{"id":4257,"date":"2024-09-30T03:46:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T03:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4257"},"modified":"2024-10-12T20:45:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T20:45:33","slug":"kellys-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/30\/kellys-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly\u2019s Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Kelly\u2019s Heroes <\/strong>(1970)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 MGM\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 143 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Brian G. Hutton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Troy Kennedy Martin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Lalo Schifrin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Gabriel Figueroa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 23, 1970 (US)\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Cast: Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O\u2019Connor, Donald Sutherland, Gavin MacLeod, Shepherd Sanders, Stuart Margolin, Jeff Morris, Hal Buckley, Richard Davalos, Perry Lopez, Tom Troupe, Harry Dean Stanton (as Dean Stanton), Len Lesser, David Hurst, George Savalas, Karl-Otto Alberty, Ross Elliott.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $5.2M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Anybody expecting a bad ass WWII action movie from Kelly\u2019s Heroes<\/strong> will be disappointed. Despite an impressive cast led by Clint Eastwood (the Man with No Name trilogy), it\u2019s no Dirty Dozen. Directed by Brian G. Hutton (Where Eagles Dare), it\u2019s more of a comedic heist film about a group of American soldiers who sneak behind enemy lines to steal $16 million worth of gold the Nazis have stashed in a bank. That\u2019s what Kelly\u2019s Heroes<\/strong> is on the surface.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Vietnam War was in full swing in 1970. The prevailing anti-war sentiment was a far cry from the patriotic fervor of WWII. Movies like Castle Keep, Catch-22 and M.A.S.H took a definite anti-war stance. So does Kelly\u2019s Heroes<\/strong>. It\u2019s clearly a metaphor for the insanity that was taking place in Vietnam at the time. It perfectly reflects the tone of the nation circa 1970 in the context of a mostly enjoyable comedic caper.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Private Kelly (Eastwood), recently demoted from lieutenant after a botched infantry assault, learns about the gold from a captured German officer. It\u2019s stored in a bank vault in the town of Clermont, 30 miles behind enemy lines. While the rest of his unit retreats in the face of a German attack, he decides to go for the gold. He goes to opportunistic supply sergeant Crapgame (comedian Rickles) for supplies and guns. Of course, he wants in on the illegal operation as does spaced-out tank commander Oddball (Sutherland, The Dirty Dozen) who offers up his three Sherman tanks to aid in their mission. The men in Kelly\u2019s platoon, including Master Sgt. \u201cBig Joe\u201d (Savalas, The Dirty Dozen), also decide to join up for an equal share of the gold.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The journey isn\u2019t an easy one as I\u2019m sure you can imagine. Between the mine fields, destroyed vehicles and blown-up bridges, it\u2019ll be a damn miracle if they manage to reach the rendezvous point. But they press on, eventually reaching the Nazi-occupied French town where they engage in battle with the enemy. Following them is gung-ho Major General Colt (O\u2019Connor, All in the Family) who misinterprets their actions as the heroic efforts of a group of maverick heroes acting on their own initiative.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I like Kelly\u2019s Heroes<\/strong>; it\u2019s a pretty good movie. It has a few flaws though. The pacing is off. Certain scenes (like the opening skirmish) run longer than they need to. The mix of action and comedy is uneven at times. The storyline- well, aspects of it- is somewhat muddled. Kelly\u2019s backstory isn\u2019t explained very well. But when Kelly\u2019s Heroes<\/strong> works, as it often does, it\u2019s quite good. The action scenes are well-mounted. The climactic scene in Clermont is particularly well done. The movie has a playful spirit. At times, it\u2019s legitimately funny. Kelly really does have a motley crew of misfits.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The cast looks like they\u2019re having a good time. They obviously know Kelly\u2019s Heroes<\/strong> is supposed to be a goof. How else do you explain the presence of Sutherland\u2019s hippy-dippy character, an obvious anachronism? He\u2019s my favorite character in Kelly\u2019s Heroes<\/strong>. Rickles\u2019 greedy character also provides great comic relief. Eastwood is not in full bad ass mode here, but he\u2019s still good. It\u2019s strange seeing O\u2019Connor in a role other than Archie Bunker, but he does a bang-up job with his part. It\u2019s cool seeing Gavin MacLeod (The Love Boat), Harry Dean Stanton (Escape from New York), Perry Lopez (Death Wish 4) and Stuart Margolin (The Stone Killer) in early roles.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I wouldn\u2019t call Kelly\u2019s Heroes<\/strong> one of Eastwood\u2019s finest nor would I say it\u2019s a great war-action movie. It\u2019s a good movie. It\u2019s well made from a technical standpoint. Its left-wing political stance sets it apart from other war movies. When you think about it, Kelly\u2019s Heroes<\/strong> is bold with its implicit criticism of the Vietnam War, a very divisive subject in the counterculture era. I guess when such a thing is served up as an entertaining heist comedy, it goes down easier with the public. It\u2019s a fun movie, ideal guy-time viewing on a Saturday night.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelly\u2019s Heroes (1970)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 MGM\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 143 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Brian G. Hutton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Troy Kennedy Martin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Lalo Schifrin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Gabriel Figueroa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 23, 1970 (US)\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Cast: Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O\u2019Connor, Donald Sutherland, Gavin MacLeod, Shepherd Sanders, Stuart Margolin, Jeff Morris, Hal Buckley, Richard Davalos, Perry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-these-are-some-classic-flicks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Kellys-Heroes-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4257"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5027,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4257\/revisions\/5027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}