Kelly's Heroes (1970)

Director:

Brian G. Hutton

Writer:

Troy Kennedy-Martin (written by)

Release Date:

23 June 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | War

Tagline:

Never have so few taken so many for so much.

Plot:

A group of U.S. soldiers sneaks across enemy lines to get their hands on a secret stash of Nazi treasure.

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Colonel | Lieutenant | Tank | Bank

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Jan. 8	8:00 PM	AMC
Sat. Jan. 9	4:30 PM	AMC

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Pvt. Kelly
Telly Savalas	...	MSgt. Big Joe
Don Rickles	...	SSgt. Crapgame
Carroll O'Connor	...	Maj. Gen. Colt
Donald Sutherland	...	Sgt. Oddball (tank commander)
Gavin MacLeod	...	Moriarty (tank crewman)
Hal Buckley	...	Capt. Maitland
Stuart Margolin	...	Pvt. Little Joe
Jeff Morris	...	Pvt. Cowboy
Richard Davalos	...	Pvt. Gutowski
Perry Lopez	...	Pvt. Petuko
Tom Troupe	...	Cpl. Job
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Pvt. Willard (as Dean Stanton)
Dick Balduzzi	...	Pvt. Fisher
Gene Collins	...	Pvt. Babra
Len Lesser	...	Platoon Sgt. Bellamy (42nd Engineers)
David Hurst	...	Col. Dunkhepf
Fred Pearlman	...	Pvt. Mitchell
Michael Clark	...	Pvt. Grace
George Fargo	...	Pvt. Penn
Dee Pollock	...	Pvt. Jonesey
George Savalas	...	1st Sgt. Mulligan (artillerly unit)
John G. Heller	...	German lieutenant (as John Heller)
Shepherd Sanders	...	Turk (tank crewman)
Karl-Otto Alberty	...	German tank commander (as Karl Otto Alberty)
Ross Elliott	...	Booker
Phil Adams	...	Third Tank Commander
Hugo De Vernier	...	French mayor
Frank J. Garlotta	...	Tanker
Harry Goines	...	Supply sergeant
David Gross	...	German captain
Sandy Kevin	...	Second Tank Commander
James McHale	...	Guest
Robert MacNamara	...	Roach (as Robert McNamara)
Read Morgan	...	U.S. lieutenant
Tom Signorelli	...	Bonsor
Donald Waugh	...	Roamer
Vincent Maracecchi	...	Old man in town
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Picerni	...	M.P. Sergeant (scenes deleted)
John Landis	...	Sister Rosa Stigmata (uncredited)
Joe Mantell	...	General's Aid (uncredited)
Lee Miller	...	Soldier #1 (uncredited)
Tony Wheeler	...	Gen. Colt's driver (corporal) (uncredited)

Directed by
Brian G. Hutton

Writing credits
Troy Kennedy-Martin		(written by) (as Troy Kennedy Martin)

Produced by
Sidney Beckerman	....	producer
Gabriel Katzka	....	producer
Irving L. Leonard	....	associate producer
Harold Loeb	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Lalo Schifrin

Cinematography by
Gabriel Figueroa

Film Editing by
John Jympson

Production Design by
John Barry		(as Jonathan Barry)
Aleksandar Milovic		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Veljko Despotovic		(uncredited)
Vladislav Lasic		(uncredited)
Miodrag Miric		(uncredited)
Milan Todorovic		(uncredited)

Set Decoration by
Mike Ford

Makeup Department
Trevor Crole-Rees	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Terry Lens	....	production manager
Basil Somner	....	in charge of production
Milenko Stankovic	....	production manager: Yugoslavia

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John C. Chulay	....	assistant director
Andrew Marton	....	second unit director
Stevan Petrovic	....	assistant director: Yugoslavia (as Stevo Petrovic)
Raymond Becket	....	third assistant director (uncredited)
Jak King	....	third assistant director (uncredited)
John Landis	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Mickey Lennon	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jonathan Bates	....	sound editor
Cyril Swern	....	sound
Harry W. Tetrick	....	sound

Special Effects by
Karl Baumgartner	....	special effects (as Karli Baumgartner)

Stunts
Alf Joint	....	stunt coordinator
Phil Adams	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Dunne	....	stunts (uncredited)
Eddie Eddon	....	stunts (uncredited)
Alf Joint	....	stunts (uncredited)
George Leech	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jimmy Lodge	....	stunts (uncredited)
Boyd 'Red' Morgan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Slavoljub Plavsic-Zvonce	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Dennis Fraser	....	camera coordinator
H.A.R. Thomson	....	camera operator: second unit

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Anna Maria Feo	....	wardrobe (as Anna Maria Fea)

Editorial Department
Alan Strachan	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Richard Hazard	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Alexander Gerry	....	technical advisor (as Major Alexander A.G. Gerry)
Gladys Goldsmith	....	continuity
George Davis	....	production accountant (uncredited)
Dusan Dimitrijevic	....	assistant chef: second unit (uncredited)
Lorraine Fennell	....	production coordinator (uncredited)
John Landis	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Avala Film
• Katzka-Loeb
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1970) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1973) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Cinéma International Corporation (CIC) (1970) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Filmipaja (1970) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1970) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1970) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1970) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (1970) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (19??) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Argentina Video Home (2002) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2002) (Argentina) (VHS) (re-release)
• DVD Magic (Russia) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1998) (Finland) (TV)
• Nelonen (2000) (Finland) (TV)
• Sandrews (2002) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Tuck (2004) (Yugoslavia) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. Entertainment Finland Oy (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. (2002) (Argentina) (all media) (re-release)
• Warner Home Video (????) (Japan) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  dollies

Also Known As:

Ratnici (Yugoslavia: Serbian title)
The Warriors (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

144 min

Country:

Yugoslavia | USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:16 | UK:A (original rating) | Spain:13 | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | New Zealand:PG | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1970) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Yugoslavia

Company:

Avala Film

Trivia:

The 'key' symbol on the tiger tanks denotes that they are attached to the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte (Body guard unit) Adolf Hitler."

Goofs:

Factual errors: The German said there were 14,000 gold bars. Crapgame says that's "$16 million". When Kelly breaks open the box, it appears there are 12 bars per box (three wide, stacked four high) As they load it Crapgame says the 12 remaining men get 125 boxes, at $8,400 a box, totaling $10.5 million. But it's $84,000 per box. Also, at 12 bars per box, 125 boxes is only 1,500 bars. The errors go on from there (the boxes should weigh 146 lbs each) even if the value is about right for 200 troy ounce bars of gold.

Quotes:

[Oddball sees that the bridge he wants to cross is intact and is pleased with himself]
Oddball: It's still up!
[a plane flies over the bridge and bombs it... direct hit]
Oddball: No it ain't.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in I Trust You to Kill Me (2006)

Soundtrack:

Si tu me dis

Under-rated wartime caper.

Clint Eastwood reunites with his Where Eagles Dare director Brian G. Hutton for another improbable but entertaining WWII caper. Kelly's Heroes has its moments of wartime spectacle and lots of slambang action, but it also has plenty of comedy thrown in. Many critics judged the film quite harshly, groaning about how it is inappropriate for a film to mix jokes and war. But in truth, Kelly's Heroes never pretends to be a serious wartime account - and the humorous undercurrent helps the film rather than hampering it.

A bunch of American GIs are given a few days away from the battlefront during WWII. However, they are not overly impressed with the quiet, excessively peaceful and "boozeless" village where they've been told to relax. One member of the group, Kelly (Eastwood), has learned of a fortune in Nazi gold bullion hidden away in a bank in a German-occupied town some thirty or more miles behind enemy lines. He tells the other guys about it, and they decide to risk their lives to get hold of the hoard. Of course, pulling off a bank robbery is no easy task at the best of times, but when the bank is so far into enemy territory......

Eastwood is suitably laid-back here, but the real stars of the show are Telly Savalas (dynamic and hilarious as Big Joe) and Donald Sutherland (a hippy tank driver so chilled-out he's happy to eat cheese, drink wine and sunbathe in the middle of a chaotic battle!) The pyrotechnics are well-orchestrated, and Troy Kennedy Martin invests the script with the kind of amusing banter and thrilling set pieces that he gave to The Italian Job a year earlier. Kelly's Heroes is totally unsubtle and totally removed from reality - but what it lacks in tact it makes up for with spectacular destruction and bags of entertainment.