When it comes to classic WW2 movies, they don't get much better than Kelly's Heroes, the 1970 classic starring Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas and Donald Sutherland.
I was just thinking the same thing. Hollywood is probably gonna find this gem and do an all-female remake. So Kelly will be a "wahman". It'll star Amy Schumer as Kelly, and the rest will be a bunch of female rappers you haven't heard of. And the promotions will all say, "Its like Ocean's Eight, but in WW-2". And yes, there will be more than Black people and Asian people on Team America Good Side.
To be honest, "All Star Cast" has almost always meant "We spent so much time and money getting all these people together, and promised ALL their agents that they'll ALL have something really meaty/funny to do that the script was a complete mess". Kelly's Heros is an exception, not a a beacon of a better and bygone age.
from the 2-time emmy-nominated director of something you've never heard of, starring the oscar-nominated star of a really horrible film, comes a tale of a woman, and her search for a clean toilet
yeah, just take the worst movie of 20 years ago and compared to today's standards it's still a masterpiece. As for WW2 movies.... there are so many of them that I at some point in time got a bit tired by it.... like it's 100 years ago people, it's not like the war ended just 5 years ago. And I ain't taking the shit of 'look how bad the nazi's were'.... I think that's the most hypocritical thing I've heard. Like The Americans discriminated and put Japanese Americans in camps too, the Japanese did it to practically anybody in Indonesia and also worked them to death with their death bridge; the English were pretty much the inventors of concentration camps during the Boer Wars and the conditions in the camps were equally horrifying; the Russians also had their gulags; I guess so much for 'this must never happen again'. Canada and Australia are making theirs now to lock up the unvxed and N-Korea basically is the largest concentration camp in the world; America still has Quantanamo Bay and you can go on and on and on and on..... so I'm pretty tired of the 'only nazi's were bad' argument at this point in time. The witch hunt has also taken enormous ridiculous proportions by people still trying to hunt down 97 year old female paper pushing females that only worked for the government and happened to be stationed in a camp vs murderers of a cold case even after bragging and showing all the documentation here about their murder going free coz the case has expired legally. That's how ridiculous it has become.
This movie perfectly manages to skirt the fine line between war movie, heist movie and comedy, and it does so without compromising on neither of them. It's being played straight with the humor coming from the surreallity of war and their situation. Kinda like how Shaun of the Dead perfectly managed to blend the drama of Shaun's parents dying with comedy. And best of all, real fucking Sherman tanks and Tigers that look like Tigers, instead of Patton tanks with a white star or iron cross painted upon them! Bizarre that it took until the end of the war movie genre for realistic looking equipment to finally show up in them. Even though the Tiger was a rebuilt T-34, at least it looked like a Tiger.
In all fairness Yugoslavia was the only place that could provide actual WW 2 equipment for filming those days. Almost everything outside of museums in Western countries was destroyed after the war, and if you wanted to make a movie you used miniatures and newer tanks. Battle of the Bulge and Patton used Spanish army and it's anachronistic equipment, because it was a great way to get extras and tanks in widescreen shots, and it just wasn't financially possible to transform battalion of tanks to look like their WW2 counterparts.
@@peterandjunko and the REAL Irony is that Spain DID have authentic German kit (Pz IVs and Stgs from the war days) right up to 1965, when they got reequipped by the US equipment--JUST BEFORE they began filming 'Patton'. The German tanks ended up being sold to Syria and those got destroyed/captured by Israel when they took the Golan in 1967
@@nickmitsialis wow- nice info there. Thanks! The North Africa ambush scene would have been great with Pz IVs and Stugs. I assume they would have been the long 75mm variant that was time appropriate for Tunisia campaign.
An epic in any age! When we were 14 Kelly's Heroes was spoken of on the schoolyard with hushed reverent tones. It was a staple of the Saturday afternoon movie shows on television in the 70s.
I was my dad's remote control; I'd sleep at the bottom of the bed, and change the channel when he'd kick me. (Yes, I did walk in on them one night when they were "wrestling". I jumped on top of my dad, and said I'll help you, Mommy. Thankfully I was only five, and had no idea what was going on.) One night I woke up because I heard the half-tracks going through the village that was being shelled. My parents were already asleep, but I watched the rest of the movie. It's the first time that I ever saw Clint Eastwood and a character that shared my last name, Telly Savalas as someone other than Kojak, and Don Rickles in a non-comedy. I watched that movie wide eyed, and had trouble falling asleep after the National Anthem and picture of the Indian. The two most watched Eastwood movies for me are "Kelly's Heroes" and "Where Eagles Dare".
LOVE your reference to "The Message"... brilliant.... thankyou. Sooner we can get back to movies like this that just have a Message, without it being "The Message" the better off we'll all be. 😂😁😇
Gavin McCloud as Moriarty deserves props too! Not a day went by at work when I did'nt quote him under my breath. "Odd ball, I can't fix it without the parts no matter how positive I think"!
When I saw this, I kept expecting, just at the last minute. For the allied forces to ride up behind them and take the glory and gold. In short, no matter how hard you try, someone else always gets your prize.
So sad. Today you're supposed to feel ashamed for just entertaining yourself. Almost everything has to have a certain political direction and is getting preachy. 🤐
Reminds me of Days of Thunder a little bit. But it is a great line that's for sur. Brut honestly is sorely lacking in modern Hollywood movies. Like Rey being able to fly a star ship without any pilot training or modern action movie. It would be funny to get a modern movie of an action hero not knowing how to drive a stick shift or something realistic along those lines.
Honestly, it’s a movie that was ahead of its time. The humor and the over-the-top situation is what we see constantly nowadays in movies. My dad and I still watch this movie because it’s just a great film
“All you need to do is turn your gun around, blow up that door and get an equal share of that gold.” “…..” 3 seconds later everyone is rich and happy! My favourite WW2 film. I was hoping you would review it. Thanks Mr. Drinker!
Fun trivia for Drinker, The sounds of the electric motors the Tiger tank turrets was later used for the movements of the power lifters in Aliens (1986)
Extra fun trivia... after they find the gold and the town is celebrating liberation from the Germans there's a scene where a kid is waving a Nazi flag. Whoopsie
@@rmp-xk6lr I doubt that was accidental tbh as the flick was quite purposefully subversive, after decades of hyper-earnest and patriotic WWII movies. The Krauts, even the Waffen-SS tank commander (initially thought a “fanatic”) all turn out to be schlubs, too, just fighting and dying for they-don’t-know-what anymore like everyone else. It’s really an enlisted man’s caper movie that’s phenomenally derisory about the chain of command, because all the senior officers are either loonies, incompetent, or, in the case of the direct CO of Kelly/Big Joe, engaged in wholesale looting - up to and including pinching an entire French yacht and waylaying a huge fighting aircraft to ship it back to the US. (this being what tacitly gives the ethical green light for the “Heroes” to do their own thievery) In the film’s comic cynicism there’s patently a heavy influence of _Catch-22,_ published a near decade earlier in ‘61, but without the book’s air of despairing darkness; and when the boys slow down their own general (patently a pisstake on Patton) who’s pursuing them, by telling the French villagers that De Gaulle’s in his car, I couldn’t help but keel over laughing at the brilliantly insane froggish reaction… Yugoslavia really did do a bang up job of looking like rural France.
@@dukecraig2402 Meta fun trivia… McQueen’s Mustang in Bullitt, was actually overdubbed: what you’re really hearing’s the sound of a GT40 added on in post.
Glad to see this review! It was the first date with my eventual wife in 1972. She said she was thinking at the time..."he's taking me to a war movie"? Bottom line... she loved it. We have been married 43 years.
43 years is a long time! Couples who can stay married for decades deserve some kind of special tax break or something. 43 years is quite impressive. Congratulations to you and your wife!
To be honest, i thing it is very good funeral ending music. Or music. Movie also says a lot about horrors of war, for example after landmine, or when ally planes attack. You can die in every moment. Soldiers, after months of hardship are full of fatigue.
that is so cool, wow. this shows how great a movie this was when it can appeal to a broad spectrum. I doubt I will have a funeral, but if I did, I think that's a good choice for me, since I have watched this movie probably more than any other over the decades
Your mother sounds cool it was my grandmother who introduced me to Kelly's Heros she had a video tape of it for her new fangled VCR that she was very proud of.
Telly Savalas, an actor I don't especially like, was SUPERB in this movie---and plays the kind of NCO you hope you get assigned to in a war---tough, no-nonsense, tactically proficient, but whose over-riding concern is getting as many of his men out of a mess in one piece as possible. Each time one of his men gets killed you feel his anguish and self-reproach. Just a magnificent movie.
"Half my equipment is jammed up in the rear!" Big Joe: "UNJAM 'EM!" Skip all the methods of leadership training that managers have to sit through nowadays. Just watch Big Joe in action.
After this one, it was fun to see Sutherland and Eastwood work together again in Space Cowboys. I kept waiting to hear, "Always with the negative waves, man."
Ha - Love it. Reminds me of Die Hard. Funny how so many older movies dealing with serious content matter were more family friendly than even "light" films made today. Just an observation.
Not bad for a guy whos roles included a lab tech with a mouse in his pocket and a pilot dropping napalm on a giant spider. After that a great western TV shows ans then a trip to Italy and the rest is history. He learned his trade the hard way and his many awards are well deserved.
Don Rickles as Crap Game was great in this movie. " I'm coming with you guys. Switzerland is only 30 miles away and I don't want anybody getting lost."
"Hey, Hogan? It's Crapgame. I gotcha the Scotch and the nylons you wanted. Yeahhh . . . Do I ever fail ya? You better believe it -- never miss. Listen. I, uh . . . I've got a little favor to ask of ya. . . . WILL YOU STOP CRYING? I HAVEN'T EVEN ASKED YA YET!! 'DA HELL'S THE MATTER WITH YA?!?"
My Mother and her Mom were working 24/7, keeping up their brownstone in Brooklyn to give room and board to soldiers and refugees from around the world, living poor in the city or needy and just passing through. Angels... And The Strongest Of Women! Believe That!!
I absolutely love the editing on the German Tank Commander scene. The three heroes swaggering line-abreast towards the Tiger like a bunch of cowboys straight off Eastwood's spaghetti western, then the German TC pops out - blonde blue eyed, and more than a bit battle scared. Worn down and defeated but still proud he raises his arm in a salute to the Fuhrer, demonstrating his absolute loyalty to the Vaterland and his aristocratic ancestry. But then Kelly mentions the Gold and you see a brief glint in the Commander's eye... and camera jump cuts straight to the bank door blowing up!
Also the movie aged really well. Show it to a kid today, he is going to have the same blast watching it as we did back then in our childhood. At least I know I did :)
So true! I saw this at a drive-in with my dad when it was first released, and now all these years later I've shown it to my oldest boys (ages 11 and 9...I started a family late) and it instantly became one of their favorites. And they know practically nothing about WWII or the '40s yet.
koomo81. That’s so cool! I really want to go to a drive in theatre one day, heard they’re great. That’s awesome your boys like it! Lord knows kids need better material then the stuff they put out nowadays. Convinced me to watch the movie myself. Maybe if I like it I’ll save it for when I have sons and daughters, same with the dollars trilogy.
Drinker, you've blown my mind again! I first became a fan of yours after coming upon your "Where Eagles Dare" review. My dad was one of the producers of that movie and I thought "Who in the hell is reviewing, in 2021, an old war movie done back in 1968?" The Critical Drinker, that's who and then I started watching all your brilliant videos. I've only disagreed with your wonderful videos twice. Anyway, my dad also was one of the producers of "Kelly's Heroes" and I wish he was alive to see the two great reviews you gave of both movies. That would have made him very happy. He was friends with Clint and Telly and Burton. You, unfortunately in both reviews, failed to mention my Dad's best friend, Brian Hutton, who directed both movies. He was a great director. You're so right in that they don't make movies like they used to. Special FX and CGI will never be better than good writing.
I met Mr. Rickles a couple years before he passed. I was working security in nearby Casino that he was performing at. I escorted him from his room to a steakhouse at the casino. He quipped and joked from the moment he opened the door until he returned to his room. An absolute gem of a man.
This was, as ever, a fair shakedown of this classic . Don't forget the brilliant theme music.' Burning Bridges' from the succinctly named 'Mike Curb congregation'. My big bro' bought the single. And that's all you need to know.
I saw this flick in the Drive-In theatre, still can taste the popcorn and REAL soda. My dad loved war movies, a Korean Vet with a Silver Star, and we never missed seeing one when it released.
Excellent pick. My favorite WWII movie and most quotable WWII of all time. "What kind of deal?" "A deal deal. Maybe the guy is a Republican." - This became funnier as I got older.
I read an account of a WWII artillery gunner that told the story of his gun firing leaflet shells that they modified and filled with latrine waste along with the leaflets. One of my co-workers at the time said I had borrowed the idea from the movie. My reply, where do you think they got the idea from?
Along with the magnificent seven, this movie was one of my youths treasures. Between the two, I probably watched them hundreds of times. All the badass actors playing in those kind of movies is getting me depressed about the state of film industry today. The scene where oddball is showing off his drunken unit to kelly is movie magic. "Sixty feet of bridge I can pick up almost anywhere" - oddball talking to seinfelds uncle leo of all people, hahaha.
An exceptional movie and ironically, for such a clearly fictional film, the equipment and combat scenes are among the most realistic I've seen in film. Great selection.
Back then, to see German vehicles portrayed accurately was ground breaking. I was sick of seeing American tanks with swastikas' by this time and Kellies Heroes was glorious.
Hell even in some more modern movies the equipment is shit... just look at the wanna-be Tiger from Saving Private ryan... good god... what a fugly tank.
If you can dig out an old interview Donald Sutherland did with Bob Costas in the 80s where they talked about this classic. Turns out Donald had gotten sick and his brain swelled during filming and he almost died. But the swelling made him half crazy and emotional. Basically the performance of Oddball was just Donald at the time.
"why can't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change..." freaking awesome movie I've watched 100+ times since the early 80's when i discovered it.
Here! Here! I was an eight year old kid when I first saw this movie at a Drive-In theater in 1970. I loved it then and love it now. I cant really remember how many times I have watched this through the years. I may get old, but this movie never does.
A personal favourite, and you don't get to see Don Rickles lugging a thirty calibre machine-gun everyday. The Eagle Has Landed was also a very cool ride.
My dad LOVES this movie. He once considered buying this old Sherman tank our local scrapyard had in it and planned on loading it full of paintballs and a loudspeaker playing "All For the Love of Sunshine" and just roaming around some remote area blasting stuff.
Your dad just won the internet for the day! And hell, All for the love of sunshine glaring aloud while people are dying and getting shut up makes that scene all the harder and surreal. Like real horrors of war.
Love this film! Think my favourite Oddball line is "it's a mother beautiful bridge....and it's gonna be there". Fits into my top 3 war films along with Where Eagles Dare and Guns of Navarone.
By the way Oddball is what's called a "beatnik". It was an American subculture from the late 40s to mid 60s and was, as you described, basically a proto-hippie.
Ooh good call, I was just being ironic, draft is more associated with Vietnam, but ill but that Although..any self respecting beatnik would have gone to Mexico haha
"what can be more important than 16 million bucks?" "You come by later Crapgame ..... and we'll show you" Always wanted to know what oddball and his crew did that night
What’s always impressed me since I was a kid was how accurate the uniforms/weapons/ equipment actually are. They got good mock-ups of Tiger tanks, used real Shermans, the platoon of GIs look pretty accurate to 1944-1945 period, ect. For a not serious film, Kelly’s Heroes did a better job with historical realism at times than many more serious films of the day bothered to do.
There are a few things that you notice here and there that are inaccurate. Petuko use a Wz.28 instead of a BAR M1918A2, the sniper in the bell tower uses a Mosin Nagant 91/30 PU instead of a Springfield M1903A4, from what I remember most of the German infantry are wearing the Pre/Early war style uniforms with the bottle green collars and pleated pockets with scalloped flaps. Just minor nitpicks, that only an insane person would notice.
@@obviouspseudonym9345 The early uniforms were kind of standard fair for Hollywood for time. Though, I noticed they made a valiant attempt to show camouflage zeltbalns being worn by German troops in the beginning.
@@TitusCastiglione1503 Yeah pretty sure almost every infantryman was issued one for most of the war. Maybe not as practical as a smock for a camouflage garment, but being able to make a tent out of them was probably nice.
Guys, have you notied how those old movies had this crisp look to them? I can't put my finger on it, but overall it feels somewhat better than what we have right now.
All movies were filmed in HD, its the only camera tech we have really ever had for cinema. Projectors and many other devices didn't support the image quality that was present. In the 90s there used to be lots of old movies avail 'remastered' where they went back and tried to enhance stuff from the original reels. Orphan Annie, Mary Poppins, A Christmas Story, etc.
Depending on the source material, real film masters compare up to the range of 8k. When you had a bad dvd/blu its mostly because they used a cheaper theatrical copy of it. Or the master was not stored properly
It's modern directors obsession with filters and post processing effects. I think it is utterly horrible. Every movie has to be entirely brown or blueish, natural colors are banished from films.
In the original theatrical release the song was not used in the intro. The main tiles was an instrumental theme. The soundtrack was by Lalo Schifrin. With the success of the song the intro was switched to Burning Bridges for all future releases.
I thought sure Drinker would mention the song while he was going on about all the world war II movies with bridge in the title...but no...mums the word.
One of my favorites of this sort of film(along with Dirty Dozen), but I gotta compliment you on your statement about getting the German officer drunk for information. My uncle worked intelligence in WWII and always said he got more by playing chess and smoking cigars than any torture of the enemy ever would.
Reading the writings of German tankers from the era, they took great pride and made it a point of emphasis to ride "unbuttoned" as much as they could- they even credit the fact that they could make allied tankers close their hatches easily as one of the primary reasons the Germans performed so much better in tanks (per Otto Carius)... so many of their commanders had such facial scars (like Carius).
@@stxrobstar Nope. It was the exact other way around. Every German battle tank form the outset of the war had radio, that is one of the reasons why the stomped the French and the Russians so badly in the first years.
Its such a strange but incredibly fun and re-watchable film. And with the inclusion of Odd ball one clearly of its time. On one hand you have an almost conventional war movie with big set pieces. One that goes to unusual lengths to get the equipment correct. Including making good enough mock ups of Tiger Tanks. Something that until Saving private Ryan most films just didn't bother with. When slapping a star or a cross on any tank was usually considered close enough. Then there is the weird tonal shifts as Kelly and his team go from tense scenes of danger like the opening or the scene in the in the midfield to the outright slapstick of Crap game getting covered in actual crap. I must've felt like it landed from Mars when it was released, especially when measured against most WWII movies that proceeded it. Actually... it still feels like its from Mars today.
They filmed in Yugoslavia that still had running Tiger tanks. I like the movie Patton, but always get distracted in the battle scenes when they aren't even using Shermans, but use the M-60 Tanks that weren't even made until 1959.
@@DT-sb9sv yep. They had the full cooperation of the Tito government that's why you see the incredible columns of equipment for the engineers. The Tigers in Kellys hero's are modified T-34's. Just like those seen in Saving Private Ryan.Most of those late 60's WWII movies like Patton and The Battle of the Bulge are full of such distractions.
I read somewhere that the Tiger Tank replica they used in Saving Private Ryan is actually the one from Kellys Heros resused. Don't know if it's true thou. A bridge too far had the same problem with the wrong tanks. The depicted Tiger and Pz IV tanks were actually german Leopard I tanks from the dutch army of that time. A tank which was first build in 1964. But I guess using a actual german manufactured tank was considered close enough. xD
Kelly's Heroes is one of the best films ever made and I say that as a life-long Disney Princess fan 😄 The cast is phenomenal and the story is a great caper, with lots of action to keep you interested! Clint Eastwood is top-notch (as always) and Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas are the best men to be at his side. And Don Rickles being his hilarious self! The peace-treaty scene with the German tank commander is one of the best scenes Ive ever seen in a movie. The dialogue was to-the-point, the tension was immeasurable and then the big BOOOM!! Man, I need to go watch it again!
One of my favorite war films. And have to laugh that for being a satirical comedy it is still more realistic than many "serious" war films. And "Burning Bridges" was, in my opinion at least, a perfect song for the film.
Imagine that. An original story created solely for the big screen. That's what Hollywood used to be. No franchises, reboots, sequels, remakes, re-imaginings, sequels to remakes, or adaptations of reboots. They used to make fucking MOVIES. I miss movies.
Thank you, Drinker! Kelly's Heroes is my favorite WWII movie. It has a very special place in my heart. Back when I was in junior high (when Jesus was a baby and before most people even owned a vcr) there were 2 movies that made the rounds on local late night TV after Johnny Carson. One was Zulu. The other was Kelly's Heroes. And all the guys at school watched it. We made sure we all knew it would be on that night, and we'd quote it endlessly the next day. Great memories
I cannot describe how much I love this movie, and how much it means to our family. It's kind of our cinematic heirloom that is passed down from one generation to the next.
I stopped bothering with new films these days. Everything I watch is basically an older movie that was made before I was born or which I otherwise missed to watch when it got released.
This is a real gem. My dad introduced it to me and it was in my faves immediately. I also have just been going through "Drinker recommends" stuff to catch any older movies I missed. Indie stuff like "the joker" seem to be the only new stuff I enjoy these days. Basically, stuff with a vision and an actual script (rather than making it up as they go along).
When a movie is good, it will still be talked about in a year or two. If they are still talked about 20 or 30 years later, you know it has to be something special.
I remember watching this with my granda back in the day. Love it. I'm going to have to buy it on bluray now. Hopefully there's a Kelly's Heroes, Where Eagles Dare boxset. Never enough Eastwood.
I bought a TCM WWII movie boxset a bunch of years ago that was Kelly's Heroes, Where Eagles Dare, the Dirty Dozen, and Battleground. Absolutely superb.
Kelly: “We’re not holding on for five minutes. We’re pulling out and pushing forward. If you can’t keep up, that’s your problem.” General: “You hear that? That’s the fightin’ spirit I was talking about! If that guy’s a major, he’s a colonel now!”
"Die Brücke" (The Bridge) from 1959 might be a film for you as well. It's about a squad of child soldiers protecting a bridge by accident in the end days of the war.
I always enjoyed this one, even if it's like Donald Sutherland's character went through the wayback machine and ended up giving the film an odd sort of Woodstock feel. His back and forth with Moriarty (Gavin MacLeod) makes it all work. No negative waves here. And like the Drinker points out, where else are you gonna find Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, and Don Rickles in the same flick? Toss in Carrol O'Connor for good measure and there ya go. I love when the Drinker reviews films from my youth. Makes me feel not so old...well a little anyway.
As a kid, Kelly's Heroes was my favorite WWII movie. In a way, some modern super hero movies are copying the basic structure of having the group of weirdos and losers jaded by society going out on their own to achieve a goal. Guardians of the Galaxy and to an extent Suicide Squad have similarities to the structure brought on by Kelly's Heroes. It's definitely a product of it's time, as by 1970, the post-war jubilance had worn off and the jaded cynicism of Vietnam was creeping in, which allowed for the more cynical takes on war and protagonists.
I was so waiting for you to do this one. Favourite childhood war movie + favourite original song for a war movie. Maybe next time we'll have The Outlaw Josey Wales ? (deserves a Drinker recommands imo).
Back in the day when having an “All Star Cast” meant quality.
I was just thinking the same thing.
Hollywood is probably gonna find this gem and do an all-female remake. So Kelly will be a "wahman". It'll star Amy Schumer as Kelly, and the rest will be a bunch of female rappers you haven't heard of.
And the promotions will all say, "Its like Ocean's Eight, but in WW-2". And yes, there will be more than Black people and Asian people on Team America Good Side.
To be honest, "All Star Cast" has almost always meant "We spent so much time and money getting all these people together, and promised ALL their agents that they'll ALL have something really meaty/funny to do that the script was a complete mess". Kelly's Heros is an exception, not a a beacon of a better and bygone age.
from the 2-time emmy-nominated director of something you've never heard of, starring the oscar-nominated star of a really horrible film, comes a tale of a woman, and her search for a clean toilet
yeah, just take the worst movie of 20 years ago and compared to today's standards it's still a masterpiece. As for WW2 movies.... there are so many of them that I at some point in time got a bit tired by it.... like it's 100 years ago people, it's not like the war ended just 5 years ago. And I ain't taking the shit of 'look how bad the nazi's were'.... I think that's the most hypocritical thing I've heard. Like The Americans discriminated and put Japanese Americans in camps too, the Japanese did it to practically anybody in Indonesia and also worked them to death with their death bridge; the English were pretty much the inventors of concentration camps during the Boer Wars and the conditions in the camps were equally horrifying; the Russians also had their gulags; I guess so much for 'this must never happen again'. Canada and Australia are making theirs now to lock up the unvxed and N-Korea basically is the largest concentration camp in the world; America still has Quantanamo Bay and you can go on and on and on and on..... so I'm pretty tired of the 'only nazi's were bad' argument at this point in time. The witch hunt has also taken enormous ridiculous proportions by people still trying to hunt down 97 year old female paper pushing females that only worked for the government and happened to be stationed in a camp vs murderers of a cold case even after bragging and showing all the documentation here about their murder going free coz the case has expired legally. That's how ridiculous it has become.
exactly - just the cast alone would make "oh hun we gotta see this" be a frequent statement
You've got to love any movie that has a hippy tank commander in 1944.
Kurt Knispel has entered the chat (ok, he was more of a beatnik in temperament).
@@septimiusseverus343 a 'beat', yeah sure...I was surprised how much Knispel looked like Oddball.
I'm guessing he turned into a hippy after various... "exploits"... in the deserts of the North African campaign...
I would not be surprised if Jeff Bridges based his portrayal of The Dude on Oddball.
This movie perfectly manages to skirt the fine line between war movie, heist movie and comedy, and it does so without compromising on neither of them. It's being played straight with the humor coming from the surreallity of war and their situation. Kinda like how Shaun of the Dead perfectly managed to blend the drama of Shaun's parents dying with comedy.
And best of all, real fucking Sherman tanks and Tigers that look like Tigers, instead of Patton tanks with a white star or iron cross painted upon them! Bizarre that it took until the end of the war movie genre for realistic looking equipment to finally show up in them. Even though the Tiger was a rebuilt T-34, at least it looked like a Tiger.
In all fairness Yugoslavia was the only place that could provide actual WW 2 equipment for filming those days. Almost everything outside of museums in Western countries was destroyed after the war, and if you wanted to make a movie you used miniatures and newer tanks. Battle of the Bulge and Patton used Spanish army and it's anachronistic equipment, because it was a great way to get extras and tanks in widescreen shots, and it just wasn't financially possible to transform battalion of tanks to look like their WW2 counterparts.
@@mikavirtanen7029 One bit of accuracy in Patton is the use of 2 or 3 He111’s the Spanish had left over from that era during the air raid scenes.
@@peterandjunko and the REAL Irony is that Spain DID have authentic German kit (Pz IVs and Stgs from the war days) right up to 1965, when they got reequipped by the US equipment--JUST BEFORE they began filming 'Patton'. The German tanks ended up being sold to Syria and those got destroyed/captured by Israel when they took the Golan in 1967
@@nickmitsialis wow- nice info there. Thanks! The North Africa ambush scene would have been great with Pz IVs and Stugs. I assume they would have been the long 75mm variant that was time appropriate for Tunisia campaign.
@@peterandjunko They supplied some of those and Me-109s for the Battle of Britain too. Thank goodness they stayed neutral :D
What a freakin classic !!! What a cast… those were real men. Thanks for covering it Drinker !
I saw this movie with a classmate on a rented VHS when in preliminary school. This was 40 years ago. Jesus time flies. Time to update the memory.
An epic in any age! When we were 14 Kelly's Heroes was spoken of on the schoolyard with hushed reverent tones. It was a staple of the Saturday afternoon movie shows on television in the 70s.
Love this movie. In my collection. Hit the nail on the head once again.
One of my all time faves! Love Oddball, great cast!
I was my dad's remote control; I'd sleep at the bottom of the bed, and change the channel when he'd kick me. (Yes, I did walk in on them one night when they were "wrestling". I jumped on top of my dad, and said I'll help you, Mommy. Thankfully I was only five, and had no idea what was going on.)
One night I woke up because I heard the half-tracks going through the village that was being shelled. My parents were already asleep, but I watched the rest of the movie. It's the first time that I ever saw Clint Eastwood and a character that shared my last name, Telly Savalas as someone other than Kojak, and Don Rickles in a non-comedy. I watched that movie wide eyed, and had trouble falling asleep after the National Anthem and picture of the Indian.
The two most watched Eastwood movies for me are "Kelly's Heroes" and "Where Eagles Dare".
LOVE your reference to "The Message"... brilliant.... thankyou.
Sooner we can get back to movies like this that just have a Message, without it being "The Message" the better off we'll all be. 😂😁😇
Not just one of my favorite WW II movies but one of my favorites overall. And I've always thought of Oddball as a proto-hippie, too.
Gavin McCloud as Moriarty deserves props too! Not a day went by at work when I did'nt quote him under my breath. "Odd ball, I can't fix it without the parts no matter how positive I think"!
Got this movie because it's f**king awesome!
Awesome movie and well worth seeing!
“Will you knock it off with them negative waves!”-Oddball
When I saw this, I kept expecting, just at the last minute. For the allied forces to ride up behind them and take the glory and gold. In short, no matter how hard you try, someone else always gets your prize.
This film is a 10/10. That’s all.
There was a thing in the late 20th century called entertainment, oh how we have moved on
The problem with the bridges is that in middle of Europe you have a river requiring a bridge for the infrantry to cross it every 30km or so.
And a more convincing fake Tiger than some much more "serious" war movies out there. :)
Back when movies were good and not full of negative waves.
You could say the same thing of Free Guy
(thank GOD!!!!) There is hope in the air).
So sad. Today you're supposed to feel ashamed for just entertaining yourself. Almost everything has to have a certain political direction and is getting preachy. 🤐
@@mmyers6441 "The Message"
Awesome I love it AdeptMumbles Oddball was a National Treasure before his time
I still use the "negative waves" line where appropriate.
"I only ride ’em, I don’t know what makes ’em work." great line and could be used for anything; cars, bikes, planes, Tatiana...
Tatiana... 👍🤣
Thank you for stating the obvious.
Reminds me of Days of Thunder a little bit. But it is a great line that's for sur. Brut honestly is sorely lacking in modern Hollywood movies. Like Rey being able to fly a star ship without any pilot training or modern action movie. It would be funny to get a modern movie of an action hero not knowing how to drive a stick shift or something realistic along those lines.
Patton himself pretty much said the same thing. He knew how to use armor, but he didn't know anything about the tanks.
Women?
I'm two years too late to this video. Just here because of Donald Sutherland. RIP.
Fun fact: "Where Eagles Dare" was made by the same director. Worth an extra shot :)
GREAT call!
"Broadsword calling Danny boy"
@@ScienceChap Just in case... ua-cam.com/video/4RRj1ILDAhI/v-deo.html
@@gibby237 Lol. Drinker's so on top of it, he did it half a year ago.
Also pretty decent
More than worth an extra shot. While Kelly's Heroes is a very entertaining film, it can be argued that Where Eagles Dare is a better one.
Honestly, it’s a movie that was ahead of its time. The humor and the over-the-top situation is what we see constantly nowadays in movies. My dad and I still watch this movie because it’s just a great film
Hopefully, it will never be re-made by the current crop of scumbags.
Any bridge blowing up is better than "The Message".
Try "Where Eagles Dare"
@@johnwolf2829 yea , im certain Kelly would be the first name of a chick in that one
The music used as well
51 years old and still better than 99% of today's movies.
and that shit FURY
“All you need to do is turn your gun around, blow up that door and get an equal share of that gold.”
“…..”
3 seconds later everyone is rich and happy!
My favourite WW2 film. I was hoping you would review it. Thanks Mr. Drinker!
The look in that SS man's eyes when told about the gold.
Fun trivia for Drinker, The sounds of the electric motors the Tiger tank turrets was later used for the movements of the power lifters in Aliens (1986)
Extra fun trivia... after they find the gold and the town is celebrating liberation from the Germans there's a scene where a kid is waving a Nazi flag. Whoopsie
@@rmp-xk6lr I doubt that was accidental tbh as the flick was quite purposefully subversive, after decades of hyper-earnest and patriotic WWII movies. The Krauts, even the Waffen-SS tank commander (initially thought a “fanatic”) all turn out to be schlubs, too, just fighting and dying for they-don’t-know-what anymore like everyone else.
It’s really an enlisted man’s caper movie that’s phenomenally derisory about the chain of command, because all the senior officers are either loonies, incompetent, or, in the case of the direct CO of Kelly/Big Joe, engaged in wholesale looting - up to and including pinching an entire French yacht and waylaying a huge fighting aircraft to ship it back to the US. (this being what tacitly gives the ethical green light for the “Heroes” to do their own thievery)
In the film’s comic cynicism there’s patently a heavy influence of _Catch-22,_ published a near decade earlier in ‘61, but without the book’s air of despairing darkness; and when the boys slow down their own general (patently a pisstake on Patton) who’s pursuing them, by telling the French villagers that De Gaulle’s in his car, I couldn’t help but keel over laughing at the brilliantly insane froggish reaction… Yugoslavia really did do a bang up job of looking like rural France.
@@michaeljames4904 _”Patently_ a pisstake on _Patton.”_
I think I see what you did there. 😉
More fun trivia, the exhaust sound of the General Lee in The Dukes of Hazzard is from the soundtrack of the 1968 Steve McQueen classic Bullitt.
@@dukecraig2402 Meta fun trivia… McQueen’s Mustang in Bullitt, was actually overdubbed: what you’re really hearing’s the sound of a GT40 added on in post.
Glad to see this review! It was the first date with my eventual wife in 1972. She said she was thinking at the time..."he's taking me to a war movie"? Bottom line... she loved it. We have been married 43 years.
rad!
Good for you ,Sir..
God bless yall!!!!!
43 years is a long time! Couples who can stay married for decades deserve some kind of special tax break or something. 43 years is quite impressive. Congratulations to you and your wife!
Congrats! you have 2 years on me & my better/smarter half. Did you see it in a "review" movie house?
My late mother's favourite film, she was not a girly girl, ending music at her funeral was 'burning bridges'
Nice.
To be honest, i thing it is very good funeral ending music. Or music. Movie also says a lot about horrors of war, for example after landmine, or when ally planes attack. You can die in every moment. Soldiers, after months of hardship are full of fatigue.
Cheers to her, rest in peace. All those burning bridges that I...
that is so cool, wow. this shows how great a movie this was when it can appeal to a broad spectrum. I doubt I will have a funeral, but if I did, I think that's a good choice for me, since I have watched this movie probably more than any other over the decades
Your mother sounds cool it was my grandmother who introduced me to Kelly's Heros she had a video tape of it for her new fangled VCR that she was very proud of.
Captain Maitland: “…And don’t forget, the penalty for looting is death.” As he trucks away a sailing yacht.
"LOOT WHAT?!? THERE'S NOTHING HERE TO LOOT!!!"-- Big Joe
@@Cliff_Dixon_42 theres no booze ,theres no broads ,theres no action!!
@@thisandthat1701 Well I tell you what! We're gonna get some booze!
He's just a useless hypocrite
Big shout out to Carol O’Connor, who’s constant reference to the presumed battlefront as ‘the Big Game’ was a treat.
Stars on his dressing gown!
"Shut up Booker, can't you see we got the game on here!!!"
and don rickles
rickles was really a great actor
At times, I couldn't help but think that those references would be something Archie would say.
OMG he was so funny! I love the end when he's being driven through the celebration and he thinks its for him!
Literally one of the most awesome movies ever made - and one that has stood the test of time, too.
Every time I watch it I don't want it to end.
Telly Savalas, an actor I don't especially like, was SUPERB in this movie---and plays the kind of NCO you hope you get assigned to in a war---tough, no-nonsense, tactically proficient, but whose over-riding concern is getting as many of his men out of a mess in one piece as possible. Each time one of his men gets killed you feel his anguish and self-reproach. Just a magnificent movie.
Big Joe is also always in need of some “action”. I also love the scene where they convince him to join the heist.
"Half my equipment is jammed up in the rear!" Big Joe: "UNJAM 'EM!" Skip all the methods of leadership training that managers have to sit through nowadays. Just watch Big Joe in action.
Joe, I think I got the crabs.....
And Savalas played a serious tank sergeant in Battle of the Bulge, in '65. Really some great changeups in Kelly's Heroes.
He was good in The Dirty Dozen too.
"Woof Woof, that's my other dog imitation" - The man, the myth, the legend, the one and only Oddball.
"Why are you always sending out them negative waves, man?"
"To a New Yorker like you a hero is some kinda weird sandwich!"
Yep! There was a sweet Image on the net, where he had little Kiefer Sutherland on his shoulders. Cant find it anymore
After this one, it was fun to see Sutherland and Eastwood work together again in Space Cowboys.
I kept waiting to hear, "Always with the negative waves, man."
@@ninjabearpress2574 Space Cowboys is epic fun.
Here - have some wine to drink and cheese to eat.
Kelly's Heroes is on my top ten of all time movies. A Christmas tradition in my family.
Christmas? I gotta hear the explanation for this one........
Actually my top 5
Ha - Love it. Reminds me of Die Hard. Funny how so many older movies dealing with serious content matter were more family friendly than even "light" films made today. Just an observation.
woof woof !
Clint Eastwood has a new film coming out soon. Hard to believe the man is still acting and directing at 91 years old.
Just a living legend in my book.
Cry Macho, it's out. (But I haven't seen it yet.)
Cry Macho is appalling unfortunately. Time for Clint to finally hang it up and retire I think.
He's a National treasure. He's a patriot, a family man, and talk about hard working...the dude has been on fire for 6 decades.
Not bad for a guy whos roles included a lab tech with a mouse in his pocket and a pilot dropping napalm on a giant spider. After that a great western TV shows ans then a trip to Italy and the rest is history. He learned his trade the hard way and his many awards are well deserved.
Oh hell yes, I love "Kelly's Heroes!" What are are doing Oddball? Oh, you know...drinking some wine, eating some cheese, catching a few rays."
They are holding themselves in reserve in case the Krauts mount a counteroffensive which threatens Paris… or maybe even New York.
Don Rickles as Crap Game was great in this movie. " I'm coming with you guys. Switzerland is only 30 miles away and I don't want anybody getting lost."
A DEAL, deal! Maybe the guy's a Republican. "Business is business," right?
"Hey, Hogan? It's Crapgame. I gotcha the Scotch and the nylons you wanted. Yeahhh . . . Do I ever fail ya? You better believe it -- never miss. Listen. I, uh . . . I've got a little favor to ask of ya. . . . WILL YOU STOP CRYING? I HAVEN'T EVEN ASKED YA YET!! 'DA HELL'S THE MATTER WITH YA?!?"
@@Cliff_Dixon_42 🤣🤣🤣 one of my favorite scenes in almost any movie. Rickles delivery of those lines is pure Hollywood gold.
A great role for Rickles.
@@Cliff_Dixon_42 dammit somebody already got this one! Absolutely kills me every time I hear it
I didn't remember "Mr Warmth" was in this film. RIP Don Rickles.
I couldn't believe that the Drinker didn't give him a proper shout out
Was thinking the exact same thing. Rickles wasn't in that many movies but this was sure one of his better roles.
@@thatwasinteresting3319 I suspect Mr. Warmth didn't play as big a role in Scottish culture as he did in the U.S.
really? how could you not remember don rickles in this? of course he was in just about everything back then but he was a key part of this movie
@@thatwasinteresting3319 And Carroll O'Connor.
Me : But Drinker.....I may ask...."Where are the strong female characters?"
Drinker : "Don't know............don't care!"
they were home, making sammiches, like good women
My Mother and her Mom were working 24/7, keeping up their brownstone in Brooklyn to give room and board to soldiers and refugees from around the world, living poor in the city or needy and just passing through. Angels... And The Strongest Of Women! Believe That!!
On the home front making guns, tanks and planes.
In the case of my late Mum, working in a factory doing all the admin whilst my late Dad made Lancaster bombers!
Do not give the woke mob any ideas. Kerry's Heroes staring Kerry Washington.
I absolutely love the editing on the German Tank Commander scene.
The three heroes swaggering line-abreast towards the Tiger like a bunch of cowboys straight off Eastwood's spaghetti western, then the German TC pops out - blonde blue eyed, and more than a bit battle scared. Worn down and defeated but still proud he raises his arm in a salute to the Fuhrer, demonstrating his absolute loyalty to the Vaterland and his aristocratic ancestry.
But then Kelly mentions the Gold and you see a brief glint in the Commander's eye... and camera jump cuts straight to the bank door blowing up!
A truly beautifully crafted scene.
Classic. Ultimately it's all about the money!
It's the Good, the Bald and the Hippy.
Also the movie aged really well. Show it to a kid today, he is going to have the same blast watching it as we did back then in our childhood. At least I know I did :)
So true! I saw this at a drive-in with my dad when it was first released, and now all these years later I've shown it to my oldest boys (ages 11 and 9...I started a family late) and it instantly became one of their favorites. And they know practically nothing about WWII or the '40s yet.
I practically grew up on this film, and others.
In the 1990s, at that.
For 'younger people", the movie is too slow...But they still liked it.
@@chrissonofpear1384 Same ^^
koomo81. That’s so cool! I really want to go to a drive in theatre one day, heard they’re great. That’s awesome your boys like it! Lord knows kids need better material then the stuff they put out nowadays. Convinced me to watch the movie myself. Maybe if I like it I’ll save it for when I have sons and daughters, same with the dollars trilogy.
This movie was filmed in the former Yugoslavia. Excellent movie.
I wasn't aware of that one.
Yep. That’s why the snipe is using a Mosin. And the German tanks are dressed up T34s
@@beardedbjorn5520 Give the production crew credit for using the T34 mockups instead of U.S. Patton tanks or Walker Bulldogs.
@@garfieldsmith332 That Tiger at the end looked like one, too, although I don't know if it was. No wonder the boy shat themselves when they saw it.
@@The_Crimson_Fucker iirc it was because they were about the only people who had a bunch of working Shermans in the 70s
Kelly's Heroes is a classic. A must see movie. The character Mulligan is played by George Savalas, the younger brother of Telly Savalas.
I always wondered: is "Telly" short for something?
Is that the same guy who was with him in Kojak?
@@mmyers6441 Yes. His brother in real life; however he did not play his brother on the show. He was another detective.
@@garfieldsmith332 Great Thanks!
@@louisduarte8763 His full name was Aristotelis Savalas. So Telly probably came from that. An easier name to market him with.
Drinker, you've blown my mind again! I first became a fan of yours after coming upon your "Where Eagles Dare" review. My dad was one of the producers of that movie and I thought "Who in the hell is reviewing, in 2021, an old war movie done back in 1968?" The Critical Drinker, that's who and then I started watching all your brilliant videos. I've only disagreed with your wonderful videos twice. Anyway, my dad also was one of the producers of "Kelly's Heroes" and I wish he was alive to see the two great reviews you gave of both movies. That would have made him very happy. He was friends with Clint and Telly and Burton. You, unfortunately in both reviews, failed to mention my Dad's best friend, Brian Hutton, who directed both movies. He was a great director. You're so right in that they don't make movies like they used to. Special FX and CGI will never be better than good writing.
Kelly's Heroes has actually resided in my top ten list for many decades.
"Listen... I got a little favor to ask of you."
...
"Will you stop crying I haven't even asked you yet! What the hell's the matter with you!?"
"Kinda reminds you of home, don't it?"
Don Rickles one of the greatest comedians of all time. Carol O'Connor, "We got the game on!"
I met Mr. Rickles a couple years before he passed. I was working security in nearby Casino that he was performing at. I escorted him from his room to a steakhouse at the casino.
He quipped and joked from the moment he opened the door until he returned to his room.
An absolute gem of a man.
BRING ME MY UNIFORM!
What kind of bomb? The kind that blows up!
Cracks me up every time.
get the ionosphere of the line
Good to know that you're sharing some positive waves about the film Drinker
Positive waves for Donald Sutherland. RIP you absolute legend.
This was, as ever, a fair shakedown of this classic . Don't forget the brilliant theme music.' Burning Bridges' from the succinctly named 'Mike Curb congregation'. My big bro' bought the single. And that's all you need to know.
I love that song
The beginning and beat of that song is …🔥🔥
An unforgettable signature tune - the song and movie are for ever linked by it.
My mum had 'burning bridges' played as the last song at her funeral
Yeah. The score was epic. Great music for a great film.
I saw this flick in the Drive-In theatre, still can taste the popcorn and REAL soda. My dad loved war movies, a Korean Vet with a Silver Star, and we never missed seeing one when it released.
מדהימה! (:
my father is also a korean war vet and he hates war movies...but loves westerns
That's a beautiful story mate. Sounds like an awesome childhood.
@@thewkovacs316 Experiences vary. I have not watched a war movie since getting back from Iraq.
Excellent pick. My favorite WWII movie and most quotable WWII of all time.
"What kind of deal?"
"A deal deal. Maybe the guy is a Republican." - This became funnier as I got older.
Still my favorite Clint Eastwood movie. One of my favorite scenes of all time: "That's Paint!"
I read an account of a WWII artillery gunner that told the story of his gun firing leaflet shells that they modified and filled with latrine waste along with the leaflets. One of my co-workers at the time said I had borrowed the idea from the movie. My reply, where do you think they got the idea from?
"Where am I going to find 100 guys just walking around" Then he looks out the window. Great scene.
Wasn't that (a much younger) Uncle Leo from Seinfeld?
@@adrianmizen5070 I never watched Seinfeld so I do not know. However interest will have me look it up.
@@adrianmizen5070 Did a check. Len Lesser was his name. Played in 14 episodes of Seinfeld and 9 in Everybody loves Raymond.
Don’t forget the radio traffic about the grave registration unit
Yes, it's Len Lesser.
Oddball was my spirit animal when I was on tanks, most likely one of the influences I had when I enlisted for armor when I joined the Army.
Along with the magnificent seven, this movie was one of my youths treasures. Between the two, I probably watched them hundreds of times. All the badass actors playing in those kind of movies is getting me depressed about the state of film industry today. The scene where oddball is showing off his drunken unit to kelly is movie magic. "Sixty feet of bridge I can pick up almost anywhere" - oddball talking to seinfelds uncle leo of all people, hahaha.
An exceptional movie and ironically, for such a clearly fictional film, the equipment and combat scenes are among the most realistic I've seen in film. Great selection.
The fact that Clint Eastwood, who played an officer busted to enlisted, was wearing an officer's shirt, shows how much they concentrated on realism.
Back then, to see German vehicles portrayed accurately was ground breaking. I was sick of seeing American tanks with swastikas' by this time and Kellies Heroes was glorious.
@@codebasher1 they shot the movie in Yugoslavia, where they had stocks on stocks of german stuff, the Yugo's kept producing it after the warr
Hell even in some more modern movies the equipment is shit... just look at the wanna-be Tiger from Saving Private ryan... good god... what a fugly tank.
The Tiger tanks were Soviet T-34s modified to look the part. They got them pretty close...
If you can dig out an old interview Donald Sutherland did with Bob Costas in the 80s where they talked about this classic.
Turns out Donald had gotten sick and his brain swelled during filming and he almost died. But the swelling made him half crazy and emotional. Basically the performance of Oddball was just Donald at the time.
'I'm not joking! This is my job!' - professor Jennings
Clint Eastwood is a legend. When he passes, it will be a sad day for all
Facts.
So true! Jesus Christ the dude was 56 years old when he played the hard-ass gunny in heartbreak ridge.
Yeah, but look at all he's left us.
MeTV has Rawhide, check your local listings, but gawd Eastwood looks so damn young.
True, but he gave (and is still giving) so much. That's the best any of us can do.
I'm dreading that day. He's my all time favorite actor. I grew up on Dirty Harry and the man with no name.
"why can't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change..." freaking awesome movie I've watched 100+ times since the early 80's when i discovered it.
I've grown from boy to middle aged man, watching my Kelly's Hero's remain timeless
Here! Here! I was an eight year old kid when I first saw this movie at a Drive-In theater in 1970. I loved it then and love it now. I cant really remember how many times I have watched this through the years. I may get old, but this movie never does.
I love how Kelly keeps the three Tigers a secret until everyone is in so deep and committed to the mission so deep they can;t get out.
"The only way I have to keep those tigers busy is to let them shoot holes in me!"
@@KyleAxington crap! 😁
"that's why I got the tanks" lol I think that line is in the movie and I think Kelly is saying it to Mad dog.
Big Joe's reaction when he first learns of the tigers is amazing.
@@daveomania_ He knows what they can do.
A personal favourite, and you don't get to see Don Rickles lugging a thirty calibre machine-gun everyday. The Eagle Has Landed was also a very cool ride.
"Give the .30 cal to the hustler, he wants to be a hero!"
@@larryh502 Better give him a Snickers bar too. Loved that commercial with Joe Pesci.
My dad LOVES this movie. He once considered buying this old Sherman tank our local scrapyard had in it and planned on loading it full of paintballs and a loudspeaker playing "All For the Love of Sunshine" and just roaming around some remote area blasting stuff.
Your dad sounds cool
Your dad just won the internet for the day! And hell, All for the love of sunshine glaring aloud while people are dying and getting shut up makes that scene all the harder and surreal. Like real horrors of war.
I showed this masterpiece to my little cousins at their age of 10. :)
Now THAT would have been 1,000% pure cool....
The movie so great even Girls und Panzer had to acknowledge it. Three times.
Love this film! Think my favourite Oddball line is "it's a mother beautiful bridge....and it's gonna be there".
Fits into my top 3 war films along with Where Eagles Dare and Guns of Navarone.
Drinker hitting me with those positive waves early in the morning!
By the way Oddball is what's called a "beatnik". It was an American subculture from the late 40s to mid 60s and was, as you described, basically a proto-hippie.
Yeah, the "twenty years before hippies were even a thing" line obviously came from a guy unfamiliar with beatnik culture.
@@DuaneThomas1963 Hippys burst onto the scene during Woodstock in 1968. Beatnkiks were mostly gone by this time.
Ill assume the drinker knows Kerouac and Ginsberg, the real question is how did a "beatnik" end up in the military? haha
@@sgtbigballs666 The Draft
Ooh good call, I was just being ironic, draft is more associated with Vietnam, but ill but that
Although..any self respecting beatnik would have gone to Mexico haha
"what can be more important than 16 million bucks?"
"You come by later Crapgame ..... and we'll show you"
Always wanted to know what oddball and his crew did that night
What’s always impressed me since I was a kid was how accurate the uniforms/weapons/ equipment actually are. They got good mock-ups of Tiger tanks, used real Shermans, the platoon of GIs look pretty accurate to 1944-1945 period, ect. For a not serious film, Kelly’s Heroes did a better job with historical realism at times than many more serious films of the day bothered to do.
There are a few things that you notice here and there that are inaccurate. Petuko use a Wz.28 instead of a BAR M1918A2, the sniper in the bell tower uses a Mosin Nagant 91/30 PU instead of a Springfield M1903A4, from what I remember most of the German infantry are wearing the Pre/Early war style uniforms with the bottle green collars and pleated pockets with scalloped flaps. Just minor nitpicks, that only an insane person would notice.
@@obviouspseudonym9345 The early uniforms were kind of standard fair for Hollywood for time. Though, I noticed they made a valiant attempt to show camouflage zeltbalns being worn by German troops in the beginning.
@@TitusCastiglione1503 That was a very nice touch. Love me some camo zelts.
@@obviouspseudonym9345 not depicted enough, IMHO. Especially considering how common they seem to have been.
@@TitusCastiglione1503 Yeah pretty sure almost every infantryman was issued one for most of the war. Maybe not as practical as a smock for a camouflage garment, but being able to make a tent out of them was probably nice.
Guys, have you notied how those old movies had this crisp look to them? I can't put my finger on it, but overall it feels somewhat better than what we have right now.
All movies were filmed in HD, its the only camera tech we have really ever had for cinema. Projectors and many other devices didn't support the image quality that was present. In the 90s there used to be lots of old movies avail 'remastered' where they went back and tried to enhance stuff from the original reels. Orphan Annie, Mary Poppins, A Christmas Story, etc.
Depending on the source material, real film masters compare up to the range of 8k. When you had a bad dvd/blu its mostly because they used a cheaper theatrical copy of it. Or the master was not stored properly
Film is better than digital cameras! Digital cameras in movies now end up very dark and almost black and white!
It's modern directors obsession with filters and post processing effects. I think it is utterly horrible. Every movie has to be entirely brown or blueish, natural colors are banished from films.
That Oddball is a hippy driving a tank just steals the movie. Sure, the whole cast is great but damn, it just wouldn't be the same without Oddball.
I just love him! XD
"Burning Bridges" is also a hell of an intro song.
In the original theatrical release the song was not used in the intro. The main tiles was an instrumental theme. The soundtrack was by Lalo Schifrin. With the success of the song the intro was switched to Burning Bridges for all future releases.
Funny, that song's the one thing I don't like about this movie, but General Archie Bunker is priceless.
I thought sure Drinker would mention the song while he was going on about all the world war II movies with bridge in the title...but no...mums the word.
One of my favorites of this sort of film(along with Dirty Dozen), but I gotta compliment you on your statement about getting the German officer drunk for information. My uncle worked intelligence in WWII and always said he got more by playing chess and smoking cigars than any torture of the enemy ever would.
I'm drinking wine and eating cheese, and catching some rays, you know.
I like the small detail of the German officer having that facial scar from a sword duel. The SS viewed such scars as a sign of honor and bravery .
More likely from a Russian shell splinter on der ostfront
Fencing fraternities were very common in Europe during the 20s and 30s. Himmler, Heydrich and Kaltenbrunner had all been fencers at one time.
Reading the writings of German tankers from the era, they took great pride and made it a point of emphasis to ride "unbuttoned" as much as they could- they even credit the fact that they could make allied tankers close their hatches easily as one of the primary reasons the Germans performed so much better in tanks (per Otto Carius)... so many of their commanders had such facial scars (like Carius).
@@timothyarnold1679 Also, German tanks didn't have nearly as many radios as the Allied tanks did.
@@stxrobstar Nope. It was the exact other way around. Every German battle tank form the outset of the war had radio, that is one of the reasons why the stomped the French and the Russians so badly in the first years.
I will always watch "Kelly's Heroes" it's one of my faves and never disappoints....even after watching it something like a thousand times.
Its such a strange but incredibly fun and re-watchable film. And with the inclusion of Odd ball one clearly of its time. On one hand you have an almost conventional war movie with big set pieces. One that goes to unusual lengths to get the equipment correct. Including making good enough mock ups of Tiger Tanks. Something that until Saving private Ryan most films just didn't bother with. When slapping a star or a cross on any tank was usually considered close enough. Then there is the weird tonal shifts as Kelly and his team go from tense scenes of danger like the opening or the scene in the in the midfield to the outright slapstick of Crap game getting covered in actual crap. I must've felt like it landed from Mars when it was released, especially when measured against most WWII movies that proceeded it. Actually... it still feels like its from Mars today.
They filmed in Yugoslavia that still had running Tiger tanks. I like the movie Patton, but always get distracted in the battle scenes when they aren't even using Shermans, but use the M-60 Tanks that weren't even made until 1959.
@@DT-sb9sv yep. They had the full cooperation of the Tito government that's why you see the incredible columns of equipment for the engineers. The Tigers in Kellys hero's are modified T-34's. Just like those seen in Saving Private Ryan.Most of those late 60's WWII movies like Patton and The Battle of the Bulge are full of such distractions.
I read somewhere that the Tiger Tank replica they used in Saving Private Ryan is actually the one from Kellys Heros resused. Don't know if it's true thou.
A bridge too far had the same problem with the wrong tanks. The depicted Tiger and Pz IV tanks were actually german Leopard I tanks from the dutch army of that time. A tank which was first build in 1964. But I guess using a actual german manufactured tank was considered close enough. xD
Kelly's Heroes is one of the best films ever made and I say that as a life-long Disney Princess fan 😄 The cast is phenomenal and the story is a great caper, with lots of action to keep you interested! Clint Eastwood is top-notch (as always) and Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas are the best men to be at his side. And Don Rickles being his hilarious self! The peace-treaty scene with the German tank commander is one of the best scenes Ive ever seen in a movie. The dialogue was to-the-point, the tension was immeasurable and then the big BOOOM!! Man, I need to go watch it again!
One of my favorite war films. And have to laugh that for being a satirical comedy it is still more realistic than many "serious" war films. And "Burning Bridges" was, in my opinion at least, a perfect song for the film.
Imagine that. An original story created solely for the big screen. That's what Hollywood used to be. No franchises, reboots, sequels, remakes, re-imaginings, sequels to remakes, or adaptations of reboots. They used to make fucking MOVIES.
I miss movies.
Yeah, so do I.
You made my eyes wet
Now we'd have to have the Kelly's Universe or something worse.
Also we'll never see something like these super cast ensembles.
Kelly would be a woman of color, Big Joe (and Little Joe) would be gay, Oddball would be a straight, white male conservative.
Not a big fan of Sutherland but he was hilarious in this movie. The whole movie was great. Woof, woof! That’s MY other dog imitation. 🤣
Thank you, Drinker! Kelly's Heroes is my favorite WWII movie. It has a very special place in my heart. Back when I was in junior high (when Jesus was a baby and before most people even owned a vcr) there were 2 movies that made the rounds on local late night TV after Johnny Carson. One was Zulu. The other was Kelly's Heroes. And all the guys at school watched it. We made sure we all knew it would be on that night, and we'd quote it endlessly the next day. Great memories
Sutherland got a line in The Dirty Dozen because of his ‘big ears’. The director didn’t know Sutherland’s name, so he was called ‘big ears’.
Telly Savalas was in the move too coincidentally - the nutjob.
Cool fact: Moriarty used his share of the gold to buy a cruise ship.
And became captain. This was after he defected to the Allies after serving in the Gestapo in and around Luftstalag 13.
There were some other "Heroes" running an espionage and sabotage operation in that Stalag
They made him cover up his nudie tattoo after his tour on the pink submarine.
@@ruthsaunders9507 lol, I've seen that film so many times and never realized that was him. Thanks!
Didn't he also write news stories for a TV station in Minneapolis?
Bridge at Remagen, Kelly's Heroes, Das Boot and Tora Tora Tora are the cream of the crop when it comes to ww2 films
A Bridge Too Far is also a masterpiece
@@GeraltofRivia22 I was just about to say the same thing.
Bridge over the River kwai has got to be in there also
@slaine's axe Excellent film.
And "The Enemy Below" Curd Jurgens vs. Robert Mitchum. 2nd best Submarine Movie ever made.
I cannot describe how much I love this movie, and how much it means to our family. It's kind of our cinematic heirloom that is passed down from one generation to the next.
This and Blues Brothers are my favourite films.
No negative waves from me man! My favourite movie of all time. I have lost count of how many times I have watched it. Burning Bridges...class!
I stopped bothering with new films these days. Everything I watch is basically an older movie that was made before I was born or which I otherwise missed to watch when it got released.
This is a real gem. My dad introduced it to me and it was in my faves immediately. I also have just been going through "Drinker recommends" stuff to catch any older movies I missed. Indie stuff like "the joker" seem to be the only new stuff I enjoy these days. Basically, stuff with a vision and an actual script (rather than making it up as they go along).
Take a look at "News of the World" (2020): ua-cam.com/video/zTZDb_iKooI/v-deo.html
Noticed that, eh?
When a movie is good, it will still be talked about in a year or two. If they are still talked about 20 or 30 years later, you know it has to be something special.
"Wood, woof, woof. That's my dog impression."
That's my "other" dog impression.
You’re always making that same stupid awful joke
I remember watching this with my granda back in the day. Love it. I'm going to have to buy it on bluray now. Hopefully there's a Kelly's Heroes, Where Eagles Dare boxset. Never enough Eastwood.
I bought a TCM WWII movie boxset a bunch of years ago that was Kelly's Heroes, Where Eagles Dare, the Dirty Dozen, and Battleground. Absolutely superb.
One of my absolute all time favorite movies. It's funny, smart, action packed, and had moments of sorrow. A true classic
That scene with the general excitedly listening to their radio traffic is probably my favorite part in a absolutely awesome movie!
Kelly: “We’re not holding on for five minutes. We’re pulling out and pushing forward. If you can’t keep up, that’s your problem.” General: “You hear that? That’s the fightin’ spirit I was talking about! If that guy’s a major, he’s a colonel now!”
The scene where the general realizes somebody ¨lost¨ his air reconnoissance pics...
“They’ve even got the god damn grave diggers in there!”
"Die Brücke" (The Bridge) from 1959 might be a film for you as well. It's about a squad of child soldiers protecting a bridge by accident in the end days of the war.
Sheesh, that movie is depressing AF
An excellent film. Really sad.
Isn't this literally the same plot of "Three Kings" with George Clooney?
Well, yes. But Kelly’s beats Kings by several decades.
Isn't the plot of "Three Kings" with George Clooney literally the same as this film?
There. Fixed it for you.
I always enjoyed this one, even if it's like Donald Sutherland's character went through the wayback machine and ended up giving the film an odd sort of Woodstock feel. His back and forth with Moriarty (Gavin MacLeod) makes it all work. No negative waves here. And like the Drinker points out, where else are you gonna find Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, and Don Rickles in the same flick? Toss in Carrol O'Connor for good measure and there ya go. I love when the Drinker reviews films from my youth. Makes me feel not so old...well a little anyway.
I seen him more like the California surfer pre-beatnik type.
As a kid, Kelly's Heroes was my favorite WWII movie. In a way, some modern super hero movies are copying the basic structure of having the group of weirdos and losers jaded by society going out on their own to achieve a goal. Guardians of the Galaxy and to an extent Suicide Squad have similarities to the structure brought on by Kelly's Heroes. It's definitely a product of it's time, as by 1970, the post-war jubilance had worn off and the jaded cynicism of Vietnam was creeping in, which allowed for the more cynical takes on war and protagonists.
I was so waiting for you to do this one. Favourite childhood war movie + favourite original song for a war movie. Maybe next time we'll have The Outlaw Josey Wales ? (deserves a Drinker recommands imo).
Oh man, spot-on!