By Dwayne Epstein
I have often been asked why
did I choose to write a book about The Dirty Dozen. Well, the short answer is
that it’s always been a favorite film, very popular, and no one has ever
thought to do it before, to my knowledge. How it came about is a more involved
answer concerning my current agent, Lee Sobel. After my previous agent, Michael
Hamilburg passed away, I was left in free fall until Lee contacted me. I
checked him out and decided to take him up on his offer of representation. In
short order we came up with a new book idea, he goaded me into a proposal, and
the next thing I knew, we got a publisher's offer!
Following my initial
conversation with Lee Sobel, I began the research by rereading and notating the
original novel, as well as Googling info on the internet before agreeing to
create the proposal, all of which took place in January 2021 and continued
until I turned in the manuscript nine months later. From that moment on I was
researching and writing the book continuously, even though I had to maintain a
day job to pay my bills. Thank God my girlfriend was willing to help out
financially when my advance ran out. A freelance author’s lot is not an easy
one.
Because of the extremely short
timetable, the publisher gave me — the aforementioned nine months to research
and write —I had to hit the ground running, very fast. Fortunately, I had a lot
of unused research about the film from my biography of Lee Marvin that I could
use which helped immensely. Also, a friend of mine, Beverly Gray, who also writes
non-fiction about filmmaking, had recently written a book on the making of The
Graduate (1967) entitled Seduced by Mrs. Robinson, which I was able to use as a
sort of template. Even better than that, when I told Beverly what I was working
on, she told me she had interviewed The Dirty Dozen’s original author, E. M.
Nathanson, but it had never been published. In one of the most gracious acts of
kindness I’ve ever experienced, she gave me the interview on a CD which proved
invaluable to my research as Nathanson passed away in 2016. Can’t thank Beverly
enough!
Most days began with me
checking my sources, answering or sending out e-mail inquiries, and going over
what I had written, and what was not yet written. Coffee was of course
required, a local jazz station on the radio in the background and eventually
playing the soundtrack to The Dirty Dozen as the day wore on. I was also
wracked by the constant fear of not being able to finish in time but it was
often allayed by the discovery of a new source of information. My favorite
example was discovering the film’s producer, Ken Hyman, still alive at the age
of 92 and sharp as a tack when it came to his memory of the film. Finding him
was not easy but once I did, I like to joke, how come there aren’t any famous
Jewish detectives?
I quickly discovered that
there are many facts and misinformation about the film and its production that
are still circulating out there that I was most enthusiastic to correct with
proven facts & stats or simply dispel out of hand. Where does one begin?
The story of 12 convicts ordered to kill Nazis on a secret mission during WWII
has always been thought of to be true. The inclusion of filmmaker Russ Meyer in the film’s genesis was also a revelation. What cast members, especially
lead actor Lee Marvin, really thought of the film was great to disprove despite
misinformation to the contrary. As I said, way too many amazing facts to narrow
down to just one. Gotta read the book to find them all out! As a lifelong fan
of the film, I was amazed at the number of differences between the novel and
the film that was provided by such exclusive sources as producer Hyman, cast
members Bob Phillips (Cpl. Morgan), Donald Sutherland (Vernon Pinkley), Dora
Reisser (German Officer's Girl), Colin Maitland (Seth Sawyer), and more. I also
spoke with the adult children of many of the film’s participants such as
Valerie Walker, Lisa and Cheyney Ryan, Caine Carruthers, Michael Nathanson, and
Christopher Marvin, among others. It also helps to have access to the Margaret
Herrick Library at The Motion Picture Academy. Not to brag but my extensive
personal library collection of motion picture history was also a key factor in
discovering the film’s amazing history.
When I turned in the
manuscript I was expecting to deal with a lot of edits or deletions from the
editor assigned to the book. Much to my surprise, there were none at all. It
was simply accepted and the proofs were sent to me for my approval. Pretty
amazing. As my agent, Lee Sobel messaged me when he read the opening of the
book: “I just read the opening of your book and it’s fantastic. I’m running
around dealing with my kids so I’m not sure when I get to read more but that’s
a sensational opening to the book. You did what all book openings of this kind
should do in my opinion which is to whet the appetite for things to come and
lay out your mission statement if you will. Bravo! It is nice and tight too, no
wonder he didn’t do any editing.” The end result of such diligent hard work is
now available online and in bookstores everywhere.
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