Kelly's Heroes
Directed by	Brian G. Hutton
Written by	Troy Kennedy-Martin
Starring	Clint Eastwood Telly Savalas Carroll O'Connor Donald Sutherland Don Rickles
Release date(s)	June 23, 1970 (U.S.)
Running time	144 min.
Country	United States  Yugoslavia
Language	English
IMDb profile

Kelly's Heroes is an offbeat 1970 war film about a group of enterprising World War II soldiers from the U.S. 35th Infantry Division. Download high resolution version (421x650, 86 KB)Kellys Heroes movie poster. ... Brian G. Hutton (born January 1, 1935 in New York City, New York) is an American motion picture actor and director. ... Troy Kennedy Martin (born 1932; sometimes credited as Troy Kennedy-Martin) is a British film and television scripwriter. ... For other uses, see Clint Eastwood (disambiguation). ... Aristotelis Telly Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was a prominent Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor whose career spanned four decades. ... John Carroll OConnor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an Emmy Award-winning American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades. ... For other persons named Donald Sutherland, see Donald Sutherland (disambiguation). ... Donald Jay Rickles (born May 8, 1926 in New York City, New York) is an American comedian and actor. ... is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_SFR_Yugoslavia. ... Motto Brotherhood and Unity Anthem Hey, Slavs Capital Belgrade Language(s) Serbo-Croatian (spoken throughout the territory), Slovenian, Macedonian, Albanian, Hungarian (all official), and languages of other nationalities. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The war film is a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American...

Directed by Brian G. Hutton, who also directed the 1968 WW II drama Where Eagles Dare, the film starred Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, and Carroll O'Connor, with lesser roles played by Harry Dean Stanton, Gavin MacLeod, and Stuart Margolin (all of whom would later become well-known film or television actors). The screenplay was written by highly-respected British film and television writer Troy Kennedy Martin. Brian G. Hutton (born January 1, 1935 in New York City, New York) is an American motion picture actor and director. ... Where Eagles Dare is a 1968 film directed by Brian G. Hutton and starring Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, and Mary Ure. ... For other uses, see Clint Eastwood (disambiguation). ... For other persons named Donald Sutherland, see Donald Sutherland (disambiguation). ... Aristotelis Telly Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was a prominent Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor whose career spanned four decades. ... Donald Jay Rickles (born May 8, 1926 in New York City, New York) is an American comedian and actor. ... John Carroll OConnor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an Emmy Award-winning American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades. ... Harry Dean Stanton (born July 14, 1926 in West Irvine, Kentucky, USA) is an American actor. ... Gavin MacLeod (born February 28, 1930) is an American actor, notable for playing Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat. ... Stuart Margolin (Born January 31, 1940 in Davenport, Iowa) is an American film and television actor and director. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... Troy Kennedy Martin (born 1932; sometimes credited as Troy Kennedy-Martin) is a British film and television scripwriter. ...

Plot

In World War II France, Kelly (Clint Eastwood), a former lieutenant demoted to private as a scapegoat, captures a German colonel in Intelligence. When Kelly notices his prisoner has a gold bar, he gets him drunk to try to get information. Before he is killed by an attacking German tank, the drunken prisoner of war blurts out an interesting tidbit: there is a cache of 14,000 gold bars (valued at $16 million) stored in a bank vault 30 miles behind enemy lines in the town of Clairemont. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Lieutenant is a military, naval, paramilitary, fire service or police officer rank. ... A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank (equivalent to Nato Rank Grades OR-1 to OR-3 depending on the force served in). ... For other uses, see Colonel (disambiguation). ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...

Kelly recruits a resting group of soldiers to sneak off and steal it. They include a skeptical master sergeant, "Big Joe" (Telly Savalas); a greedy and opportunistic supply sergeant, "Crapgame" (Don Rickles); a proto-hippie Sherman tank commander, "Oddball" (Donald Sutherland); and a number of stereotypical G.I.s. The men are presented as competent, but war-weary veterans; their motivations are more cynical and self-serving than patriotic. United States Master Sergeant insignia U.S. Marine Corps Master Sergeant insignia U.S. Army Master Sergeant insignia U.S. Air Force A Master Sergeant is: the eighth enlisted rank in the United States Marine Corps, just above Gunnery Sergeant, below Master Gunnery Sergeant, Sergeant Major, and Sergeant Major of... Aristotelis Telly Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was a prominent Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor whose career spanned four decades. ... For other uses, see Sergeant (disambiguation). ... Donald Jay Rickles (born May 8, 1926 in New York City, New York) is an American comedian and actor. ... For the British TV show, see Hippies (TV series). ... General characteristics Length: 5. ... For other persons named Donald Sutherland, see Donald Sutherland (disambiguation). ... GI or G.I. is a term describing a member of the US armed forces or an item of their equipment. ...

The obvious antagonists are the Germans. However, it quickly becomes clear that the motley band's own superior officers are just as much an obstacle, if not more so. Their own commanding officer, Captain Maitland (Hal Buckley), cares more about turning the campaign into a personal shopping tour than for the actual welfare of his men. When intercepted radio messages of the unauthorized private enterprise raid are brought to the attention of gung-ho American Major General Colt (O'Connor), he misinterprets them as communications between patriotic soldiers and rushes to the front line to exploit the "breakthrough". Gung-ho is a phrase borrowed from Chinese, frequently used in English as an adjective meaning enthusiastic. ... Insignia of a United States Air Force Major General German Generalmajor Insignia Major General is a military rank used in many countries. ...

Kelly's men race to reach the French town before their own army. There, they find it defended by three formidable Tiger I tanks with infantry support. The Americans are able to handle all but one Tiger in front of the bank itself. Ironically, it is the cooperation of the tank commander (Karl-Otto Alberty) that proves vital to achieving their goal. Powerless to defeat the armored behemoth, Kelly, Oddball and Big Joe gain the German's assistance by offering him and his crew a share of the loot. They divide up the gold and go their separate ways, just in time to avoid meeting the still-clueless Colt. Tiger I ( ) is the common name of a German heavy tank of World War II. The initial official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausführung H (abbreviated PzKpfw VI Ausf. ... Karl-Otto Alberty (also Karl Otto Alberty, b. ...

Cast

• Clint Eastwood as Private Kelly
• Telly Savalas as Master Sergeant "Big Joe"
• Don Rickles as Staff Sergeant "Crapgame"
• Carroll O'Connor as Major General Colt
• Donald Sutherland as Sergeant "Oddball"
• Gavin McLeod as Moriarty
• Hal Buckley as Captain Maitland
• Harry Dean Stanton as Private Willard
• Stuart Margolin as Private "Little Joe"
• Jeff Morris as Private "Cowboy"
• Perry Lopez as Private Petuko
• Tom Troupe as Corporal Job
• Karl-Otto Alberty as the German Tiger tank commander

For other uses, see Clint Eastwood (disambiguation). ... Aristotelis Telly Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was a prominent Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor whose career spanned four decades. ... Donald Jay Rickles (born May 8, 1926 in New York City, New York) is an American comedian and actor. ... John Carroll OConnor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an Emmy Award-winning American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades. ... For other persons named Donald Sutherland, see Donald Sutherland (disambiguation). ... Gavin MacLeod (born February 28, 1930) is an American actor, notable for playing Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat and Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. ... Harry Dean Stanton (born July 14, 1926 in West Irvine, Kentucky, USA) is an American actor. ... Stuart Margolin (Born January 31, 1940 in Davenport, Iowa) is an American film and television actor and director. ... Jeff Morris (born September 20, 1934 in St. ... Perry Lopez (born July 22, 1931 in New York, New York) is an American film and television actor. ... Karl-Otto Alberty (also Karl Otto Alberty, b. ...

Comments

There is a great deal of comedy and satire in the film, including a nod to Eastwood's spaghetti westerns in a standoff with a Tiger tank — a virtual remake of the close of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly — right down to the musical score takeoff. This film was produced and released during the Vietnam War, and in the same climate as M*A*S*H. Once Upon a Time in the West, in true Sergio Leone style, ends with an extended shootout scene between Harmonica (Charles Bronson) and Frank (Henry Fonda). ... For the album by Frankee, see The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (Frankee album). ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... M*A*S*H is a 1970 satirical American dark comedy film directed by Robert Altman, based extremely loosely on the novel written by Richard Hooker. ...

Kelly's Heroes was filmed prior to Eastwood's establishment as a leading film director. Several years after the film was released, Eastwood claimed that the movie studio (MGM) made additional cuts to Hutton's final version of the film, eliminating scenes that gave depth to the main characters. The resulting edits, Eastwood said, made the characters look like "a bunch of goof-offs from World War Two."

The 1999 action movie Three Kings is loosely based on this movie.^{[citation needed]} Three Kings is a 1999 American film directed and written by David O. Russell from a story by John Ridley about a gold heist. ...

Production

The movie was filmed in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in regions which are now the independent countries of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. This was done mostly because earnings from showings of previous movies in Yugoslavia couldn't be taken out of the country, but could be used to fund the production. Motto Brotherhood and Unity Anthem Hey, Slavs Capital Belgrade Language(s) Serbo-Croatian (spoken throughout the territory), Slovenian, Macedonian, Albanian, Hungarian (all official), and languages of other nationalities. ... Not to be confused with Republika Srpska. ...

The U.S. troops wear the insignia of the US 35th Infantry Division. The division actually was in action around Nancy in France in September of 1944. The film also uses authentic M4 Sherman tanks, while most other contemporary war films, for example Patton, employed too-modern M48 tanks. Such technical details as machine guns and entrenching tools are also remarkably accurate. The three Tiger I Tanks used in the film were actually adapted ex-Soviet Army T-34 tanks, converted in great detail by specialists of the Yugoslav army for the movie The Battle of Neretva. The 35th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. World War I Activated: August 1917 (National Guard Division from Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska). ... For other uses, see Nancy (disambiguation). ... Patton (UK: Patton: Lust for Glory) is a 1970 epic biographical film which tells the story of General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. ... The M48 Patton was one of the U.S armys principal main battle tanks of the Cold War, with models in service from the early 1950s to the 1990s. ... Tiger I ( ) is the common name of a German heavy tank of World War II. The initial official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausführung H (abbreviated PzKpfw VI Ausf. ... This article is about the armed forces of the Soviet Union. ... The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank first produced in 1940. ... Soundtrack cover to the film The Battle of Neretva is a 1969 Yugoslavian war film. ...

Although he does not appear in the credits, future director John Landis worked as a production assistant. He also appeared in the movie, dressed as a nun. During the shooting of the picture in Yugoslavia, he wrote the first draft of what would eventually become An American Werewolf in London. John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American movie actor, director, writer, and producer. ... An American Werewolf in London is a comedy/horror film released in 1981, written and directed by John Landis. ...

Musical score and soundtrack

The main musical theme of the movie (at both beginning and end) is "Burning Bridges," sung by The Mike Curb Congregation with music by Lalo Schifrin. There is also a casual rendition of the music in the background near the middle of the movie. Band that sang Burning Bridges, the theme song for the movie Kellys Heroes. ... Lalo Schifrin Lalo Schifrin (born on June 21, 1932) is an Argentine Jewish pianist and composer, most famous for composing the burning-fuse theme tune from the Mission:Impossible television series. ...

The soundtrack to the film also contains the song, "All For the Love of Sunshine," which became the first No. 1 country hit for Hank Williams, Jr.. All For the Love of Sunshine is a song made famous by country music singer Hank Williams Jr. ... Hot Country Songs is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. ... This article is about Hank Williams, Jr. ...

The soundtrack has not been released in the UK.

External links

• Kelly's Heroes at the Internet Movie Database
• Castle Beočin in Serbia (Major General Colt's headquarters)