Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and gold bullion. You'd almost think this classic war film was a spaghetti western, indeed Lalo Schifirin's fine score does allude to that genre as the film comes to a near Mexican stand off during it's finale, but no, Kelly's Heroes is a rollicking boys own adventure style epic about a group of maverick American soldiers led by Eastwood and Savalas who hear of $16m of gold bullion hidden in a French bank in the small town of Clermont. There's only a couple of snags. The bank vault is 30 miles behind enemy lines and is guarded by three Tiger Tanks of the 1st SS Panzer Division as well as a platoon of German infantry.
Needing his own tanks, Kelly inadvertently recruits Oddball (A brilliant Donald Sutherland) an American tank commander with three US Sherman tanks.
Kelly's Heroes is for me a timeless classic. I've watched and loved it dozens of times over the years. Director Brian G Hutton, who also directed Eastwood in the equally brilliant Where Eagles Dare two years previous, makes the film flow beautifully whether it be full on superbly realised action sequences or the quieter moments with their crackling dialogue.
Eastwood and Savalas go about their assignment with laid back cool and frenetic gusto but are upstaged by Sutherland's clearly bonkers and equally spaced out Oddball. The sight of Oddball in the midst of battle chilled out drinking wine and eating cheese whilst sat at his own table and chair is just brilliant as Eastwood and Savalas approach in sheer amazement "I'm drinking wine and eating cheese, and catching some rays, you know". It's just so bizarre and so, so funny.
The action culminates in an assault on the French town and a showdown with the three Tiger Tanks. It's expertly staged and shows the sheer fire power of the Tigers as buildings crumble to dust in their wake.
As well as being one hell of a good time and a thrilling adventure, Kelly's Heroes also manages to satirize what i would call typical war films with it's moral ambiguities and it's this satire and occasional outright laughs that sets it apart from so many war movies placing it firmly in the crime caper genre of The Italian Job (1969). Alright, The Italian Job crossed with The Dirty Dozen.
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