Friday, March 12, 2021

Kelly's Heroes (1970)

During World War II, an American soldier (Kelly) stationed in France learns, while interrogating a German prisoner, that there are 14,000 gold bullions being stored at a bank in Clermont, behind enemy lines. Kelly convinces his platoon mates to join him in an attempt to rob that bank.

War comedy which entertains in a crude, vulgar manner. Its mocking tone is certainly in tune with the spirit of the times. Perhaps the overall insatisfaction with the Vietnam war was being channeled into productions which made fun of other wars, like WWII here, and the Korean war in M*A*S*H. The sheer number of characters in Kelly's Heroes, mostly in very small parts, and each with his peculiarities, is impressive. Although the film is somewhat longer than the average film, I suspect it wouldn't suffer by the inclusion of the deleted scenes, as detailed in its Wikipedia page. Incidentally, that page has some interesting details about the real-life affair which inspired this movie:

Kelly's Heroes - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Rating: 51

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