Review of Kelly's Heroes (1970) by Courtney T — 18 Jul 2008

IN A NUTSHELL: Similar to the later George Clooney film "Three Kings", about a military heist of wartime gold, this is an uneasy mix of goofball humor and war action.

---------- CONS: Slow in the beginning; atrocious theme song; the humor is a bit dated but still amusing.

---------- PROS: Decent action scenes, particularly in a mine field crossing, nighttime battles, and a large set piece in the last act where much of a French village is destroyed during a tank battle. Cast is peppered with interesting actors including Eastwood, Don Rickles, Telly Savalas, Carol O'Connor, and even Harry Dean Stanton, and a variety of vivid character players, but the highlight is Donald Sutherland's bizarre performance as a hippylike(!) free-spirited tank commander. That character is totally out of place for a WWII film and probably added to achieve a wider audience demographic for its Vietnam-era release, but Sutherland gives the picture a much needed unpredictability and is the most fun to watch, since Eastwood sleepwalks through his own role. O'Connor has fun doing a comic channeling of George C. Scott's "Patton" performance of the same year. There is a cute little homage to spaghetti westerns near the end, complete with Lalo Schifiren's play on an Ennio Morricone score. This DVD is often seen today as one half of a double-feature disc paired with "The Dirty Dozen", which along with Sutherland's performance is enough of a reason to rent this.