"Kelly's Heroes" Movie Review

 

"Kelly's Heroes"

 

Movie Review

 

 

In the 1970 comedy-drama heist movie Kelly's Heroes, which was directed by Brian G. Hutton, a motley group of American soldiers go AWOL in order to rob a French bank that is located beyond German lines of its Nazi gold bars. Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, and others co-star in the movie.  Troy Kennedy Martin, a British screenwriter for both cinema and television, wrote the script. Co-produced by the United States and Yugoslavia, the movie was primarily shot in the Croatian settlement of Vizinada on the Istria peninsula.

 

Early in September 1944, a rainstorm is occurring as the 35th Infantry Division's troops approach Nancy, France. When the Germans launch a counterattack, one of the division's mechanized reconnaissance platoons is instructed to keep its position. Additionally, their own mortars launch friendly fire against the outnumbered platoon.

 

Colonel Dankhopf of Wehrmacht Intelligence is taken prisoner by Private Kelly, a former lieutenant who was used as a scapegoat for a botched infantry attack. While questioning his subject, Kelly finds numerous gold bars covered in lead plating in the officer's bag. He makes the colonel drunk out of curiosity and discovers that a bank vault in the French town of Clermont, 30 miles behind German lines, is home to a stockpile of 14,000 gold bars, valued at US$16 million. Dankhopf is killed by a Tiger I tank when the Americans' position is overwhelmed and they retreat.

 

The gold will be stolen, Kelly determines. In order to get the necessary supplies and weaponry, he enlists Supply Sergeant "Crapgame". Overhearing the robbery plan, the spaced-out tank commander "Oddball" offers sending his three unattached M4 Sherman tanks along for the adventure. Kelly's battalion are all eager to participate in the robbery since their commanding officer, Captain Maitland, is too busy visiting his uncle "The General" and robbing a boat to lead them. Kelly ultimately convinces the sceptical Master Sergeant "Big Joe" to agree after considerable discussion.

 

Kelly determines that Oddball's tanks and crew and his infantrymen would advance independently and meet up at Clermont. The Allied fighter-bombers blow up the bridge that the Shermans must cross as they battle through the German lines and demolish a railroad depot. Oddball approaches an engineering team to construct a bridge for the crossing, and the engineers in turn enlist the assistance of more soldiers.

 

Kelly and his soldiers go forward on foot after losing their jeeps and half-tracks to friendly fire from an American fighter aircraft that mistook them for Germans. Private Grace is killed when he steps on a mine as they enter a minefield. PFC Mitchell and Corporal Job, the last two troops remaining stuck in the minefield, are killed after being forced to fight a German patrol that unexpectedly shows up before Kelly and Big Joe can finish off all the Germans.

 

Two nights later, Oddball meets Kelly and brings the extra troops he has amassed with him. To get to Clermont, they must fight their way over the river. Major General Colt notices intercepted radio signals at this point and interprets them as the actions of an aggressive Army unit moving ahead on their own initiative. He heads straight to the new front to take advantage of this "breakthrough."

 

Three Tiger I tanks from the 1st SS Panzer Division and its infantry support are used to protect Clermont. The Americans manage to take down the German infantry and two of the Tigers, but they come to a standstill when Oddball's last Sherman breaks down and the final tank parks itself in front of the bank. Kelly, Big Joe, and Oddball approach the Tiger at Crapgame's advice and make the commander and his men "a deal-deal": equal portions of the gold in exchange for the Tiger shooting the armored doors off the bank.

 

The Germans and Americans split the loot when the Tiger smashes the bank doors open, with each gold portion worth US$875,000. They part ways, just edging out the still unperturbed General Colt. The jubilant mob of relieved French citizens, who have been duped by Big Joe into believing that Colt is French General Charles de Gaulle, has blocked his path into Clermont.

WATCH THE REVIEW VIDEO FOR MORE...