The artistic visionary behind The Dirty Dozen was director Robert Aldrich, who insisted upon the film's uncompromising tone. Scoring the film was Aldrich's regular composer, Frank De Vol, whose credits include the famous theme to The Brady Bunch as well as scores for most of Aldrich's films of the 1960s and '70s. De Vol was a veteran bandleader, raconteur, songwriter and even character actor, but for The Dirty Dozen it was his longtime skill as composer that enhanced the story's effectiveness.

De Vol's soundtrack to The Dirty Dozen is deceptively simple. He writes an almost comedic war/action score that makes the film's uncompromising depiction of violence and cruelty all the more shocking by giving it a cheery, conventional demeanor. The film as a whole is given a four-note theme that seems to speak the title ("Dir-ty DOZ-en"), while De Vol quotes old chestnuts like "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree," "You're in the Army Now" and band marches for thematic dimension and a sense of period - as well as an evocation of the characters' rather lowbrow sense of humor. The film's climactic mission in France is treated seriously with hard-driving action and suspense, some of the finest in De Vol's career.

De Vol provided two original songs for the film: a German ballad (as radio source music) with lyrics and vocals by Sibylle Siegfried (the director's wife), and an anachronistically 1960s pop song, "Bramble Bush," with lyrics by Mack David, performed by Trini Lopez (one of the dozen in the film). Each song is presented both in previously unreleased film version and existing album rendition.

The Dirty Dozen soundtrack was previously released on LP and CD but this definitive Film Score Monthly release more than doubles the playing time and remixes and remasters the sound quality from the original 35mm three-track stereo recordings for vastly improved sonics.

Packaging & Liner Notes
Standard jewel case. Superb colour booket with excellent liner notes.