# Play Dirty (1969 film)
**Play Dirty** is a 1969 British war film directed by André de Toth, in which a patrol of criminals and mercenaries led by an inexperienced officer ([Michael Caine](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-caine)) crosses the North African desert during World War II to destroy a Nazi fuel depot, only to learn that their mission is a decoy.[1](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10762) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88973/play-dirty) It stars Michael Caine as Capt. Douglas, [Nigel Davenport](https://www.edgepedia.org/nigel-davenport) as Capt. Cyril Leech, Nigel Green as Col. Masters, and [Harry Andrews](https://www.edgepedia.org/harry-andrews) as Brig. Blore.[1](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10762) A 2025 Shane Black crime film of the same title, starring Mark Wahlberg, is unrelated.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/play-dirty-mark-wahlberg-amazon-prime-movie-review-2025)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / producer | André de Toth; produced by Harry Saltzman[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88973/play-dirty) |
| Writers | Melvyn Bragg and Lotte Colin, from a story by George Marton[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88973/play-dirty) |
| Cast | Michael Caine (Capt. Douglas), Nigel Davenport (Capt. Cyril Leech), Nigel Green (Col. Masters), Harry Andrews (Brig. Blore)[1](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10762) |
| Setting | North African desert, World War II; a British patrol of criminals must destroy a Nazi fuel depot[1](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10762) |
| Technical | 117–118 minutes, color, 2.35:1 Panavision, 35 mm; cinematography by Edward Scaife, music by Michel Legrand[4](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html) • [5](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/play-dirty) |
| Production | Lowndes Productions; distributed by United Artists; shot in Almería, Spain[5](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/play-dirty) • [6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/) |
| Box office | $650,000 in US rentals and $2 million overseas against a $3 million cost, a loss[6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Having failed repeatedly in his commando missions, Col. Masters ([Nigel Green](https://www.edgepedia.org/nigel-green)) wins a reprieve from Brigadier Blore (Harry Andrews) by offering to destroy a Nazi fuel dump far behind the North African battle lines.[4](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html) Masters sends out a seven-man patrol headed by the mercenary Capt. Cyril Leech (Nigel Davenport) but technically commanded by Capt. Douglas (Michael Caine), an oil supply officer previously assigned to rearward duties.[4](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html) The rest of the patrol is made up of Arab, Greek, and Cypriot mercenaries whose loyalty lasts only as long as the mission goes well.[4](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html)
Douglas and Leech clash over command from the start, Leech refusing orders and demonstrating that Douglas's notions of fair play do not apply in the field.[4](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html) Unknown to Douglas, the two commanders at headquarters double-cross the patrol at every turn: they dispatch a second, official Army unit with the same mission and expect the irregulars to be killed serving as decoys for that strike force.[4](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html) Blore wants Masters's outfit annihilated before it can embarrass him again or succeed and steal his glory.[4](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html) Leech, who has been promised 2,000 pounds to bring Douglas back alive, realizes the truth when he spots the second column of British trucks.[4](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html) Masters's own justification is that "War is a criminal enterprise. I fight it with criminals."[4](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html)
The ending withholds any conventional victory. Once the mission is finished, those on the team who are still alive, wearing Italian uniforms as a disguise, are shot down without caution by a British soldier who has just arrived.[5](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/play-dirty)
## Production
The project began under the French director René Clément, who had a falling out with producer Harry Saltzman and left the picture.[1](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10762) Michael Caine, already contractually committed, had been keen to work with Clément and disliked the replacement script, but the alternative was for Saltzman to lose the money already spent.[6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/) [Richard Harris](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-harris), on a salary of £150,000, pulled out of the role of Capt. Leech after rewrites eliminated four of his major scenes, saying he would not play second fiddle to Caine; Nigel Davenport, originally in a supporting role, was upgraded to take his place.[6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/)
De Toth received the assignment in an unusual way: when Clément vanished from the set and then went sick, refusing to admit a doctor to his hotel room, Saltzman instructed de Toth to start shooting after a three-day hiatus.[6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/) De Toth, a Hungarian who had experienced combat in Poland, later wrote that he had wanted to make a story like *Play Dirty* since the war, and location manager Andrew Birkin described him as "more of a sergeant-major" on set.[6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/) As de Toth put it, "Clément was looking for the roses, I was looking for the thorns."[1](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10762)
The shoot was planned for Israel as a favor to [United Artists](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-artists) head Arthur Krim, but filming was switched to Almería, Spain, terrain neither Saltzman nor Clément knew; Caine hated the punishing climate and the limited dunes, where several units shot simultaneously and once filmed Rommel's advancing [Afrika Korps](https://www.edgepedia.org/afrika-korps) tanks being crossed by a stagecoach chase from another production.[6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88973/play-dirty) An unexpected two-week rain delay turned the sand into a flower garden and let the cast and crew bond and revise the script.[6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/)
De Toth also lost a scene to the studio. [Michel Legrand](https://www.edgepedia.org/michel-legrand) wrote a score for the burial of ambushed soldiers, with vultures circling above, sung by a children's choir; the voices were removed the day before the release prints were ordered, and de Toth could do nothing about it.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88973/play-dirty)
## Reception and legacy
The film was dismissed by most critics on release as a clone of *The Dirty Dozen* (1967), whose success had partly inspired its "assemble the team" plot.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88973/play-dirty) It underperformed commercially, earning $650,000 in US rentals and $2 million overseas against a $3 million budget, though it remained a regular on the reissue circuit.[6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/) Later assessments reversed the comparison: the [Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies) essay calls it "infinitely superior" to *The Dirty Dozen*, and MoMA's notes describe it as "the far more honest film about human treachery and smallness" that had the misfortune of following a patriotic blockbuster.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88973/play-dirty) • [1](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10762) A University of Pittsburgh dissertation on the British war film places it in the same angry, anti-heroic strand as *The Long, The Short, and The Tall*, and calls it among the most corrupt and opportunistic films about war ever produced for mainstream consumption.[7](https://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/25230/4/kmf-TheBritishWarFilm2links.pdf)
Martin Scorsese has named the film as an example of what makes de Toth's work disturbing: "The characters have no redeeming social value; they don't think, they just act... The nihilism, the pragmatism, it's at least unsettling."[1](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10762) The film was de Toth's final directorial assignment; he was afterward wooed by National General and chose to direct the western *El Condor* (1970) in a producing or directing choice, but *Play Dirty* closed his feature directing career.[6](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/)
## References
1. [Play Dirty. 1969. Directed by André De Toth, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10762)
2. [Play Dirty, by Jeff Stafford, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88973/play-dirty)
3. [Play Dirty review (2025), RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/play-dirty-mark-wahlberg-amazon-prime-movie-review-2025)
4. [DVD Savant Review: Play Dirty, DVD Talk](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2291play.html)
5. [Play Dirty, Viennale](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/play-dirty)
6. [Behind the Scenes, Play Dirty (1969), The Magnificent 60s, by Brian Hannan](https://themagnificent60s.com/2023/06/24/behind-the-scenes-play-dirty-1969/)
7. [The British War Film, University of Pittsburgh dissertation](https://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/25230/4/kmf-TheBritishWarFilm2links.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › War action and adventure › War action films released through 1999 › Released 1963 to 1998*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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