 "Great plot wrong settings" | 2009-11-02 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1Y6X8T0BFDMD0 |
| First off I'm no movie critic. I like most kids in the 60s and 70s grew up on War movies. As an adult now I bought this on DVD for my War Movie collection. I won't get into the plot as it is mentioned in the above reviews. I won't get into the technical aspects of this movie either. There are a million WWII "experts" out there. They can point out all the flaws in this movie (me inclusive). That said I watched this movie for the story. The acting is good as Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Don Sutherland and Clint Eastwood are cast. There are many more fine actors who later did TV series. Two things did bother me through the whole movie: Location and the Era. The location was supposed to be Southern France (Nancy). The location seemed more like the Italian Campaign (filmed in Yugoslavia) than France. The extras looked more like Pisanos than "Frogs". There was a certain Mediterranean feel to it almost Spaghetti Western. Maybe Southern France is like that but I did not feel it. The second thing that bothered me was the Era. This would have worked GREAT in a Viet-Nam type setting. This was filmed during that war and the mannerism were there. Also present was the "Pys-Op" speaker on Odd Balls Tank the longer hair. All in all a fun movie to watch and a great "quote movie" thanks to Sutherland. |
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 "The 60's Come to WW II" | 2009-10-01 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1HIMG8G7442OB |
| While containing sobering reminders of the costs of war, overall this movie embraces the wistful hopefulness and free-love joy of the time in which it was made. Kelly's Heroes is a war movie of which the most important messages are that anything is possible with enough buddies and friends and, in war, all you really have is those men and those loyalties. Clint Eastwood, in one of his laconic, post-Spaghetti Western best, is the lead actor here, with capable support coming in the form of well-acted character turns from Telly Savalas (Kojak), comedian Don Rickles, and Carroll O'Connor (All In the Family). But the star of this movie, in my humble opinion, is Donald Sutherland, as a tank commander and overall free-spirited adventurer, who steals the movie with irreverence and comedy timing. The plot of the movie is fun and rebellious, a story of an over-used, under-appreciated group of soldiers with a fortune-making opportunity they just can't pass up. All they have to do is accomplish it all behind German lines without anyone knowing it! And while the action comes fast and furious, the cinematography is effective at both pleasing the eye and adding to the scope of the movie. In conclusion, if you're someone looking for a different take on either the typical WW II or heist picture, pick this one up. If over-the-top comedy and firefights are your game, place an order for this movie. Or if you just want to put your cares and worries on hold for two hours, let Amazon send you this movie. |
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| "Good Movie" | 2009-08-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A14OG85Y77RQVY |
| This movie is a decent twist on "The Dirty Dozen." Although I like the dozen better. |
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| "A fantastic laugh, a classic, definitely good for the soul.." | 2009-06-02 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1RZE7E34GJ449 |
This is probably my very favorite film of all times..
I remember this one when I was 16 years old or so, my parents just purchased a video recorder (VCR as it is called in the US), which was at the time a luxury thing in your house - this is the mid-80's.. This is one of the first films we recorded, that we kept on showing to people visiting us: look at this awesome film, this is what you can do with a video..
I saw this film dozens of times, and I can dream the dialogues, the swearing of Big Joe (Telly Savallas), the determined Kelly (Clint Eastwood) who is set to go for the gold, the nutty Oddball - played brilliantly by Donald Sutherland (Jack Bauer's - from 24 hours - dad), the greedy Crapgame (Don Rickles).
It's a story about heroes who go for their own sake regardless, of the 'rules of war', which I can imagine can become pointless anyway when you are out there naked at the front. This is WW-II, obviously for good reasons we were fighting, but I think can so much relate to the pointlessness you feel when you're out there. Then suddenly Kelly bumps into this enemy officer, he decided to get him drunk and hear him out that there is a bank full of gold 14000 bars of them, behind enemy lines, in a French village called Clermont.. Let's just go for gold, "On a private little enterprise". They don't go without loss, some guys from the gang don't make it, which makes it incredibly realistic.. In the end, they make a 'Deal-deal' with the enemy officer in the village after heavy fighting, have him take his share and leave the bank with a note 'Up yours'. They eventually leave with the general following their path received as the hero, who came to set the village free from the enemy. They don't even realise who actually brake through.. They were Kelly's Hero's.
An asset with big names Telly 'Kojak' Savallas, Clint 'The Good' Eastwood, Donald 'WrrrafWaf' Sutherland.
Classic.. |
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| "A family favorite!!" | 2009-05-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2M9HGO9U1Y4TT |
| This is one of my husband's favorite movies. In fact, the theme song "Burning Bridges" is the song he wants to have played at his funeral. A great movie even for people who don't normally like war movies (like me.) |
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| "Overlooked WWII cult classic" | 2008-12-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: AW82PC8DQ1GV4 |
This is one of my favorite WWII movies of all time. Normally, I really don't like to watch movies more than once or twice, but this one I can watch over and over again. I read a critic review of this movie several years back and he said it was just a poor rehash of "The Dirty Dozen". Nothing could be further from the truth.
This is what you would consider a "Black Comedy". It has both sublime and hilarious comedic performances interwoven with pathos, suspense and hard-hitting WWII action. It has a great ensemble cast featuring Donald Sutherland (Oddball), Clint Eastwood (Kelly), Telly Savalas (Big Joe), Don Rickles (Crapgame), Carroll O'Conner (General Colt) and Gavin McLeod (Moriarity) among others like Harry Dean Stanton (Willard) and Jeff Morris (Cowboy).
Kelly stumbles upon a German officer not too long after D-Day with top secret information about a Nazi held bank with 16 million dollars worth of gold. The only problem is, it's 30 miles behind enemy lines! He assembles a renegade outfit to go get it, recruiting a crazy cast of characters along the way. Donald Sutherland gives one of his great performances as Oddball, the burnout tank commander to provide the heavy firepower. He's the world's first hippie who encourages everyone they can accomplish anything they want as long as they think "positive thoughts". Crapgame is the Brooklyn born hustler that can wrangle all the supplies as long as he gets his cut. Big Joe is the barely willing hard bitten Sergeant who provides his men and keeps things down to earth. Kelly is the no-nonsense disaffected lieutenant that orchestrates the whole plan and keeps them on track.
Carroll O'Conner gives a great over the top performance as General Colt who is frustrated at the lack of progress on the front line. When he hears over the radio the breakthrough the heroes are making, he thinks they are the real deal and wants to go give them all a medal!
I think this was one of the best ensemble casting jobs I have seen. Every major character is fully realized and interacts with each other perfectly. The writing was excellent and the pacing is great. The plot is fairly straightforward but involving. Plus it has a very good ending. The music gives you a seventies feel but feels oddly appropriate. If you want some memorable one-liners, this movie is chock full of them. Asked why Oddball isn't helping his men fix the tank, "Hey man, I just drive em, I don't what makes em work!".
Along the way, you have short but memorable appearances such as Mulligan, the artillery officer who can't shoot straight. I love Don Rickles in this movie, the role seems tailor made for him. I love the scene where he is talking to Big Joe's sidekick soldier Babra (who Joe keeps calling Barbara) about writing home to his mother. It has some of the worst moments of war as well. The hell of caring for a buddy who is there one moment and lost forever the next. If you to want have the guys (and maybe gals) over for a "guys night at the movies", this is the one for you.
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