The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission Page #3

---

but since this is

our maiden voyage,

Sergeant Holt will do the honours.

What's the matter, Muez?

You seem a little tense.

I signed up to kill Germans,

not jump out of planes.

Wrong.

You were due to go down

one way or another.

Either six foot at the end of a rope,

or 6000 feet from an airplane.

Look, you got

yourself a good deal.

I'll let you know when

I got a good deal, major.

Now, ordinarily, you'd have

several days for preparation

and your first jump

would have been in the daytime.

But there is no time.

Your next jump now

will be at night

and into Yugoslavia.

Attach your cables.

Good luck.

Go!

D'Agostino?

What the hell's wrong

with you, D'Agostino?

I can't jump, major.

I never been any good

at heights. I can't do it.

It's a hell of a time

to tell somebody, soldier!

Get up there and jump!

No, major.

I can't. I'll get killed, I know it.

You want everybody to know

that the hotshot syndicate hit man...

has a yellow streak a mile long?

I can't jump, major!

You're so cool.

You even offered them a last drag

from your own cigarette

just before

you blew their brains out.

You want a cigarette?

Jump, you bum.

I got to go. I'll freeze my leg.

Come on! Let's get going!

- Move it or milk it.

- Come on.

- Come on, move it.

- It's freezing up here.

Come on, let's move! Geronimo!

Gotta be a nicer way to see

Europe again, right, Hoffman?

Hey, major, I'm an all-American boy.

My parents just travelled

around a lot.

Oh, my God!

Last night...

after Hoffman bounced

I had his body brought back here,

along with his parachute.

You think this was more than a

routine training accident, major?

I know now, lieutenant,

that it was no accident.

The chute line on Hoffman's

parachute was cut.

He jumped out of that plane with

the jump ring in perfect position

and the chute still didn't open.

I thought the men

packed their own chutes.

No, you're talking about

paratroopers, lieutenant.

My men are thieves and murderers.

These are prefolded and put on

an airplane by jump instructors.

Anybody could have got

to Hoffman's parachute,

even helped him on with it.

You said it yourself, major.

You've got thieves and murderers.

So one of them found

a reason to kill another.

Is that a reason for getting me out

here in the middle of the night?

No. My reason is Hoffman

was one of my men.

And he was very important.

He spoke German.

He travelled in Europe for years and

he was familiar with Yugoslavia,

which would have been

a great help to me.

So you're saying you need

time to find a replacement?

There is no time, colonel. The

Nazis are gonna move those people.

Major, you say that Hoffman

spent years in Europe,

picking up languages,

he knew the Balkans.

I grew up in Europe. I speak

many European languages

and I spent six summers

in the Balkans and Yugoslavia.

Apparently, for whatever reason, lieutenant,

you want to go on this mission.

Let me point something out

to you.

Now, for the rest of the training

and behind enemy lines,

your life will totally depend on men

who've committed every crime in the book,

including rape and murder.

Now, do you still want to go?

Hey, sarge, who's

in the movies tonight?

Betty Grable, right?

Yeah, singing and dancing

her way into your heart.

Come on, let's get

out of the cold.

How come the major took off with

Hoffman's chute after he bounced?

The way I get along

with the major

is whenever I have a big,

fat question for him...

I forget all about it.

Hey, look, there's a dame in here!

- All right, knock it off!

- Knock it off.

Find yourselves a seat

and sit on it.

- We've met, haven't we?

- She's beautiful.

This is Lieutenant Campbell.

She'll be with us

for the rest of the training

and she'll also jump

with us into Europe.

All right, keep in mind...

that she's an officer

and any order she gives

will be obeyed immediately.

Is that clear?

Yes, sir!

Even if she wants

to take advantage of us, sir?

All right, sergeant,

hit the switch.

Yes, sir.

Name? Kranz, Wolfgang.

Importance to the party?

Social planner and administrator.

Created the camps at Dachau

and Belsen.

Very good, Stern.

Name?

Ulrich Brunner. Lieutenant.

Importance to the party?

Some kind of banker, isn't he?

Yes, a principled

young financial adviser

to the Reichminister,

Albert Speer.

Steel, Helmut...

physical culture prophet.

Directs a sexual revolutionary

program

supposedly aimed at impregnating

all young women

throughout the Greater Reich.

Yeah? How do you like

this guy, lieutenant?

I think we'll have to

cut his career short.

Now, remember those faces.

They won't always be wearing dress

uniforms and swastika armbands.

They may be in civilian clothes,

or dressed as medical workers

or orthodox priests.

Hey, major, how come it has to be 12?

Suppose we only get you 10 or 11?

- Yeah, why not?

- No good.

That one that's left on that train

may be the heir apparent

to Adolf Hitler, the next fhrer.

Hit the switch, sergeant.

The next is a captured German film

on the occupation of Yugoslavia.

You'll notice that all the...

I ain't never seen

no garrison like this.

Me neither.

Whoa.

Now who the hell smuggled a blue

film into a maximum-security prison?

Echevarria?

Major, I had nothing

to do with this.

It's a bum rap.

No, of course not.

I believe I've already had

this course in training.

I'll be outside if you need me.

You're gonna miss the best part.

Shall I let it continue, sir?

Yeah...

might as well see

how the other half lives.

I like that, I like that.

I got this out of the mess hall.

The guards have got.45s

and machine guns.

Did you forget about that?

We'll get the major first.

He's got a.45 carbine,

lots of ammo.

Then we get the guard at the

barracks and we get his BAR.

We grab one of the trucks

and we disable all the others.

Where do we go from here?

West coast. Ireland's neutral.

We grab a boat, we get to Ireland,

we pull a few jobs, get a stake.

Hey, that's a great idea.

Are you crazy?

You're right. It's a lousy idea.

Who sticks the major?

I thought you'd do

that, D'Agostino.

He kicked you out of the plane.

Give me the knife.

Are you nuts?

You'll get all three of us killed

and then crucify the others too.

What did you come out here for, then?

Because you asked us.

And we wanted to see

how many other men were crazy.

Yeah, that's right.

We ain't that crazy.

Easy. Easy, Shorty. Easy!

Easy. Hey, easy.

You okay? Are you okay?

Yeah, I'm all right.

Hey, these guys ain't nice.

Hey. Now, go on back

to your bunks...

and don't get any more

bright ideas.

Good night, major.

Way to go, champ.

Way to go, buddy. All right.

Now, just remember,

if this was the real thing

and you move too soon, you'd

be spotted by the engineers...

or the German passengers

inside the cars.

They'd stop the train

and just scoop us up

and we'd never get near

anybody we want to get on it.

Take positions.

By the numbers. One...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes