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Kelly's Heroes anonymous December 7 2009, 08:02:43 UTC
I agree that Troy Kennedy-Martin's storyline, memorable dialogue and fairly accurate description of the Lorraine Campaign are a great asset to this movie. Hats off to Director Hutton for demanding technical military details to come through. You are right, these are "old" men compared to the late teenagers that really fought the war. However, Hollywood has a tendency to cast other than correct age in many films. I feel that not having any women characters actually kept the story on track as a military yarn. And the casting was brilliant.

I disagree about the uniforms, though. Undershirts and field jackets and uniform patches are details that most war movies leave out. Oddball's was lucky enough to get 14 like-minded fellow bohemians in his platoon (and lucky enough to have his serious captain decapitated by an 88). As I have heard commented by a member of a modern tank crew, Tankers are a strange breed. They live in a tight community and can go eccentric. Swapping tankers uniform for Airmen's jacket & cap? GIs often tried to get those same leather jackets. There are pictures of European Theater GIs wearing beards. Oddball's 'hippie' style...I like to think that it was only a decade before the beat generation and maybe he presaged it. I like to think of him as being brought up in the Ozarks on country music and then being transplanted to a bohemian community in NYC in the '30s. The tankers actually attacked a Train Station, not a fuel depot.

And Yes, I rate this as one of my top three war movies, because if you take the comedy aside (and all the illogic that comedy imparts), you have some nice war content.

By the way, if you have some readers that want to game Kelly's Heroes, I put the scenes into game form at http://www.gamestercrafter.com/kellys_heroes/

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