Quella sporca dozzina II

According to an article written many years ago, the original "The Dirty Dozen" novel was actually based on real life story. US military convicts were offered pardon in exchange for similar suicide missions in Nazi occupied France. They agreed, but after the drop they turned their tails and spent the rest of the war in neutral Spain. In real life, use of pardoned convicts as soldiers is rather common phenomena, as experiences in former Yugoslavia indicate. In WWII Red Army and Wehrmacht employed such practice. The operation that actually resembles this movie the most was conducted by Germans. In May of 1944, frustrated with unsuccessful attempts to chase down and destroy the core formations of Yugoslav Partisans, German High Command planned the daring parachute raid on the headquarters of Partisan leader Tito and trained entire battalion of convicts for that very purpose. At the end of the day, Tito, although initially surprised, managed to get away and the convict paratroopers, decimated in a hellatious battle, took only Tito's freshly tailored Field Marshall uniform as their only trophy.

Nearly twenty years after the original, Major Reisman again played by Lee Marvin gets assigned a new gang of G.I. convicts for another mission. If this had to be made why did it have to be done with the Reisman character. Lee Marvins age clearly showed which hurt the picture. Then to make matters even worse Ernest Borgnine and Richard Jaeckel reprise their roles from the 1967 film. Unlike the original the convicts are colorless, the mission pointless and the end cartoonish. Watch the original and consider the story ended when Charles Bronsons Joseph Wladislaw says at the conclusion `Killing Generals could get to be a habit with me.'

This movie had all the warning signs of a horribly cheesy comical re-make. Based upon "The Dirty Dozen," this almost unbearable 90 minutes of film made me almost rethink such masterpieces as Conspiracy Theory, The Blair Witch Project, and Batman and Robin. The movie itself was a mix between the worst Naked Gun humor, and a mildly serious Police Academy 7. Since it was also a "made-for-TV" movie, and since it was also a "made-for-TV" movie comedy, it is among the very cheesiest of the cheesy. So be warned, and watch out for Sonny Landham who played Billy in Predator.Particular attention should be payed to the German scene, which was one of the cheesy-funny scenes in the movie. But as a rule, avoid most movies with "The Next Mission" in the title, or comedies made for TV.

Hopefully this was the Dirty Dozen's last mission, or rather the "Baker's Dozen's" last mission!

Flat and unconvincing follow-up to the original where Major Reisman (Lee Marvin) is ordered to lead another group of convicts into France to take out a German SS general who is planning to eliminate the Fuhrer.

Besides Marvin reprising his role here, Ernest Borgnine and Richard Jaeckel also return "nearly" two decades after the original came out.

It's almost impossible for me to decide which was worse, watching the three cast members (from the first movie) forced to carry the burden on their backs and/or how terrible the story (and the apparent lack of character development and humor if there is any). I bet a college freshman could come up with a far better story that anyone would enjoy.

Stick with the original.

Maj. John Reisman gets another mission, where he has to train convicted army soldiers.This time they have to kill a Nazi general, who plans to assassinate Adolf Hitler.And there's some talk about a Nazi treasure.The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985) is directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.Lee Marvin reprises his role as Maj. Reisman.As does Ernest Borgnine as Gen. Worden.And so does Richard Jaeckel as MP Sgt. Clyde Bowren.Ken Wahl plays Louis Valentine.Larry Wilcox plays Tommy Wells.Sonny Landham is Sam Sixkiller.Ricco Ross is Arlen Dregors.Gavan O'Herlihy plays Conrad E. Perkins.Jay Benedict plays Didier le Clair.Stephen Hattersley is Otto Deutch.Rolf Saxon is Robert E. Wright.Wolf Kahler plays S.S. General Sepp Dietrich.Michael Sheard plays the part of Hitler, as he did in a few other movies.The movie has some tight action scenes.And at one point Dregors has Hitler at his target.That is quite fascinating to watch, when he's pondering should he pull the trigger.The sequel, although not gaining the level of the original, still manages to entertain.In these kind of movies you don't have to ask for more.