Kellys heroes deleted scenes
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1. The movie was made in Yugoslavia because of its plethora of WWII era military equipment (and parts of the country still looked like they did when they were rubbleized in the war). Tito’s army provided a bunch of Sherman M4A3(75)Ws. The three Tigers were converted T-34s that had been used in the movie “The Battle of Neretva”. There are 230 Yugo soldiers in the scene where Kelly goes to see Crapgame for the first time. That’s a Yugo SOKO 522 trainer standing in for an T-6 Texan standing in for a P-47 Thunderbolt.
2. Eastwood was attracted to the anti-war vibe of the script and was distressed with the sista product. He blamed it on the studio’s cuts, but director Hutton viewed the movie as a comedy from the start. Eastwood was particularly upset with the cutting of a scen where Kelly and Big Joe discuss the incident that got Kelly demoted for refusing to order a suicide attack.
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It has widely been accepted that Eastwood’s original hopes and intent for The Warriors (which eventually became Kelly’s Heroes) were regrettably destroyed. I have gathered a few notes together which I have had stored on file for some time now, in order to try and provide a clearer account of exactly what happened.
The late 60s were a turbulent time for MGM with a great deal of changes occurring. In particular, James Aubrey had been assigned as head of production by the studio. Within days of his hiring, twelve films were cancelled because of financial issues. The original project was announced by MGM in November 1968 under the title of The Warriors. The original script for The Warriors was written with much more of an anti-war sentiment at its heart. Upon completion of the film, it barely resembled the script that Clint had originally read and enjoyed so much.
Before examining what happened and how the changes came about, it’s perhaps important to look at
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Looking Back at Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
Kelly’s Heroes is a classic dock on a Mission movie that stars Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Don Rickles who are in the midst of World War II. They are part of an array of American soldiers who get inside information from a drunk German officer about millions of dollars worth of gold hidden on enemy soil. Kelly (Clint Eastwood), a private with the platoon, devises a plan to sneak past the German officers to steal the loot for his crew. They recruit more men and set their program into action. Despite several casualties, the men are determined to press forward, even if it means striking a deal with the opposing army.
While recovering from my flu last weekend inom thought Sunday seemed like the perfect day to wallow in this wartime-set classic which to this day remains one of my favourite movies. Although Clint Eastwood is essentially the lead his character doesn’t have much in the way of dialogue and it’s the rest of the cr