Kelly’s Heroes

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

• Director: Brian G. Hutton
• Genre:Action / Comedy / War
• Runtime:141 minutes

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)

The film opens in World War II France in early September 1944. Units of the U.S. Army’s 35th Infantry Division are nearing the town of Nancy when one of the division’s platoons receives orders to pull out while under attack from the Germans (much to the chagrin of the men, who are eager to get into Nancy in order to find a decent place to get some rest).

Kelly (Clint Eastwood), a former lieutenant demoted to private as a scapegoat, captures Colonel Dankhopf (David Hurst) of German Intelligence. When Kelly notices his prisoner has a gold bar in his briefcase, he gets him drunk to try to get information about the gold. Before he is accidentally killed by an attacking German Tiger tank, the drunken Dankhopf blurts out that there is a cache of 14,000 gold bars (worth $16,000,000) stored in a bank vault 30 miles behind enemy lines in the town of Clermont.

Kelly recruits the rest of his platoon, including skeptical Master Sergeant “Big Joe” (Telly Savalas), to sneak off and steal it. Eventually, others have to be recruited (or invite themselves) into the scheme, such as an opportunistic supply sergeant “Crapgame” (Don Rickles); a proto-beatnik Sherman tank commander, “Oddball” (Donald Sutherland); and a number of stereotypical G.I.s presented as competent, but war-weary veterans.

The obvious antagonists are the Germans. However, it quickly becomes clear that the motley band’s own side is just as much an obstacle. An Allied fighter plane mistakes them for Germans and shoots up much of their equipment. 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 patriotic soldiers pushing forward; Colt rushes to the front line to exploit the “breakthrough”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly%27s_Heroes