Kelly’s Heroes and Faith in Each Other: 55 Years Later

A star-studded cast highlighted a satirical comedy that was released in 1970. Clint Eastwood was just about to make a name for himself as he was fresh off The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, when he led the cast in a WWII comedy/action film, Kelly’s Heroes

The film explores a platoon that was abandoned by their leadership as it was revealed that some of their own men were killed by friendly fire.

Kelly leads a platoon on a quest to steal gold worth a total of $16 million from a bank behind enemy lines. They must combine a tank sergeant (OddBall played by Donald Sutherland) hippie philosophy, and the hardened cynicism of Big Joe (played by Telly Savalas), the platoon sergeant of the film, to pull off the bank heist.

While the plan wasn’t received well by Big Joe, the rest of the platoon believes that it can be done. Despite a setback in the form of a friendly ambush, the platoon journeyed to the town, pulled off the heist, and liberated it from the Nazis.

Despite losing three members and another being wounded, each member relied on the other to accomplish their objective.

The film even gave us two iconic lines that will resonate on our faith journey.

Negative Waves

Oddball, on four occasions in the film, would tell Moriarty to stop thinking negatively. He would end with “have a little faith”

Sometimes we can get worked up with things that negative talk creeps into our thinking and even speech.

In the words of Oddball, we must strive to say something “hopeful for a change”.

We're moving out and pushing forward

Kelly’s determination to get the job done was tested when he needed to break through the line. When the engineers told him to hold out after the loss of two tanks, Kelly made a decision to keep going.

Catholics can have this same mindset by always persevering in faith through prayer, fasting, giving alms, and always keeping our eyes fixed on heaven.

Kelly's Heroes is a fun military classic. While it doesn’t have a central message of faith, it can teach us to put faith in people we want to support while always having our eyes on goals to accomplish when it comes to spiritual growth.