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Play Dirty
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Wikipedia article
'Play Dirty' is a 1969 British war film starring Michael Caine,Anne Billson, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/11223079/Is-Michael-Caine-Britains-most-important-film-star.html "Is Michael Caine Britain's most important film star?"], 'The Telegraph', 12 November 2014. Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green and Harry Andrews. It was director Andre DeToth's last film, based on a screenplay by Melvyn Bragg and Lotte Colin.[http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/play-dirty/Content?oid=894694 "Play Dirty"]. review by Fred Camper, 'Chicago Reader', 23 October 1997.
The film's story is inspired by the exploits of units such as the Long Range Desert Group, Popski's Private Army and the SAS in North Africa during the Second World War.
Plot
During the North African Campaign in the Second World War, Captain Douglas (Michael Caine) is a British Petroleum employee seconded to the Royal Engineers to oversee incoming fuel supplies for the British Eighth Army. Colonel Masters (Nigel Green) commands a special raiding unit composed of convicted criminals, and after a string of failures he is told by his commander, Brigadier Blore (Harry Andrews), that he must have a regular officer to lead a dangerous last-chance mission to destroy an Afrika Korps 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 (Nigel Davenport), 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 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, they eventually reach their objective, only to discover that the depot is fake.
Due to an injured man who needs medical care, 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. They then head to a German-occupied port city, 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 caught and killed. After taking shelter, Leech admits to Douglas that he is being kept alive only because Masters is paying him 2000 for his safe return.
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 they have a chance to speak.
Cast
* Michael Caine as Captain Douglas, Royal Engineers
* Nigel Davenport as Captain Cyril Leech
* Nigel Green as Colonel Masters
* Harry Andrews as Brigadier Blore
* Patrick Jordan as Major Alan Watkins, Guards Commando Unit
* Daniel Pilon as Captain Attwood, Blore's Adjutant
* Bernard Archard as Colonel Homerton
* Aly Ben Ayed as Sadok
* Takis Emmanouel as Kostas Manou
* Vivian Pickles 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 as 2nd Lieutenant
* Dennis Brennan as Corporal
* Rafael Albaicn as Chief Arab At Oasis
Production
Development
The film was originally titled 'Written in the Sand';Some sources mistakenly identify the original title as 'Written on the Sand'. it was announced in October 1967 with Michael Caine to star and Ren Clment to direct."MOVIE CALL SHEET: Robert Shaw Cast in 'Party'". Martin, Betty; 'Los Angeles Times', 17 October 1967: c14. Caine later said he made the film because of his relationship with producer Harry Saltzman and the fact he wanted to work with Clment.The film was also known as 'Deadly Patrol'.Slide p 155
In February 1968 Richard Harris 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', 27 February 1968: 4."MOVIE CALL SHEET: Cobb to Produce 'Ceferino'". Martin, Betty; 'Los Angeles Times', 17 February 1968: 17. However Richard Harris ultimately did not appear in the film.
According to Andre DeToth, Lotte Colin did hardly any of the screenplay despite being credited. She was Saltzman's mother-in-law.Slide, p 157
Filming
The film was originally planned by Saltzman to be filmed in Israel. Saltzman asked Andre DeToth to scout the country for locations.Slide, Anthony. 'de Toth on de Toth', Faber and Faber, 2011; p 152 De Toth said Clment wanted to film in Morocco or Algeria, but Saltzman refused to go to North Africa, and Clment refused to go to Israel. The film ended up being shot on location in the Tabernas Desert near Tabernas in Almera, 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, Ren Clment resigned as director, and executive producer Andr DeToth took over directing the film. DeToth said Clment "wanted to make a 'poetry of war'" while Saltzman "wanted blazing guns and roaring tanks".Slide p 152
Several other films were shooting in Almera at the same time, including 'Shalako'. Caine later said, "There are six sand dunes in Almeria... We'd all come round the hill chasing Rommel'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." Caine later said he had a clause in his contracts that any film on which he worked could not be made in Almera. "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."Slide, p 155
Reception
The film was a box office disappointment.
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