Too long and dated

Rating: 4/10 (12 September 2009)

Again, a movie I once loved as a boy has come back to bite me on the rear. I first saw KH on the big screen at a drive in when I was a little kid. Clint Eastwood! Carol O'Conner! What could go wrong? Now here I am in my middle age, sitting on the couch, sipping a whiskey and watching the flick yet again on TCM, and I don't even know why.
The film from a tactical point is absurd. Were the German troops that stupid as to just run in front of the hero's' tommy guns at every available chance? Silly Germans! Triks are for kids! And no blood on any of the casualties on either side. Mighty squeaky clean bullets they used in WWII.
Telly Savalis and Don Rickles animated rivalry in the film grew irritating and stayed over the top after the first half hour, and can we dissect Donald Sutherlands' character for a moment? The guy was a HIPPIE! Hippies in the forties? Hello? I don't remember hearing about any of those in WWII! This was obviously Hollywoods' way of trying to relate to the late sixties, the time period the film was being shot.
And what about the end of the film? I don't think you could really get FOUR TONS of gold on the back of one truck... and how did they get it back out of the country? How did they fence it? Did they all hit the streets back in America with two hundred pounds of bullion stuffed in their nickers each??? I also didn't quite understand the spontaneous appearance of 200 French natives all celebrating their 'liberation' while a handful of Americans casually cart away sixteen million dollars in gold right under their noses after shooting up their town.
This movie has lived on to display the dated, overpriced, underachieving crap it is today. Sorry about those negative waves! WOFF WOFF WOFF! That's my other dog imitation.