Pretty good rip-roaring war film

Rating: 7/10 (22 June 2013)

A pretty good rip-roaring war film with the more recent genre of caper-movie superimposed on top of it. The ensemble cast never seemed to hit a false note, from Clint Eastwood as the eponymous title character, a former lieutenant previously busted down to the enlisted ranks, to Don Rickles as the hustler supply sergeant, to Carroll O'Conner as the crusty (to put it mildly) major general, to Donald Sutherland as the (anachronistically) hippie tank commander. A few plot holes, such as the value and weight of the gold, did not detract from the fun. The war action was played straight, and well-directed. There were a few veiled anti-war sentiments, as a sop to the mid-Vietnam era. On viewing I was a bit amazed that I had never seen this one in the forty-three years since its release. Decent, but not great.