Rating; 8 out of 10, this was a cult classic and favorite film to discuss over a couple of beers with friends over the years. One of these friends learned I didn't have the movie and surprised me with it as a gift. I was in turn surprised to learn that the director was the same that had directed Eastwood a couple of years earlier in Where Eagles Dare, which was a pretty good, straight WW2 action movie. This one is a whole lot harder to classify but if I had to I'd call it a dark comedy. The action is there and is pretty well done, to include a coherent battle plan for Kelly's adventure. The military equipment is extremely authentic, much more so than many of the other WW2 films of the same era. I actually studied, at the US Army War College, the actual WW2 battle, the Battle of Nancy, where the movie's action was set. I get the impression that this started out as an action film but the producers decided it had to include some counter-culture elements (M.A.S.H. was released the same year and was a big hit) since this was the height of the anti-Vietnam movement. Thus was created one of the great comedic parts in movie history, Oddball, played by Donald Sutherland. How a 1960s hippie was transported back to the 1940s and placed in charge of a tank platoon is never really explained, but he steals every scene in the movie and has some great lines. I think this could have been a great movie if the film makers had decided to go with either action or comedy but by straddling the fence it loses something. Most of the characters are one dimensional and come across as extremely hard to root for. It turns out to be a great dark comedy that is extremely quotable and funny as hell. There is an awesome ode to Eastwood's spaghetti Western past with the final showdown with the Tiger tank and this movie has one of the best musical scores in movie history.
MVP: Donald Sutherland as Oddball, the counter culture leader of Kelly's tank platoon
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