Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas lead a band of enterprising GI's behind enemy lines in a daring raid to liberate $16 million in gold bars in MGM's Kelly's Heroes.

The setting might have been World War II, but the flavor was anti-establishment 1970s with Clint Eastwood leading his own private army to claim a fortune in gold bars sitting in a bank behind enemy lines. Directed with flair by Brian G. Hutton, Kelly's Heroes also featured Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Don Rickles and Carroll O'Connor in one of the best war comedy-dramas of the era.

Screenplay and Director

Kelly's Heroes was written for the screen by Troy Kennedy Martin. Directing the picture was Brian G. Hutton, whose previous credits had included the World War II drama Where Eagles Dare (1968), also starring Clint Eastwood.

The Cast

Heading the cast was superstar Eastwood as Kelly -- no first name given. In seriocomic support were Telly Savalas (Big Joe), Donald Sutherland (Oddball), Don Rickles (Crapgame), Carroll O'Connor (Major General Colt), Gavin MacLeod (Moriarty), Hal Buckley (Captain Maitland), Stuart Margolin (Little Joe), Jeff Morris (Cowboy), Richard Davalos (Gutowski), Perry Lopez (Petuko), Tom Troupe (Corporal Job), Harry Dean Stanton (Willard), Gene Collins (Babra), et al.

Filmed in Yugoslavia

Kelly's Heroes was filmed on location in Yugoslavia. It was a strategic decision, as the Yugoslav Army still had a large number of WW II-era Sherman tanks on hand which were used to great effect in the picture.

The production was plagued by bad weather, burning sets and the serious illness of one cast member, Donald Sutherland. A telegram was sent to Sutherland's wife, actress Shirley Douglas, informing her to come at once but to be prepared for the worst should her husband pass away while she was in transit.

Kelly Leads His Heroes

The movie opens with Kelly spying a gold bar while interrogating a captured German colonel (David Hurst) during the Allied push through France. Kelly, a former lieutenant busted down to private (he had been ordered to attack the wrong hill, resulting in the loss of half the company), learns of Operation Tannenbaum, a secret shipment of German gold to a bank 30 miles behind enemy lines.

With a reluctant Big Joe signing on as top sergeant, Kelly recruits a small band of GI's from the 35th Infantry Division and marches out to claim the treasure, which at 14,000 gold bars comes to $16 million. Aiding Kelly and his heroes in their quest for the bullion is the daffy Sergeant Oddball, whose Sherman tanks of the 321st Armor will provide the necessary edge for the assault.

During their run for the gold, Kelly's heroes encounter an array of obstacles, including a minefield, a strafing P-47 Thunderbolt, a destroyed bridge, a glory-seeking American general and a German Tiger tank guarding the entrance to the bank.

Release and Reviews

Kelly's Heroes was released on June 23, 1970.

"Nearly satiric in its overall effect, plot caroms between cliche dogface antics, detailed and gratuitous violence, caper melodramatics, and outrageous anachronism," reported Variety (6/17/70).

A few critics made note of the hilarious performance of Carroll O'Connor as the vainglorious General Colt. One of O'Connor's best scenes takes place at the former headquarters of General Vogel, commander of the 2nd German Armored Division, whose framed photo O'Connor disdainfully plunks down on his desk.

"This guy's a loser," O'Connor bellows. "Here I am sittin' in his headquarters. I'm drinkin' his scotch. Hell, I even got one of his broads hangin' around here somewhere. The guy's a born loser."

And in another gem, O'Connor admonishes one of his aides, pointedly asking: "Hey, did you lose my aerial photographs?"

Kelly's Heroes Trivia

The film's theme song was "Burning Bridges," performed by the Mike Curb Congregation.

During filming, comedian Don Rickles was slightly wounded in the leg during a battle scene using explosives. Sauntering over was Clint Eastwood, who casually remarked: "Better get Shecky Greene into costume."

Shades of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti Westerns -- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), et al. -- can be glimpsed when Eastwood, Sutherland and Savalas confront in gunslinger fashion the German sergeant (Karl Otto Alberty) guarding the bank vault. Listen to the familiar whistling background music.

After splitting with Odball and the Germans, the final take for the 12 surviving members of Kelly's contingent was $875,000 per man, quite a step up for the privates who were only earning $50 a month.

The movie ends with Captain Maitland, General Colt's nephew, walking into the looted bank vault and spying a caricature of the iconic Kilroy and the message, "Up Yours Baby."

"Sergeant, this bank's not gonna fall in the hands of the American Army. It's gonna fall in our hands. You see, we're just a private enterprise operation," Kelly informs a German panzer sergeant.

And so they were.