Kelly's Heroes is a 1970 American war film, directed by Brian G. Hutton, starring Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O'Connor, and Donald Sutherland.
Plot[]
In the midst of World War II, an array of colorful American soldiers gets inside information from a drunk German officer about millions of dollars worth of gold hidden on enemy soil. Kelly (Clint Eastwood), a private with the platoon, devises a plan to sneak past the German officers to steal the loot for his crew. They recruit more men and set their plan into action. Despite several casualties, the men are determined to press forward, even if it means striking a deal with the opposing army.
Cast[]
- Clint Eastwood as Pvt. Kelly
- Telly Savalas as MSgt. Big Joe
- Don Rickles as SSgt. Crapgame
- Carroll O'Connor as Maj. Gen. Colt
- Donald Sutherland as Sgt. Oddball
- Gavin MacLeod as Moriarty
- Hal Buckley as Capt. Maitland
- Stuart Margolin as Pvt. Little Joe
- Jeff Morris as Pvt. Cowboy
- Richard Davalos as Pvt. Gutkowski
- Perry Lopez as Pvt. Petuko
- Tom Troupe as Cpl. Job
- Dean Stanton as Pvt. Willard
- Dick Balduzzi as Pvt. Fisher
- Gene Collins as Pvt. Babra
- Len Lesser as SSgt. Bellamy
- David Hurst as Col. Dankhopf
- Fred Pearlman as Pvt. Mitchell
- Michael Clark as Pvt. Grace
- George Fargo as Pvt. Penn
- Dee Pollock as Pvt. Jonesy
- George Savalas as 1st Sgt. Mulligan
- John Heller as German Lieutenant
- Shepherd Sanders as Turk
- Karl Otto Alberty as German Tank Commander
Reception[]
Critical response[]
The film received mostly positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 78% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 6.83/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Kelly's Heroes subverts its World War II setting with pointed satirical commentary on modern military efforts, offering an entertaining hybrid of heist caper and battlefield action."
Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote that "the bombing becomes tedious. One quickly realizes anytime a large object is brought into focus it will soon be incinerated. With only one dramatic problem—getting the gold—it is hard to imagine how the producers and directors could let the film run nearly two-and-one-half hours."