The Dirty Dozen review

 Number 484 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1967 war film 'The Dirty Dozen.'

In March, 1944, Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin) is ordered to command Project Amnesty - a top secret mission to take twelve convicts, turn them into commandos in an effort to eliminate as many high-ranking Nazis as possible while they wine and dine in a Rennes chateau. Some of the dozen include loud-mouth and hot-headed mobster Victor R. Franko (John Cassavetes,) gentle giant Samson Posey (Clint Walker) the German-speaking Joseph Wladislaw (Charles Bronson,) the black Robert T. Jefferson (Jim Brown,) the psychotic Maggott (Terry Salavas) and Vernon L.Pinkley (Donald Sutherland.)

This was a thoroughly entertaining film and one I enjoyed immensely. It is very much your standard action film with gunfire and explosions galore, but it also had a great and memorable cast of characters. You had the psychopathic Maggott who is disliked and mistrusted by most of the gang and with good reason - he had previously raped and killed a young woman. Terry Salavas created a scary character. I also liked the gentle giant Posey who traumatised by his previous crimes becomes scared of his own strength. Clint Walker really helped to give some humanity to this goliath of a man.

You also had the iconic Charles Bronson and Donald Sutherland - two great actors who share the distinction of never being Oscar-nominated. One of the most striking characters was the rebellious Franko who goes onto becomes one of the gang's loudest voices. Cassavetes received a well-earned Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Tying this all together was Lee Marvin playing the army major forced into an undesirable position, but determined to see his mission through.

Inevitably by having such a large ensemble cast it's natural for some characters to overshadow others. This happened here with big personalities like Maggott, Wladislaw, Franko and Posey dominating screentime over some of the less memorable members of the operation. Nowhere is this more present than Jiminez (Trini Lopez) who, due to Lopez midway leaving production, receives a rather rushed off-screen death. 

No matter, as everything culminates in an exciting conclusion which sees most of our heroes dying (I don't think this is much of a spoiler - this was always going to be a suicide mission) There were plenty great set pieces and special effects.

All in all, I enjoyed the Dirty Dozen. Yes, some of the characters were better characterised than others, but it was still entertaining nonetheless.  

Empire of the Sun review

 Number 480 on the top 1000 films of all time is Steven Spielberg's epic coming-of-age drama 'Empire of the Sun.'

Jim Graham (Christian Bale) is a young, spoiled English boy living in 1940's Shanghai China. However, after the Japanese invade, he is separated from his parents and sent to an internment camp. There he has to rely on his wits, as well as his relationship with two American hustlers Basie (John Malkovich) and Frank (Joe Pantoliano) as well as his relationship with other prisoners like Dr Rawlins (Nigel Havers) or Mrs Victor (Miranda Richardson) to survive.

Famed film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave a mixed review of the film deciding that despite its potential it seemed like a mishmash of different ideas that never gelled together. I would agree with this assessment. Empire of the Sun struck me as a film where despite having all of the necessary jigsaw puzzles was still unable to put them together in a satisfactory way.

And the film straddled too many genres without ever fitting into one. It's set during World War Two yet its PG-13 rating stopped it from really focussing on the true horrors of the war. Although it's a coming of age drama, Tim's transformation from a naive, pompous schoolboy into a streetwise hustler was largely glossed over. As such, these emotional beats didn't land.

It's a shame as, even though, Christian Bale was playing one of those annoying characters who fuelled the narrative with their own stupidity, he showed early promise of the Oscar-winning actor he would become. Considering this was only his second film role this is saying something. And considering he was acting alongside heavyweights like John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson, this was also saying something big. Not to mention, they played less than satisfactory characters who flitted in and out of the story.

Ultimately, I think this film was wasted potential. I'm always interesting in learning more about the Japanese side of the war, but this film left me cold.