One of the most resilient Hollywood action movie tropes is that when you've got a tough job, a dirty job, you call in a loose cannon.

He may not play by the rules, but he gets results.

Hell, I think of myself as the loose cannon of this podcast, with Ben as the frustrated police chief

and Adam as the hapless rookie detective.

You want to see my results?

Here they are, punk.

The trope isn't reserved for cop movies, and it's not a recent invention.

It's born out of the American identity of the rugged individualist and some of our best-known

literary heroes are cut from this cloth, from Captain Ahab to Nancy Drew. In the case of war movies,

there's almost always at least one protagonist who dances to the beat of his own drummer.

Sometimes he's a disruption.

Occasionally he gets his come-upens, but more often than not, his unorthodox practices save the day.

You're all clear, kid.

Now let's blow this thing and go home.

Even so, it's not every day we meet a character like Lee Marvin's major riceman.

Hard bitten, battle tested, all business but with a swagger like a Bengal tiger,

he's despised by his former commanders for his insolence and offered a suicide

mission no one else would take.

Stage an assault on a French chateau full of vermacht officers on the eve of D-Day using a team of

commandos made up of condemned men who have no special training and no reason to

cooperate. Reisman recruits a team of 12 reprobates, sentenced to death or life in prison, and promises

them a full pardon if they survive.

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