Still great nearly forty years later

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2009)

This film is so highly underrated precisely because it combines so many things so well. It's not strictly a war movie, buddy movie, comedy or political satire. It is ALL of those things. It is best described as a playfully satirical action/caper movie set against the backdrop of World War 2.
The film relies on irony, satire and just a bit of farce for its humor as opposed to today's unfortunate predilection toward slapstick, potty humor or sexual innuendo. This allows the action to punctuated by subtle bits of humor throughout without detraction. For example, Crapgame and Willard unknowingly taking cover behind a latrine which collapses on top of them when a nearby building explodes (with predictable aromatic consequences), or the scene where the unit is strafed by an aircraft and a soldier runs out of the bushes unaware of what happened because he was relieving himself.
The other aspect that makes this so enjoyable are the characters and the actors that portrayed them. Eastwood's stoicism and Savalas' portrayal of Big Joe the harried, frustrated platoon sergeant make them the perfect straight men for the other zany characters to play off of. Rickles' caustic wit is on full display as the conniving Crapgame. Carrol O'Conner is superb as the bombastic Patton-esquire General Colt. And can enough be said about Donald Sutherland's completely over-the-top portrayal of the totally anachronistic hippie tank commander, Oddball? The character is presented so well and Sutherland does such a wonderful job with it, it becomes eminently plausible that such an out-of-place character could have existed.
Even actors in the supporting roles such as Gavin McLeod and Harry Dean Stanton (among others) turn in wonderful performances. This makes every man in the outfit a unique person instead just being cannon-fodder for the combat scenes, so you really end up rooting for them to pull it off.
All in all, it is just a great bit of storytelling, which is why it has endured for so long and will endure for quite some time.