Change Your Image
rhp6033
Reviews
Alvarez Kelly (1966)
Loosely based on actual historical event
In the early 1960's, there was quite a bit of interest in the Civil War during the centennial observances of events over the four-year period. Quite a few films were released either about the war, or which had the war in the background or as preludes to western films, which were very popular at the time. This film fits within that genre - both as a "civil war" film, which is also a bit of a "western", considering the cattle-rustling angle.
This movie is (loosly) based upon an actual event. In September of 1964, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was besieged by Grant's forces in entrenchments which stretched along the eastern side of Richmond, then south across the James river, then along the southern border of Petersburg, Virginia. A confederate scout noticed a large heard of cattle (approaching 4000 head) located at Coggins Point on the James River, not far from Grant's headquarters. In the army parlance of the days before refrigeration or canning to preserve meat, this was referred to by the commissary services as "beef on the hoof".
Confederate Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton organized a raid which swung wide around the Union lines, traveled through Union-held territory to the site, overcame the small guard, and herded 2,468 cattle back into the Confederate lines where it became a welcome addition to the scanty rations the Confederate troops normally received. The Confederate losses were quite small - 10 killed, 47 wounded, and 4 missing, according to Hampton's official after-action report.
The raid went down in history as either "Hampton's Cattle Raid", or simply "The Great Beefsteak Raid".
Of course, the lead character "Alverez Kelly" from the movie has no real counterpart in history of which I am aware.
Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Movie Reflects U.S. Society in 1970
As many commentators have pointed out, the juxtaposition of 1960's anachronisms in a WWII movie is quite entertaining. Some seem to get upset by it (a hippie tank commander!????), but it makes great satire.
What viewers need to remember is that this film was made in 1970, and as such it serves as an example of the schizophrenic nature of U.S. society at that time. Remember that this movie was released in the same year as the very popular films "Patton" and "MASH", each of which appealed to exact opposites in the political spectrum, and 1970 was at the height of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The film serves as a transition point, between the pro-war films of the 1960's and the anti-war films that followed over the next decade.
Although this movie is in the context of a war film, it is decidedly anti-military and individualistic, even if it is pro-soldier. The military mindset is ridiculed in the caricature portrayed by O'Conner as the general. The morals of the establishment are ridiculed in the anti-looting admonition from the lieutenant, warning the men that the penalty for looting was death (as he drives off towing a yacht which he plans to get back to the states, somehow). At the end, while negotiating with the Germans, they insist that they are not "the U.S. Army", but instead are a "private enterprise".
And yet the film has enough in it to appeal to everybody, both as a credible war movie, as a comedy, and as a satire. It is still one of my families favorite movies of all time.