Sir Michael Caine’s legendary acting career has taken him across the globe – from the windswept highlands of Scotland to the back alleys of Gotham City. Known today to many as the wise Alfred in The Dark Knight trilogy, or the emotionally grounded Professor Brand in Interstellar, Caine has worked with some of the greatest directors of all time.
Over the course of seven decades and more than 130 films, he’s delivered memorable performances in iconic locations – from The Italian Job’s chaotic car chases through Turin, to The Man Who Would Be King set in the mountains of Morocco. But even with all those passport stamps and cinematic adventures under his belt, there was one movie-making experience so unpleasant that Caine swore never to repeat it.
That film was Play Dirty (1969), a World War II adventure that, despite now holding a rare 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, was a miserable job for the actor. So much so, it inspired a personal contract clause that stayed with him for decades: he would never film in Almería, Spain, again.
Play Dirty cast Caine as Captain Douglas, an oil executive-turned-soldier leading a ragtag unit on a mission to blow up a Nazi fuel depot in North Africa.
The concept was straightforward enough, but the execution, at least for Caine, was anything but. The production took place in Almería, a desert region in southern Spain that had become a popular shooting location for spaghetti westerns.
Unfortunately, that popularity became a major problem. In his autobiography Raising Caine, the actor detailed just how chaotic and absurd the filming process really was.
“There are six sand dunes in Almería… We’d all come round the hill chasing Rommel’s tanks – and there’s horse shit all over the desert and a stagecoach in the other direction being chased by Indians.”
While Play Dirty tried to create the illusion of war-torn North Africa, Caine and his crew were constantly battling against other film productions – particularly Westerns – who were using the same desert terrain. Continuity was a nightmare.
“The other film units were forever wiping out tank tracks to get their westerns and we were forever shovelling up horse shit and wiping out hoof prints to get our El Alamein,” he added.
Though Play Dirty would later be reassessed by critics and earn praise for its grit and cynicism, it was originally met with a mixed reception.
Ultimately, for Caine, the production was so unenjoyable that he included a clause in his future contracts explicitly forbidding filming in Almería again.