Synopsis

When a group of disgruntled Allied soldiers discover the existence of Nazi Gold, they go AWOL behind enemy lines to steal it for themselves.

A 1970 satirical war comedy film, Kelly's Heroes like M*A*S*H and Catch 22 which were all released in the same year deals with the American attitude to war as a reaction of the Vietnam War. With an all star cast, the film deals with the concept of the demoralised soldier who is sick of war, seeing little glory and lots more insanity in conflict.

The film follows members of the 35th Infantry Division that are stationed outside the town of Nancy in France during WWII and in particular, Private Kelly (Clint Eastwood), a man who was demoted from the rank of lieutenant after being blamed for the mistakes of his superiors. The film opens with the Allied forces retreating from a German attack and Private Kelly discovering and capturing a German intelligence officer, Colonel Dankhopf, during the chaos.

Kelly discovers a gold bar in the man's personal effects and decides to question him about it by getting him drunk, hoping to discover if there is more. During the German attack the Colonel is killed, however not before drunkenly revealing that there is a cache of 14,000 gold bars stored in a bank in the town of Clermont behind enemy lines.

Kelly recruits three members of his platoon, Master Sergeant "Big Joe" (Telly Savalas), Sergeant "Crapgame" (Don Rickles), and a hippie-like tank Commander called "Oddball" (Donald Sutherland). Together the four of them make a plan to go AWOL behind enemy lines and steal the gold for themselves; however before long they find their group of conspirators growing as they need more men to pull the scheme off.

The group successfully penetrates enemy lines, but soon find themselves avoiding both the Germans and their own Allied forces who do not know they are behind enemy lines. However soon their actions are discovered the American Major General Colt (Caroll O'Connor), a gung-ho man who upon learning of their actions mistakenly believes them to be a group of patriotic soldiers who have taken it upon themselves to take on the Germans alone.

As Kelly's men learn of the Allied advance "following their lead", they must race to beat their own army to the French town in order to steal the gold.