong in order to survive. However, the natural skills of such kind cannot be found in every person who belongs to the group.

Some are real leaders who are ready to accept responsibility and take actions if necessary. Others have simply adopted (not even developed) the essential characteristics that are commonly found in people of their surrounding. Major Reisman is the one who has been delegated the most power as well as influence in the unit. He has strong character; he is not afraid of death; he is ready to lay the life for his country; and he knows how to deal with convicts he chose to accompany him in the suicide route. One is to realize that it is important not to idealize Reisman because he is a common man who has some weak and even strange sides.

This person, though being a good leader, often makes unpredictable choices that almost ruin the whole cohort and its particular unity as the group. To continue, Dirty Dozen can be perceived as the film with dubious nature and opaque structure. One is often not able to clearly determine the main goal, aim, or purpose of the doings and actions of the heroes. For instance, putting the girls into movie plot seems to be redundant because it only illustrates lack of proper organization in the army of those days. Some may argue with this statement. The defendants of such topic may use various examples and illustrations, saying that guys simply needed to relax and get ready for the fight.

Nevertheless, one can observe that this fact only worsened the situation in the long run. Soldiers (even convicts) are supposed to always be ready to stand up and proceed in combat. Drinking and taking an active part in communication with girls of sleazy nature can only contribute to complete degradation of the order within a particular group. As one can see, Dirty Dozen describes people with very agitated characters.

They are all ambitious because these people want to prove themselves and everybody around that the life is not over yet. Reisman is rightfully considered to be a great leader because he is able to form a well-balanced and organized group from the really unstable elements of the society. The convicts or members of the cohort attempt to find the necessary leverage to exert some power on the others associates of the unit. Although each one of them is sometimes almost impossible to get control of, they gradually realize that listening to Reisman is their only way to survive in the battle.


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