Why Trini Lopez’s Dirty Dozen character disappears during the movie

American singer and actor Trini Lopez played a significant role in the 1967 action movie The Dirty DozenBut his character mysteriously disappeared midway through the story. Based on the 1965 novel by EM Nathanson, The Dirty Dozen Set in 1944, during World War II, it portrays 12 soldiers who are being trained for a military mission before the Normandy landings. The movie was a critical and commercial success and inspired three television sequels in the 1980s. A dirty dozen A remake was announced in 2019, with David Ayer set to serve as director.

The Dirty Dozen Received praise for its depiction of military combat during World War II and received four Oscar nominations in 1968, winning one for Best Sound Editing. The film featured a talented ensemble cast with Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, and George Kennedy, all of whom served in the military in real life, during the war. One member of the ensemble cast, Trini Lopez, played a role as part of the 12 soldiers trained for battle, but his character disappeared without any real explanation before the movie’s end.

The Dirty Dozen Team:

Trini Lopez left The Dirty Dozen before filming was finished

He was advised to leave the film by Frank Sinatra

in The Dirty DozenTrini Lopez played the role of Pedro JiminezRanked 10th in the military group. His character is trained along with the rest of the soldiers and is set to become part of the Normandy invasion. However, Lopez ultimately left the movie early under the advice of his mentor Frank Sinatra; This led to his character being killed off unceremoniously midway through the story.

Before joining the cast of The Dirty Dozen, Trini Lopez made a name for herself as a successful musician who recorded several albums under Sinatra’s label Reprise Records; According to a documentary about Lopez’s life and career, My name is LopezProduction time ran out and Sinatra suggested to him that he leave to resume recording and keep his music career relevant (via Texas Monthly).

Following Sinatra’s advice, Lopez turned down the film and returned to his music career; Apart from a few cameo appearances in television shows, Lopez never returned to acting. According to the documentary’s director, Todd Hughes, Sinatra ruined Lopez’s chances of an acting career (via The Guardian).

Jiminez’s dirty dozen death is given to another character

Jiminez was killed off-screen in the movie

throughout The Dirty DozenThe group endured violence and opposition from the enemy; In the end, only one survived. Lopez’s Jiminez is depicted as one of the first of the Dirty Dozen to die; When the group parachutes into France, his parachute gets caught in the branches of an apple tree, and he breaks his neck. Jiminez’s death takes place off-screen and the team learns of his fate from Jefferson; Compared to his comrades who died in battle, Jiminez’s death is rushed, and the team quickly hurries to continue their mission.

According to commentary on the 2-disc special edition of The Dirty Dozen, Jiminez was originally believed to have been killed by a single bullet to the head from a German sharpshooter During the invasion of the group of ​​​​a chateau. However, Lopez’s early departure meant that this death was instead used for Private Milo Vladek, played by Tom Busby, with Jiminez being killed off-screen. Although the changes made to the story are understandable, some may argue that Jiminez’s death in The Dirty Dozen Could have been handled differently if Lopez chose to stay in the production longer.

Other characters that disappeared during movies

Interstellar, Jurassic Park 2 and Baby Driver have had similar disappearing characters

It can be jarring for a character to suddenly disappear from the movie, such as Trini Lopez in The Dirty Dozen. However, it happens more often than audiences might think, with a number of high-profile movies losing characters without any resolution. Sometimes this can leave big questions in the story, such as in Interstellar. The sci-fi movie sees Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) rescued from the cosmos and reunited with his daughter, now an old woman, after Cooper never even questions what happened to his son, Tom (Casey Affleck).

Sometimes a movie has a shift in its setting, which means that some of the key characters that were in the story are no longer important. in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) and Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite) Are two of the best characters in the story and survive the mayhem on the island. However, when the third act of the movie shifts to San Diego, no returns. This is also true for 2005s King Kong As key characters like Jimmy (Jamie Bell) and Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann) are missing in the New York City finale.

However, unlike Jiminez in The Dirty DozenThere are several instances in which the movie has a little fun with a character disappearing. Jon Bernthal appears in the opening of Baby Driver Like the hardened criminal grip. With his verbal demeanor and fondness for challenging Baby, he seems destined to be a key antagonist in the story. But before the first act of the movie is even over, the criminals part ways and Griff announces, “If you don’t see me again, it’s because I’m dead,“Only to never be seen again.

Sources: Texas Monthly, The Guardian