Play Dirty is a 1969 British war film starring Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green and Harry Andrews. It was director Andre DeToth's last film, based on a screenplay by Melvyn Bragg and Lotte Colin. The film's story is inspired by the exploits of units such as the Long Range Desert Group, Popski's Private Army and the SAS in North Africa during the Second World War. Plot During the North African Campaign in the Second World War, Captain Douglas is a British Petroleum employee seconded to the Royal Engineers to oversee incoming fuel supplies for the British Eighth Army. Colonel Masters commands a special raiding unit composed of convicted criminals, and after a string of failures he is told by his commander, Brigadier Blore, that he must have a regular officer to lead a dangerous last-chance mission to destroy an Afrika Korps fuel depot, otherwise his unit will be disbanded. Despite Douglas's objections, he is chosen for his knowledge of oil pipelines and infrastructure. Douglas is then introduced to Cyril Leech, a convicted criminal rescued from prison to lead Masters' operations in the field. The next day, Douglas and Leech are provided with armed jeeps and lead six other men out into the desert disguised as an Italian Army patrol. They endure a long and arduous trek across the desert: encountering hostile tribesmen, sandstorms and a booby-trapped oasis, among other dangers. Unknown to Masters, Blore has sent a regular army raiding party overloaded in wheeled trucks with the same objective 2 days behind Masters, but they are wiped out in a tracked vehicle German ambush. While Leech and his men are often insubordinate towards Douglas's command. One of the gay couple gets severely injured by a landmine while stealing watches off soldiers' corpses during a stop for supplies. Douglas captures a German ambulance in which they discover a German nurse, who is forced to tend to the injured man. The men eventually try to rape the nurse but are prevented from doing so. Finally, they reach their objective, only to discover that the depot is fake. After taking shelter, Leech admits to Douglas that he is being kept alive only because Masters is paying him £2000 for his safe return. Douglas insists that the men continue their search for the fuel depot, but the men laugh in his face. The group then follows Leech's lead and heads to a German-occupied