With the death of Lee Marvin, Telly sabalas who played the psychotic Magid in the original film takes command of another elite fighting dozen from the military stockades.

The mission is to rescue some French scientists who are working on a poison gas project in occupied France which I assume is the southwest portion of the country which was occupied until V-E Day. Savalas gets a bit more on his plate hen wives and kids are added to his mission.

This all takes place in a monastery taken over by the Nazis which made the mission look a whole lot like the one in the original film involving a French chateau as the scene of the action.

And things come full circle for Savalas having been a psychotic in the first film, he gets a psychotic in Bo Svenson in this film to deal with.

None of the men really standout as characters like the first film. But I kind of liked Paul Picerni as a free and easy black marketeer in the stockade for such activities.

None of the pizazz of the original, but a good action flick.

If you're counting, "The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission" is the second made-for-television sequel to the 1967 theatrical original about twelve convicted U.S. Army soldiers who volunteer for a suicidal mission behind enemy lines during World War II. In this sequel, Telly Savalas takes over as the leader, Major Wright, from Lee Marvin who had died,and Ernst Borgnine reprises his original role as General Sam Worden.

This time out the dozen have to blow up stashes of Hitler's secret nerve gas that they Huns have hidden in a monastery in France. "Le Mans" director Lee H. Katzin keeps the action moving ahead at a fast pace in the contrived, occasionally exciting script by "Let's Kill Uncle" scenarist Mark Rodgers. Katzin and Rodges maintain the formulaof Major Wright touring an English prison that the Army has established and selecting suitable prisoners scheduled for execution to take with him. They don't pick anybody like Jim Brown, and they shun people of color. Anyway, Vince Edwards plays the sergeant that ramrods the dozen, and Wright puts them through the rigors of training before he lets them enjoy themselves with prostitutes before the mission begins. There is the inevitable scene during training when the men must negotiate a course while live ammo is fired over their heads. Predictably,one of the men cannot take this and catches a bullet when he stands up. Meanwhile, the Germans kill their contact and General Worden warns Wright that things are going to be a little different. The dozen this time is no great shakes, though "Walking Tall, Part 2" actor Bo Svenson makes a particularly nasty rapist. World War II fans of the series will enjoy the firefights, especially when the dozen attack a German patrol boat and shoot it to ribbons. Again, only a handful of the dozen survive as they destroy the nerve gas and rescue the scientists that the Nazis had working for them. Altogether, despite its obviously hokey title, this "Dirty Dozen" mission is pretty tame. They link up with the French Resistance and Wright masquerades as a monk to survey the monastery. Naturally, this sequel lacks the bite of the original. Rather surprisingly, the theme of killing enemy generals and the general mistrust of officers is not played up in this installment.

Wow after "The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985)" they managed to scrape out another two more late 80s straight-to-TV sequels. I didn't even know there was a fourth, yet alone a third. No more Lee Marvin, instead we have Telly Savalas barking the orders. Actually amongst that tough impression is a reflectively moralistic manner that shows he's not your typical by the book soldier. He pushes his men, but for that he grows attached to them. Again it follows the chewy formula of its influencer's; during WW2 a group of misfit stock criminals facing the death penalty are hand picked and trained up in England by Savalas' character to go on a virtual suicide mission behind enemy lines in France to destroy nerve gas containers hidden in a Monastery. Some familiar faces (some slumming it) do pop up in this group; Bo Svenson (who gets a memorable introduction), Vince Edwards, Randall 'Tex' Cobb, Vincent Van Patten, James Van Patten and Thom Mathews (who'll horror fans might recognize). Also featuring is Ernest Borgnine and Wolf Kahler as a German Colonel. It's a sturdily brazen little action joint, as the drama thickens and it builds up to a thrilling climax battle where the act of bravery and redemption shines through. There are enough bangs, secret phrases, cheerful marching music, character conflicts and tension to be entertained within its quick moving time frame.