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The Dirty Dozen: Fatal Mission

The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission is a 1988 American made-for-television war film, the third and final television sequel to Robert Aldrich's 1967 theatrical film The Dirty Dozen. It was broadcast on NBC on February 14, 1988, directed by Lee H. Katzin, and stars Telly Savalas as Major Wright, rather than his original-film character Maggot, and Ernest Borgnine reprising his role as General Worden, joined by Heather Thomas, Jeff Conaway, Erik Estrada, and Ernie Hudson.1 • 2 • 8

Key factDetail
First broadcastNBC, February 14, 1988, two-hour slot1
Director / writerLee H. Katzin; screenplay by Mark Rodgers; produced by Mel Swope1 • 3
Lead castTelly Savalas as Maj. Wright, Ernest Borgnine as Gen. Worden, Heather Thomas as Lt. Carol Campbell2
PremiseMajor Wright leads military prisoners on a mission to stop high-ranking Nazis from reaching Istanbul by train and establishing a Fourth Reich in the Middle East4 • 9
SettingA new group of World War II misfits boards the Orient Express to thwart Hitler's plans for a Fourth Reich in the Middle East, with a traitor in their midst2
ProductionMGM/UA Television with Jadran Film and RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana; about 95 minutes3 • 2
Place in seriesThird and final TV movie sequel, after The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985) and The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (1987)5

Spoilers

Plot

Major Wright is threatened with a court-martial unless he accepts an assignment to rescue six scientists who are being coerced into developing a nerve gas so lethal it could change the course of the war.4 As in the earlier films, the team is drawn from convicted soldiers who face prison sentences of life or execution if they refuse the mission.3 The group boards the Orient Express to thwart Hitler's plans for a Fourth Reich in the Middle East, but a traitor determined to stop the mission is among them.2 A contemporary listing summarizes the story as a female officer joining a major and GI convicts for a desert raid on the Nazis.3

Production and casting

The film was produced by MGM/UA Television in association with the Croatian company Jadran Film and the Italian broadcaster RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana.3 Lee H. Katzin, who had also directed the preceding sequel The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (1987), returned as director, again working from a screenplay by Mark Rodgers, with Mel Swope producing.3 • 6

Lee Marvin's absence. Marvin, who had played Major John Reisman in the 1967 original and the first sequel, died shortly before filming began, and his character was written out of the film.7 Telly Savalas, who in the original had played one of the dozen, the psychotic Maggot, took over the commander's part as Major Wright, a distinct character replacing Marvin's Major John Reisman.5 • 10 Ernest Borgnine returned as General Worden, a role he played in all four Dirty Dozen films.3 • 5

The supporting cast included Heather Thomas as Lt. Carol Campbell, the first woman among the dozen, along with Hunt Block as Joe Stern, Matthew Burton as Gen. Richter, Jeff Conaway as Sgt. Holt, Alex Cord as Dravko Demchuk, Erik Estrada as Carmine D'Agostino, Ernie Hudson as Joe Hamilton, and James Carroll Jordan as Lonnie Wilson.2

Place in the series and reception

The film followed The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985), which reunited Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Richard Jaeckel, and The Deadly Mission (1987), in which Savalas first took the lead opposite Borgnine.8 Fatal Mission was the last time Borgnine and Savalas reprised their roles.8 Like its predecessors, it repeats the original's structure: a major rattles off the convicts' rap sheets at the start, and scenes such as one man contemplating going AWOL while the others stop him recur from the earlier entries.5

Reception. The film has drawn a weak audience response: Rotten Tomatoes records an 8% audience score from more than 100 ratings, with no professional critic reviews tallied.3 The film historian Stuart Galbraith IV, reviewing the 2015 Olive Films Blu-ray that pairs it with The Deadly Mission, judged both sequels reasonably entertaining on their own terms and described them as exemplifying the last gasps of the old-fashioned postwar World War II movie, though he noted that Fatal Mission's soundtrack is ordinary mono where its predecessor's was full stereo surround.5

References

  1. Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission, The, International Television & Video Almanac 1994
  2. Dirty Dozen: Fatal Mission, Apple TV
  3. The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission, Rotten Tomatoes
  4. The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission, Google Play
  5. Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission / The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission Blu-ray review, DVD Talk (Stuart Galbraith IV, 2015)
  6. The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission, Rotten Tomatoes
  7. The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988), IMDb
  8. Pop Culture 101: The Dirty Dozen, Turner Classic Movies (Rob Nixon, 2014)
  9. Dirty Dozen: Fatal Mission - Apple TV
  10. The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission, Cast and Crew, Rotten Tomatoes

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

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