Kelly's Heroes

Kelly's Heroes (1970)

Runtime: 146 minutes

Directed by: Brian G. Hutton

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Donald Sutherland, Gavin MacLeod

From: MGM

Happy Memorial Day, everybody: 

Each Memorial Day weekend Turner Classic Movies shows a bunch of old war movies; this happened to be one of them last night. I figured that would be appropriate to watch then and post a review of now on Memorial Day itself. This is a more tongue-in-cheek example in the genre; I know that the filmmakers and Eastwood wanted there to be more focus on the characters themselves but MGM preferred there being more comedy and they got their way. So yeah, it is not a modern phenomenon for Hollywood studios to do this nonsense. That said, the movie is still fun; sure this is ridiculous, but ridiculously entertaining at the same time.

Loosely based on a real life incident, a wacky ragtag group of soldiers discover there is millions of dollars worth of Nazi gold stored in a bank that is controlled by German soldiers, so even though the French town is full of Germans, the titular Kelly's Heroes wish to go behind enemy lines and steal it. Eastwood is Kelly and yet he is only a Private; the outfit is run by the Master Sergeant played by Telly Savalas, who shouts much of his dialogue. I think the supporting Major General character done by Carroll O'Connor yells everything he says. The film is loud and unsubtle, which I know won't be for everyone.

Anyhow, it should be no surprise there are laughs when Donald Sutherland plays an anachronistic hippie character named Oddball and a major role is played by Don Rickles. Yet there is also the expected action you'd see in a war picture; plenty of people die and as there are tanks, destruction is a-plenty. Not to give a spoiler but not all of the Heroes make it to the end. As this is almost 2 ½ hours long, there is still enough time for laughs, action, the planning then execution of the heist, and the disparate characters interacting with each other. That is why this film has plenty of memorable roles and moments.

Who knows what could have been if the movie had been as originally intended. At least what we got was quite popular at the time and even now there are plenty of film fans that appreciate it.