''Play Dirty'' is a 1969 British

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

starring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

Nigel Davenport Arthur Nigel Davenport (23 May 1928 – 25 October 2013) was an English stage, television and film actor, best known as the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Birkenhead in the Academy Award-winning films '' A Man for All Seasons'' and '' Chariots of F ...

Nigel Green Nigel McGown Green (15 October 192415 May 1972) was an English character actor. Because of his strapping build, commanding height () and regimental demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action in such classic 1960s ...

and

Harry Andrews Harry Stewart Fleetwood Andrews, CBE (10 November 1911 – 6 March 1989) was an English actor known for his film portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Regimental Sergeant Major Wilson in '' The Hill'' (1965) alongside Sean ...

. It was director

Andre DeToth Endre Antal Miksa DeToth, better known as Andre de Toth (born Endre Antal Mihály Tóth; May 15, 1913 – October 27, 2002), was a Hungarian-American film director, born and raised in Makó, Austria-Hungary. He directed the 3D film House of Wa ...

's last film, based on a screenplay by

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documenta ...

and Lotte Colin. The film's story is inspired by the exploits of units such as the

Long Range Desert Group )Gross, O'Carroll and Chiarvetto 2009, p.20 , patron = , motto = ''Non Vi Sed Arte'' (Latin: ''Not by Strength, but by Guile'') (unofficial) , colours = , colours_label ...

Popski's Private Army Popski's Private Army, officially No. 1 Demolition Squadron, PPA, was a unit of British Special Forces set up in Cairo in October 1942 by Major Vladimir Peniakoff. Popski's Private Army was one of several raiding units formed in the Western Dese ...

and the SAS in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Plot

During the North African Campaign in the

, Captain Douglas is a British Petroleum employee

seconded In deliberative bodies a second to a proposed motion is an indication that there is at least one person besides the mover that is interested in seeing the motion come before the meeting. It does not necessarily indicate that the seconder favors th ...

to the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

to oversee incoming fuel supplies for the

British Eighth Army The Eighth Army was an Allied field army formation of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns. Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Free French Forces ...

. Colonel Masters commands a special raiding unit composed of convicted criminals, and after a string of failures he is told by his commander, Brigadier Blore, that he must have a regular officer to lead a dangerous last-chance mission to destroy an

Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...

fuel depot, otherwise his unit will be disbanded. Despite Douglas's objections, he is chosen for his knowledge of oil pipelines and infrastructure. Douglas is then introduced to Cyril Leech, a convicted criminal rescued from prison to lead Masters' operations in the field. The next day, Douglas and Leech are provided with armed jeeps and lead six other men out into the desert disguised as an

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

patrol. They endure a long and arduous trek across the desert: encountering hostile tribesmen, sandstorms and a booby-trapped oasis, among other dangers. Unknown to Masters, Blore has sent a regular army raiding party overloaded in wheeled trucks with the same objective 2 days behind Masters, but they are wiped out in a tracked vehicle German ambush. While Leech and his men are often insubordinate towards Douglas's command. One of the gay couple gets severely injured by a landmine while stealing watches off soldiers' corpses during a stop for supplies. Douglas captures a German ambulance in which they discover a German nurse, who is forced to tend to the injured man. The men eventually try to rape the nurse but are prevented from doing so. Finally, they reach their objective, only to discover that the depot is fake. After taking shelter, Leech admits to Douglas that he is being kept alive only because Masters is paying him £2000 for his safe return. Douglas insists that the men continue their search for the fuel depot, but the men laugh in his face. The group then follows Leech's lead and heads to a German-occupied

port city A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

, hoping to steal a boat and escape; Douglas sees the fuel depot there and convinces Leech that destroying it would aid their plan. Meanwhile, Masters is confronted by Blore with aerial photographs of the supposed depot intact — confirming the mission's failure. Having lost contact with the men for some time, Masters is ordered to leak intelligence on the team to the Germans; the British Army is now on the offensive, and it wishes to keep any enemy fuel depots intact for capture. Under the cover of night, the men don German uniforms and sneak into the port depot to plant their explosives, but one of them sets off a trip flare and they are quickly surrounded; an officer on a loudspeaker calls each of them out by name, revealing Masters' betrayal. The men scatter as the depot is detonated; Leech and Douglas manage to slip away, while the rest are discovered and killed one by one. Back in the ambulance, while waiting for the rest of the men to return, the injured team member, on his deathbed, uses his last strength to murder the German nurse bound and gagged beside him. The Eighth Army arrives the next morning; Douglas and Leech (still wearing their German uniforms) decide to surrender to the British. Unfortunately, a trigger-happy British soldier opens fire, killing them before noticing their white flag of surrender. The soldier is chastised momentarily by his superior before the troops move on.

Cast

as Captain Douglas,

as Captain Cyril Leech *

as Lieutenant Colonel Masters *

as Brigadier Blore *

Patrick Jordan Albert Patrick Jordan (10 October 1923 – 10 January 2020) was a British stage, film and television actor. Biography He was born and raised in Harrow, Middlesex, the son of Margaret, a cook, and Albert Jordan, a regimental sergeant major. An ...

as Major Alan Watkins, Guards Commando Unit *

Daniel Pilon Daniel Pilon (November 13, 1940 – June 26, 2018) was a Canadian actor, known for his role on ''Dallas'' as Renaldo "Naldo" Marchetta. Pilon was born in Montreal, Quebec. In addition to ''Dallas'', he has appeared in daytime soap operas such as ...

as Captain Attwood, Blore's Adjutant * Bernard Archard as Colonel Homerton * Aly Ben Ayed as Sadok * Takis Emmanouel as Kostas Manou *

Vivian Pickles Vivian Pickles (born 21 October 1931) is an English actress. Biography Pickles began her career as a child star after being chosen by Mary Field for a series of Saturday Morning children's films, including the lead roles in ''Jean's Plan'' (1 ...

as a German Nurse * Stanley Caine as German Officer, Stanley is the younger brother of Michael Caine. * Martin Burland as Dead Officer * George McKeenan as Corporal At Quayside * Bridget Espeet as Ann * Enrique Avila as Kalarides * Mohsen Ben Abdallah as Hassan * Mohamed Kouka as Assine * Scott Miller as Boudesh * Michael Stevens as Captain Johnson * Tony Stamboulieh as Barman In Arab Bar * Jose Halufi as Arab *

Jeremy Child Sir Coles John Jeremy Child, 3rd Baronet (20 September 1944 – 7 March 2022) was a British actor. Early life Coles John Jeremy Child was born on 20 September 1944 in Woking, Surrey, son of Foreign Office diplomat Sir Coles John Child, 2nd ...

as 2nd Lieutenant * Dennis Brennan as Corporal *

Rafael Albaicín Ignacio Rafael García Escudero, known as Rafael Albaicín, was a Spanish matador and film actor who was born on 5 June 1919 in Madrid, and died on 3 September 1981. In 1948 he began as matador in Las Ventas, taught by Cagancho. He also played t ...

as Chief Arab At Oasis

Production

Development

The film was originally titled ''Written in the Sand''; it was announced in October 1967 with Michael Caine to star and

René Clément René Clément (; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. Life and career Clément studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed hi ...

to direct. Caine later said he made the film because of his relationship with producer

Harry Saltzman Herschel Saltzman (; – ), known as Harry Saltzman, was a Canadian theatre and film producer. He is best remembered for co-producing the first nine of the ''James Bond'' film series with Albert R. Broccoli. He lived most of his life in Denh ...

and the fact he wanted to work with Clément. The film was also known as ''Deadly Patrol''. In February 1968

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in ''This Sporting ...

and Nigel Davenport signed to co-star, by which time the film had been re-named ''Play Dirty''."Richard Harris to sue film producers". Our London Staff; ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', 27 February 1968: 4. However Richard Harris ultimately did not appear in the film. According to

, Lotte Colin did hardly any of the screenplay despite being credited. She was Saltzman's mother-in-law.

Filming

The film was originally planned by Saltzman to be filmed in Israel. Saltzman asked Andre DeToth to scout the country for locations. De Toth said Clément wanted to film in Morocco or Algeria, but Saltzman refused to go to North Africa, and Clément refused to go to Israel. The film ended up being shot on location in the

Tabernas Desert The Tabernas Desert ( es, Desierto de Tabernas) is one of Spain's semi-arid deserts, located within Spain's south-eastern province of Almería. It is in the interior, about north of the provincial capital Almería, in the Tabernas municipalit ...

near

Tabernas Tabernas is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain, as well as the name of the principal town of the municipality. It is located on the edge of the famous Tabernas Desert, the filming location of many ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

, Spain. Richard Harris left his home in London for Spain on 16 February 1968. He said he was handed a script which was different from the one he had agreed to do when he signed on. He quit the film and sued the producers for payment of his salary, which was a reported £150,000. After Nigel Davenport replaced Harris, and Nigel Green replaced Davenport, René Clément resigned as director, and executive producer André DeToth took over directing the film. DeToth said Clément "wanted to make a 'poetry of war'" while Saltzman "wanted blazing guns and roaring tanks". Several other films were shooting in Almería at the same time, including ''

Shalako Shalako is a series of dances and ceremonies conducted by the Native American Zuni people for the Zuni people at the winter solstice, typically following the harvest. The Shalako ceremony and feast has been closed to non-native peoples since 1 ...

''. Caine later said, "There are six sand dunes in Almeria... We'd all come round the hill chasing

Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

's tanks - and there's horse shit all over the desert and a stagecoach in the other directions being chased by Indians. The other film units were forever wiping out tank tracks to get their westerns and we were forever shovelling up horse shit and wiping out hoof prints to get our

El Alamein El Alamein ( ar, العلمين, translit=al-ʿAlamayn, lit=the two flags, ) is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Arab's Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. , it had ...

." Caine later said he had a clause in his contracts that any film on which he worked could not be made in Almería. "It was that bad".Simmons, Bob & Passingham, Kenneth. ''Nobody Does It Better: My 25 Years of Stunts With James Bond and Other Stories,'' 1987, Blandford DeToth later said that in making the film, "I wanted to rub our noses in the mess we have created and how we shy away from our ability to clean it up... I wanted to disturb, to open closed eyes and scramble brains."

Reception

The film was a box office disappointment.

External links

* *
Play Dirty Movie Locations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Play Dirty 1969 films British war adventure films North African campaign films 1960s war adventure films Anti-war films about World War II Films scored by Michel Legrand Films directed by Andre DeToth Films produced by Harry Saltzman United Artists films Films shot in Almería British World War II films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films