TITLE: Kelly’s Heroes
YEAR OF MOVIE RELEASE: 1970
FILM STUDIO / PRODUCTION COMPANY: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents a Katzka-Loeb Production
TAGLINE: “They set out to rob a bank... and damn near won a war instead!”
DIRECTOR: Brian G. Hutton
CAST: Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O’Connor and Donald Sutherland
PRODUCERS: Gabriel Katzka and Sidney Beckerman
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gabriel Figueroa
SCREENPLAY: Troy Kennedy Martin
MUSIC: Lalo Schifrin
POSTER PRINTER: Robert Burton Printers Pty. Ltd., Sydney
FORMAT: Australian One Sheet
POSTER RELEASE: 1970s re-release; exact printing year unconfirmed
GENRE: War / Comedy / Adventure
COLLECTOR’S NOTE
Kelly’s Heroes combines a Second World War adventure with a bank-heist story, following soldiers pursuing gold behind enemy lines. Its production moved from a proposed Italian location to Yugoslavia, where director Brian G. Hutton could draw on military equipment from the wartime era that remained in service.
The film also passed through earlier titles, including The Warriors and Kelly’s Warriors, before becoming Kelly’s Heroes. This Australian re-release poster emphasises the comic side of the adventure through smiling cast portraits, exaggerated action imagery and its bank-robbery tagline.
POSTER DESIGN FEATURES
Enormous pink-red KELLY’S HEROES lettering fills the upper section, with deep black shadows giving the title a three-dimensional appearance. Below, an illustrated montage groups four large character portraits around a front-facing tank.
Machine guns, a pistol, aircraft and an explosion establish the military setting, while the broadly smiling faces suggest the film’s irreverent humour. Four smaller figures walk towards the tank in the foreground, creating depth beneath the oversized portraits.
A limited palette of pink, red, black and pale cream gives this Australian design a distinctive graphic character. The white tagline bridges the central illustration and the solid pink lower credits panel, which includes the principal cast, MGM emblem and circular “Not Suitable for Children” notice.