Good war film, with minor problems

Rating: Null/10 (4 May 2004)

Others have already outlined the story, so I'm not going to do that again; this is a black comedy war/caper film, enough said. It's an interestingly simple plot, with some superb cast members including Donald Sutherland as Oddball (my favorite character in the film). Eastwood and Savalas come across as very believable military archetypes (Kelly the ex-LT, Big Joe the tough sergeant). Other members of the cast are a little bit caricatured or otherwise simple, especially the over-the-top General played by O'Connor. Of course caricature is an effective way of satirizing something, and it works well in this relatively antiwar film. In some instances it provides some good lines (when Crapgame has just climbed out of a blown-apart out house, Cowboy says "You boys smell you fell in a dung heap" - Crapgame replies "Kinda makes ya homesick, doesn't it!" (Crapgame is a New Yorker who has no use for Cowboy, or Texans in general).
One of my favorite lines in the movie: "To a New Yorker like you, a HERO is some kind of weird sandwich!" (Oddball).
I've never been in the military or combat but the several battle scenes feel honest to me, brutal but not overdone, and certainly not dripping in special effects. There is some irony in the title. Nobody on either side does anything particularly heroic, except what they must do to keep themselves alive and get the gold. Big Joe even says "Never stick your neck out for nobody." Joe also sums up war when, after the minefield scene, he says "They're dead so forget about it."
My only other gripe is the theme song. Where did that come from??? I guess they saw the name of the song "Burning Bridges" and decided that would do... I get the feeling from a number of movies of the early 70's that themes songs did not often receive a lot of thought.
One of the more interesting aspects of the story is that a military unit would be very good at robbing a bank! Kelly's heroes have training and discipline that few movie criminals possess. Sometimes I think a remake of this film (NOT Three Kings) would be worthwhile, but you'd never get this good a cast together.
The end of the film is a classic, with Oddball summing up the way it must feel to look at all that gold: "Woof! Woof!" B+