Clint Eastwood Loved the Script - But Hated What the Studio Did With It

Clint Eastwood labeled the screenplay for his 1970 war movie Kelly’s Heroes as “… one of the best antiwar stories I’ve ever seen,” but felt a studio recut ruined the movie’s message. The Dollars movie trilogy established Eastwood’s movie career, and the period between 1966’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and 1971’s Dirty Harry saw him working to establish himself as a true movie star. This led to some misfires like Paint Your Wagon, but one of the gems from this era is Kelly’s Heroes.

This Clint Eastwood war movie cast him as the тιтular Kelly, who leads a misfit crew of soldiers who aim to rob a French bank filled with Nazi gold. The setup is vaguely reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan (as in it follows a group of soldiers as they venture into enemy terrority in search of something), but Kelly’s Heroes is considerably more lighthearted. It’s an ensemble action-comedy, but while Eastwood loved Kelly’s Heroes’ original script, he wasn’t so pleased with the final result.

Clint Eastwood Feels MGM’s Recut Of Kelly’s Heroes Ruined A More Interesting Movie

Kelly’s Heroes dropped the antiwar angle

Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, and Don Rickles in a tank in Kelly's Heroes

Eastwood spoke at length about his disappointment with Kelly’s Heroes in Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson’s Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979-1983. Clint claims the initial script (тιтled The Warriors) was an exceptional piece of work, stating “It was one of the best antiwar stories I’ve ever seen, but it was subtle, it was never preachy.” The story still had plenty of action, but it had heart too. Eastwood recalls that, as scripted and sH๏τ, there were moments of humanity that tied Kelly’s Heroes together that were later cut by MGM.

We had a scene with [Telly] Savalas and myself and some of the guys: it’s the whole deal about why and the philosophies of war. It wasn’t an explanatory thing that stopped and explained what was happening; it just gave you a feeling of the guys in a different mood other than running around shooting and telling a lot of jokes. This thing had been completely dehumanized. It’d just become a mᴀssive action thing in which the special effects were great and there was a lot of action. But there was too much action. There needed to be some reason for this whole caper being there.

At this time, MGM was in financial trouble, so according to Clint they just wanted to push the film out the door to generate money fast. Even after Eastwood personally offered to restore some of these key sequences back into the movie, the studio wasn’t interested. Eastwood wasn’t a fan of the final тιтle either, telling Nelson that “Kelly’s Heroes was “a dumb тιтle.” He believes the studio was trying to tie his film into the popular sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. As for the final product, Eastwood feels regret over what it could have been.

It had some nice things in it. It’s an all right picture. I’m not putting it down, I just think it could have been a very, very good movie with a little something added special.

To the movie’s leading man, MGM turned this antiwar dark comedy into a silly shoot ’em up caper, where the heroes mowed down Nazis and had a great time doing so. Eastwood hoped Kelly’s Heroes would be more interesting than that, so even if it did well and has its fans, he feels the whole venture was a missed opportunity.

Kelly’s Heroes Was Intended As An Antiwar Film

Kelly’s Heroes makes war look kind of fun

Clint Eastwood as Private Kelly holding a gun in Kelly's Heroes

The comedy present in Kelly’s Heroes was always meant to be there, as can be seen from the hammy performances of Donald Sutherland as tank driver Oddball and Don Rickles. The movie is practically the dictionary definition of a Sunday afternoon adventure, but MGM removing around 20 minutes of footage also snipped the heart out of Kelly’s Heroes. The scenes that were cut were part of what attracted the cast and crew to the movie, including Eastwood. He wanted there to be some humanity between explosions.

Clint Eastwood originally wanted his Dirty Harry and The Beguiled helmer Don Siegel to helm Kelly’s Heroes, but he was too busy; Eastwood claims Siegel “loved” the original screenplay.

Some of the deleted scenes include a sequence between Eastwood’s Kelly and Telly Savalas’s Big Joe, where they talk about their hatred of the war; this scene also gives more insight into Kelly’s backstory and why he was demoted. Other cut sequences include Kelly coming across a badly wounded German soldier and other dramatic moments between members of the squad. On the surface, it doesn’t sound like much was removed, but for Eastwood, these pieces took the soul out of Kelly’s Heroes.

Eastwood’s words might come as a surprise to those who watched Kelly’s Heroes. It might not be considered one of Clint Eastwood’s best movies, but it’s a fun, breezy watch with an incredible cast and the setpieces are well-staged. It speaks to the talent involved that it still works so well, even when the original intent was chopped out. It feels like an unofficial sequel to Eastwood and director Brian G. Hutton’s other World War 2 adventure, Where Eagles Dare, with the two making a great double bill.

Source: Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson’s Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979-1983