Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
It's a strange film that combines behind-enemy-lines raid (from the director of When Eagles Dare) and heist (from the writer of The Italian Job), but Kelly's Heroes makes it work.
Kelly (Clint Eastwood) learns of a stash of gold bars left under light guard behind enemy lines, so organizes a raid -- if they have to die for their country, they might as well get something out of it. Right?
It's a comedy, but not to the level of a Stripes or McHale's Navy. Amusing as the characters are -- notably laid-back tank-commander Oddball (Donald Sutherland), whose Sherman plays pop music as it rides into battle -- they exhibit, collectively, a deep cynicism. Their motive is, after all, greed. Their push to the bank is a military success, which only highlights the army's other failures. (In the opening scene, they are under fire from their own artillery.) Major General Colt (Carroll O'Connor) is a Patton-riff torn straight from Dr. Strangelove; the rest wouldn't be out of place in Catch-22.
Telly Savalas plays straight man Big Joe, injecting some much-needed sobriety: this is a war film, and it's serious enough that death is unavoidable. The balance proves difficult to maintain, however, and the final quarter toppling almost completely to the side of humour. The result is a film a little too light-hearted to take seriously as a satire, but too heavy to just sit back and enjoy -- it's a fun ride, though, and with enough depth and cleverness to keep it ahead of the pack.
Worth watching.