Kelly's Heroes [VHS]

*** THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2010 'BLU RAY' REISSUE ***

Released in US cinemas in March 1970, "M.A.S.H." had already made both Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould huge stars among the young audiences of the day - so June 1970 saw two more irreverent Second World War movies follow suit - "Catch-22" and the hugely entertaining "Kelly's Heroes" (also starring Sutherland in another scene-stealing role).

The story goes like this - in a retreat from a German advance in France, Lieutenant Kelly (Eastwood) stumbles on a German Officer carrying a briefcase - and on getting him drunk on brandy in a barn during a bombing barrage - he unwittingly tells of a vast shipment of bullion. And better still his papers provide the location of the booty and the military protection allocated to it. Kelly twigs the opportunity immediately - and goes back to camp the next morning to recruit a squad of grubby reprobates to go after the 14,000 crates in a German-occupied town containing millions of dollars worth of gold bars. And on it goes to a standoff with a German Tank officer with squinty eyes who may or may not be as 'gold-struck' as his American counterparts. It's all highly implausible of course, but who cares when you're having this much fun...

As the movie opens to the horribly dated "Burning Bridges" theme song (the rest of Lalo Schifrin's score is excellent), the first 20 minutes are entirely shot at night and a lesser Blu Ray would have fallen down badly at this point (see my reviews for "Ronin" and "2010 - The Year We Make Contact"). But thankfully "Kelly's Heroes" doesn't. Even as the credits roll in red German lettering, it's very obvious that the whole print has been restored and while it isn't state-of-the-art picture quality because the focus is often very loose - at times it looks glorious. The daylight sequences in particular are fabulous. For the most part it's a huge improvement and really adds to your enjoyment of the movie.

Directed by Brian D. Hutton (who had done "Where Eagles Dare" with Eastwood in 1968) and wittily written by British playwright Troy Kennedy-Martin, the MGM casting also featured some genius choices. Clint Eastwood is undoubtedly the leading man and the big-league Hollywood star here - but I mention other choices because his crown was firmly stolen by the rest of his onscreen misfit squad. Donald Sutherland effortlessly grabs the badge of cool for his portrayal of Oddball the wisest hippy in occupied-France (dialogue above). Then there's the loud-mouthed hard-on Telly Savalas (Kojak was a short stop away) as Staff-Sergeant Big Joe trying to keep his boys from being killed by keeping them loose ("Where's the booze! Where's the broads! Where's the action!"). There's the mechanical Sherman tank magician Gavin MacLeod as Moriarty (Oddball's sidekick with his 'negative waves') and the canny trickster Don Rickles as the wonderfully-named Crapgame - the procurer of all things illegal. Carroll O'Connor as the naïve General Colt who overhears Kelly's radio transmissions and thinks his boys are being brave and spearheading an advance behind enemy lines. Throw in the rest of the grunts (even Harry Dean Stanton has a notable minor role - "My hair's in curlers!") and you're on a winner.

You also forget how many funny scenes there were in it - Telly's brother George Savalas as Mulligan the man who constantly drops bombs on his own troops - his hilarious rant at Kelly when he asks him for an illegal barrage - the wasted crews of Oddball's three Sherman tanks sunning themselves under makeshift canopies as one of them does the rounds and pours out coffee into their cups to sober them up - Telly Savalas telling his men to do up a bombed-out house to look like a nightclub - Oddball arriving at the bridge - "It's still up!" Then a US fighter flies in low and blows it up. "No it ain't!" Karl-Otto Alberty as the SS Tank Officer in the town of Clermont who finally open his eyes when he hears what his men and machines have been unwittingly guarding in the bank behind him...

This isn't "Band Of Brothers" or "Pacific" where every GI seems like a model with dirt strategically applied to their cheeks - these actors aren't pretty - their faces and bodies are drawn from the real world - they're full of character and oddity - and their consistent irreverence for authority gives the whole thing a gritty realism throughout. You root for these guys and their cheeky opportunism...

The really big let down is the complete lack of extras - no commentaries, no making of, no post interviews - it's a real shame because they would have added so much to what has always been a perennial favourite among film fans. But as it's pitched at a tenner and given that the print is looking the business, I still think its great value for money (it's available only as a twofer in the USA - paired with "Where Eagles Dare").

"Kelly's Heroes" is a blast on UK Blu Ray - and its recommended like a Sherman shell up the ass of a Tiger Tank...

BLU RAY Credits:
VIDEO: 1080p High Definition 16x9 2.4:1 Aspect Ratio
AUDIO: DTS-HD Master Audio, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Castilian Spanish 2.0 Mono, French 1.0. German 1.0, Italian 1.0
SUBTITLES: English, Castilian Spanish, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin Spanish, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish

BONUS Material:
Theatrical Trailer (no other extras)

PS: for other superb restorations on BLU RAY, see also my reviews for "The Italian Job", "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning", "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner", "North By Northwest", "Cool Hand Luke", "The Dambusters", "The Prisoner - The Complete (UK TV) Series In High Definition", "Braveheart", "Snatch", "The Ladykillers", "The African Queen", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", "Back To The Future Trilogy" and "Brief Encounter"

If you like serious war films, you might not like KELLY'S HEROES. Some people have remarked how the hell can you have a hippy tank commander in World War 2? Well this is a light-hearted war film that isn't so concerned with such anachronistic details.Clint Eastwood is Kelly, who finds out about a stash of gold bars in a bank behind enemy lines and decides to lead some basically misfit soldiers to perform the "perfect crime" and steal it. Telly Savalas is the reluctant bullish sergeant, Don Rickles the moaning "hustler", and Donald Sutherland is the hippy, aptly named "Oddball". He's so cool as he drives his tanks into battle playing loud music, eating cheese, drinking wine and sunbathing while others work, then trying out his dog impersonations. This film is basically a WW2 remake of THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, with Clint Eastwood as a reluctant soldier in a war, trying to get to a fortune in gold. Just in case you missed the connection, there's that Sergio Leone moment where Clint, Telly and Donald face off against a German Tiger tank, complete with all the famous angles and a pastiche of Morricone's music.
Transfer on Blu-ray is very good with a shrp bright picture. The film is 40 years old, but I think it was shot in 70mm, so they've used the best inter-positive print. The sound excells too, the many explosions really rattling around the room. So don't make with the negative waves, man. Just dig what a beautiful film this is and buy it, Baby!

Short & sweet review, absolute classic film, love it. The only thing that lets this Blu-ray down is the picture. Yes it's an improvement over the DVD, but not as much as it should / could have been. Still worth buying, but only in the sale.