Kelly's Heroes (1970)

Director:

Brian G. Hutton

Writer:

Troy Kennedy-Martin (written by)

Release Date:

23 June 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | War

Tagline:

Never have so few taken so many for so much.

Plot:

A group of U.S. soldiers sneaks across enemy lines to get their hands on a secret stash of Nazi treasure.

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Colonel | Lieutenant | Tank | Bank

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Pvt. Kelly
Telly Savalas	...	MSgt. Big Joe
Don Rickles	...	SSgt. Crapgame
Carroll O'Connor	...	Maj. Gen. Colt
Donald Sutherland	...	Sgt. Oddball (tank commander)
Gavin MacLeod	...	Moriarty (tank crewman)
Hal Buckley	...	Capt. Maitland
Stuart Margolin	...	Pvt. Little Joe
Jeff Morris	...	Pvt. Cowboy
Richard Davalos	...	Pvt. Gutowski
Perry Lopez	...	Pvt. Petuko
Tom Troupe	...	Cpl. Job
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Pvt. Willard (as Dean Stanton)
Dick Balduzzi	...	Pvt. Fisher
Gene Collins	...	Pvt. Babra

Also Known As:

Ratnici (Yugoslavia: Serbian title)
The Warriors (USA) (working title)
El botín de los valientes (Argentina) (Chile) (Mexico) (TV title) (Peru) [es]
De l'or pour les braves (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Stoßtrupp Gold (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Çilgin savasçilar (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Camarazii lui Kelly (Romania) [ro]
I guerrieri (Italy) [it]
Iroes me vromika heria (Greece) [el]
Kelijevi heroji (Serbia) (cable TV title) [sr]
Kelly hösei (Hungary) [hu]
Kellyn sankarit (Finland) [fi]
Kellys helte (Denmark) [da]
Kellys hjältar (Sweden) [sv]
Los violentos de Kelly (Spain) [es]
Os guerreiros Pilantras (Brazil) [pt]
Vromikoi iroes (Greece) (reissue title) [el]

Runtime:

144 min

Country:

Yugoslavia | USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:16 | UK:A (original rating) | Spain:13 | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | New Zealand:PG | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1970) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Yugoslavia

Company:

Avala Film

Trivia:

Donald Sutherland became seriously ill during filming on location in Yugoslavia. His wife received a telegram telling her to come immediately but warning her that he would probably be dead before she arrived.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kelly goes to see Mulligan to arrange the artillery bombardment on the crossroads, he is carrying the bottle of whiskey that Crapgame gives him a few scenes later.

Quotes:

Big Joe: Now when I come back, I want that farmhouse not only clean but completely decorated. Do you understand that?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in We Are Marshall (2006)

Soundtrack:

Burning Bridges

Classic comedy; realistic characters, believable props/scenery.

Kelly's Heroes does not try to trivialize war. It portrays a comedy within the boundaries of war's absurdity. (Quite frankly, I did not like the film MASH because I felt it did try to trivialize war).

What makes Kelly's Heroes a success is that the director never forgot that the point of comedy is to make us laugh. There's no message here; just pure entertainment.

The film is believable because it stretches, but never steps over, the line of plausibility. The story is preposterous, but in the confusion of war we can believe something like this could happen. Those who have served in the military have all met characters like the ones in Kelly's platoon, even Oddball. Yes, Donald Sutherland was clearly cast out of time, from the 60s, but he somehow personified the rebel in all of us, and that spans generations. If anything, Oddball subliminally told us it was okay to view the film from our vantage point of 1970. His character worked. And so did all the others.

On top of that, the filmmaker spent the extra time and expense to insure reasonable technical accuracy. The uniforms were authentic and I was most impressed by the fact that the vehicles and equipment, for both sides, were accurate. (My biggest gripe about 'Patton' was that it used M-41 tanks for both sides, just painted differently).

The structure of the film is excellent. We believe everything is real. The early scene where the platoon is sitting on the side of the road while a seemingly endless convoy of Sherman tanks passes is a perfect example. There may have only been a few tanks but the way they were looped about continuously gave the impression of 'a cast of thousands'. The Yugoslavian backdrop was reflective of WWII Europe.

Watch this film a few times and you'll catch the slight nuances not normally found the first time through. It's classic how seemingly unimportant early events or dialog enhance the humor of later scenes. For example, when Oddball first shows Kelly his tanks he says they have loud speakers to calm their nerves and paint in their shells to scare the Germans. Early Sherman tanks had a low velocity shell that was ineffective against German armor. Later we roar when Kelly catches a Tiger from its vulnerable rear, but Oddball forgets to fire an anti-tank round and instead splatters it with pink paint! The railroad yard attack scene, (which is superbly choreographed, and tactically accurate) becomes absolutely riotous when Oddball's crew plays 'I've been working on the Railroad' after destroying the place and rumbling away.

Don Rickles should have won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Crapgame. He congeals all the other elements and characters in the film.

The parody scene of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' is superb. Like Oddball, its being out of time somehow enhances its own effect.

I read somewhere that Clint Eastwood was a bit disappointed with this film because he was not allowed to give it one more edit before its release. I don't know how on earth he could have improved on it.