# Kelly's Heroes - a quickie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296 "2006-02-13T17:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/1 "2006-02-13T17:45:16Z")
I just saw this on TNT (or TBS) this weekend. I enjoyed it more this time around. Don Rickles was a pretty good actor - I hadn’t remembered. Donald Sutherland was outstanding as Animal. I’m going to add this to my DVD collection. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/2 "2006-02-13T17:57:18Z")
Always with the negative waves, **jali**! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/3 "2006-02-13T18:08:52Z")
Yeah, I enjoy this Ripping War Yarn when it’s on. I tend to collect, for my DVD library, war movies that leave you thinking about war and its causes and consequences. But sometimes a good ole Ripping Yarn, that uses a war setting almost incidentally, is enjoyable too. This is one of the better of that type. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/4 "2006-02-13T18:46:11Z")
Damn straight. The best war movies, like the best romance movies, place the war into a context. It’s not about ‘these guys fight battles’ but about ‘these guys want to accomplish X. During their activities there’s a war going on.’ It leave much more room for character and plot. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/5 "2006-02-13T20:22:19Z")
This movie was the first time I had ever seen Carroll O’Conner as some character other than Archie Bunker. And though Clint Eastwood was the nominal star of the flick, it was really Telly Savalas’s movie. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/6 "2006-02-13T20:31:45Z")
> [@jali](#): > > Donald Sutherland was outstanding as Animal. A while since I’ve seen it, but wasn’t his hippy tank commander named Oddball? {Starts whistling _All My Burning Bridges_}. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/7 "2006-02-13T20:32:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Donald Sutherland was outstanding as Animal. Nitpick: His character was called ‘Oddball’. Anyway, yeah, I love this movie, despite the fact that, judging from my father’s tales of the period, I seriously doubt fighting in the European theater was anywhere near as lighthearted a lark as it’s portrayed in the film. I thought all the actors were pretty good, if somewhat stereotyped, like Telly Savalas(!) Sgt. Rock-like noncom. Some great set pieces, including the opening scene, with Eastwood trying to sneak his captive out of a German-held town, his unit’s pell-mell rush through the same town under an artillery barrage, the attack by Oddball’s Shermans on a rail depot to the sound of country music, and the Tiger-Sherman cat and mouse game as the Americans try to get to the bank where the gold is stashed. Useless bit of trivia: I seem to recall reading somewhere that the ‘Tiger I’ tanks Spielberg used in _Saving Private Ryan_ were the ones originally built for this film. Dang, I might just put the DVD on tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/8 "2006-02-13T20:48:55Z")
I love this movie. I lovedit as a kid and recently rented it to see if it still held up. I loved it even more. Sutherland is just amazing as Oddball. I love Uncle Leo from Senfeld in it as well. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/9 "2006-02-13T20:54:23Z")
This was the Video I bought, way back in 1987. Love this movie. Jim ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/10 "2006-02-13T20:56:33Z")
This was the \*\*FIRST \*\* Video I bought, way back in 1987. D’oh :smack: ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/11 "2006-02-13T20:57:04Z")
Telly: What kind of deal? Rickles: A DEAL, deal! Maybe he’s a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/12 "2006-02-13T21:05:46Z")
It was a fun movie but Sutherland as a hippy in 1944 Europe as a little much. About 25 years too early for that sort of carry-on. Great ending though. ---
**Author:** ![Survey1215](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/13 "2006-02-13T21:20:36Z")
This was my first dvd purchase and ive probably seen it 70-80 times. One of my favorites. In fact, I just watched that and The Big Red One this weekend (the extended director’s cut of TBRO - good stuff). Oddball doesnt fit in w 1944-45 ETO, but his character is great. I especially like the phone call to the Sergeant w the bridge-builders. And for whatever reason I like his crew member that wears the fez. Little things like that make it a great flick. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/14 "2006-02-14T04:43:57Z")
Definitely count me as a huge fan of this movie too. A great cast but I definitely think Donlad Sutherland as Oddball is the real star of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kellys-heroes-a-quickie/344296/15 "2006-02-14T06:27:26Z")
Nowadays I prefer to watch it as a commentary to the ongoing war in Vietnam, the same way M_A_S\*H’ was also about Vietnam, but set in Korea. What clued me in was when Savalas was selling the robbery to the German tank driver (paraphrased): “You and me, we don’t know what this war’s about” and he goes on about them being little guys running around pointlessly because some guys higher up has decided so. I doubt there were very few soldiers in WWII who didn’t know what the objective of the war was - as opposed to Vietnam. Oddball makes a lot more sense in this context too. I doubt the filmmakers ever thought that the contemporary audience would view it as being about WWII. [aside] - Was there ever a wide realease movie that was openly against the Vietnam war before '75?