Review of Kelly's Heroes (1970) by Mark B — 03 Oct 2007

You can keep Ocean's Eleven, when it comes to assembling a ragtag team for criminal capers, this film is the daddy.

Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas bounce off each other superbly as the two men challenging for the allegiance of their unit. Savalas wants to get them 3 days of poon-filled r&r whilst Eastwood wants to lead them miles behind enemy lines to rob a bank full of gold! Needless to say the gold wins, but Savalas remains in charge of the outfit nonetheless taking his cues from Eastwood.

The outfit itself comprises of a wonderful supporting cast, most notably Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland. Rickles plays the combat-shy but money-hungry Crap Game, whilst Sutherland shows us WWII's first hippie tank commander with Oddball. These two are hilarious.

The film has a fantastic opening scene that is still topical to this day - Americans bombing their own troops - and the cynicism that that breeds among the troops. Savalas sums up perfectly the feeling of the men when a German POW tries to warn him of an impending German advance on their position. 'German Army? We're not worried about the German Army, we've got enough troubles of our own! To our right General Patton, to our left the British Navy and to our rear our own Goddam' artillery!'.

There are some wonderful scenes that seem to be becoming rarer these days in the age of CGI. Spectactular shots of military rallying point with trucks, troops and tanks stretching as far as the eye can see with explosions going off all around being one example.

The second act does seem to drag somewhat however, and the film appears to lose it's rhythm somewhat. Fortunately by the time you really start to become too aware of this, the third act arrives and it's time for the robbery itself!

It's a fantastic film that I would not be surprised becoming a Bruckheimer remake sometime in the future!