Oh, baby, this mother-beautiful film's loaded with positive waves...

Rating: Null/10 (7 May 2002)

(** spoilers ahead**)
I didn't see this movie until 15 years or so after its release, but when I was a little kid I heard the "Burning Bridges" theme in heavy rotation on the radio and it instantly appealed. I should have known that the movie would, too, and this is one of those films that I can watch over and over again without tiring. It seems to be that they really don't make 'em like they used to, and the few years between the late '60s and mid-'70s produced some of the best war-themed (and this would include anti-war) films ever made. Most of them were built around stories that could actually have been told in a similar way in another setting. This film is an example of that principle, as is "Catch 22" and -- though I somehow seem to have managed to miss it thus far, definitely not by design -- "M*A*S*H*" ("Apocalypse Now" is a slightly later example, in that it could have been set in any conflict or, as in the novel from which it drew inspiration, in what passes for peacetime). The cast is great and it's probably that as much as anything that has the power to keep me watching this long film to its conclusion even after multiple viewings. Pretty much everyone's perfectly cast, and all do a great job with balancing the real nastiness of war (that does intrude now and then) with the more comedic elements that really define the film. For me, the primary attraction of this movie and its most unforgettable character -- is Oddball, the Sherman tank commander played to perfection by Donald Sutherland in all his hippiesque glory. Every second that Oddball has on screen is classic, his way-out-ness being all the more exaggerated by contrast with Clint Eastwood's generally stony façade and the pragmatism of Telly Savalas' character. The three primary leads actually make up a pretty good yin-yangish kind of composite person, the tightly reined-in but actually quite visionary cynic in Kelly, the practical and cautioning skeptic in Big Joe, and the free thinking Oddball. All of the actors, including those in relatively minor roles, are superb, but who could forget Oddball's all knowing facial expressions, as if only he were privy to some private joke, his admonitions that Moriarty quit with the 'negative waves,' his out-of-left-field dog imitations (both of them, including his "other dog imitation"), his kicking back with some wine and cheese and "catching some rays" during the final battle, etc, etc, etc. He's a visionary, too, with his idea of playing music during his attacks -- did Coppola get the idea for that classic helicopter- gunship "Valkyries" scene in "Apocalypse Now" from this movie? Oddball's very existence makes the film somewhat self-aware, but the scene that perhaps brings this home more than any other (and hopefully dispels any viewer's lingering suspicion that this is primarily a 'serious' war movie) is the Tombstone-style 'showdown' with the last operational Tiger tank, complete with dubbed-in jangling spurs as tribute to Clint Eastwood's spaghetti- western legacy. I could see how some might not like such a movie, but I love it. The producers also did a nice job of keeping things authentic, other than the jarring anachronism that is Oddball and his crew of proto-hippies (though I'm prepared to accept that they anticipated the first wave of the Beat Generation, the likely explanation is that they're a deliberately contrived ironic reference to the period during which the film was made -- a kind of bridge, albeit not burning). The Yugoslavian locations fit the story and are convincing as a stand-in for WWII France. The US military hardware is accurate as are German uniforms and, as far as I could tell (I wasn't scrutinizing every gun), their hardware. The SdKfz halftrack that the German patrol at the minefield used may have been a gussied-up US version -- I didn't really stop to look -- but that's no big deal, not particularly obvious in the film, and more than forgivable in that the film's makers put so much thought into mocking up Tiger I tank bodies on what were really Soviet T-34 tanks. That was a nice touch, especially for a movie that does not take itself particularly seriously, is not a serious study of war (though war forms its background, people die, the pointlessness of war is highlighted, and the enemy's not painted as one-dimensional fiends -- indeed, the movie's real enemies, in some ways, are Allied commanders). I like that the remnants of Kelly's Heroes teamed up with the SS Panzer commander (divisional markings correct for the elite 1st SS Panzer Division 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler,' as far as I know) to share the spoils, too, further bolstering the message that it's war itself, rather than people that wear different uniforms, that is the soldier's enemy. My capsule summary, I guess, would be that watching this excellent movie is a very enjoyable way to spend a thoroughly entertaining 2-1/2 hours. Woof, woof. That's my other dog imitation.