One Of The Best

Rating: 9/10 (5 September 2005)

I've grown up with this film, thanks to all the times CBS used to run it, and cable channels since then. I never tire of it. A near perfect combination of action and comedy. The film's wisecracking is not only appropriate to the subject matter but to the environment the film found itself made and released in (the height of the Vietnam War).
The turmoil of the Vietnam era casts a shadow on the film, yet at the same time it stands on its own, very much timeless in a way. The one exception being Donald Sutherland's Oddball character, who remains one of the best things about this 1945-era film while his presence screams Woodstock.
Watching it today, it points out a tremendous flaw in TODAY's Hollywood. The casting. "Kelly's Heroes" is rich with character actors, who are not only able in firing off lines at each other (Rickles and Savalas particularly) but also in holding the screen in saying nothing. I think every fan of the film knows exactly what I mean and would agree with me that the mentality guiding the production of films today is simply horrific.