The 30 Nov 1968 LAT reported that The Warriors, “a World War II comedy adventure” produced by Gabriel Katzka, Harold Loeb and Sidney Beckerman, was one of nine films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor (MGM) planned to produce in 1969. The film would eventually be released as Kelly’s Heroes, without Loeb being credited.
       Columnist Army Archerd announced in the 10 Feb 1969 DV that “MGM is paging [Sammy Davis, Jr.] to join Clint Eastwood in The Warriors,” while the 12 May 1969 DV stated that director Brian Hutton wanted Vic Morrow to co-star. Neither actor was involved in the film. Actor Phil Adams, who portrayed a tank commander, assisted the production as a second unit director, according to the 13 Jun 1969 DV, but he is not listed in that capacity.
       The 22 Oct 1969 Var reported that The Warriors was slated to be shot in Italy, and that producers Katzka and Beckerman had already opened a production office in Rome’s Cinecitta studio complex, but “a comparative cost study” convinced them to move production to Yugoslavia, then a Communist nation. Principal photography began 30 Jun 1969, according to a production chart in the 3 Jul 1969 DV. In a note to Army Archerd, printed in the 29 Jul 1969 DV, Brian Hutton wrote that he chose to film in Yugoslavia because American World War II equipment was still being used by the Yugoslav Ground Forces. The government offered “full cooperation,” including the use of over 1,000 army troops as extras. “The terrain, lush, green and with rolling hills, very much resembles that of western France,” Hutton said. He told the 31 Dec 1969 LAT that MGM would spend “between $1.5 million and $2 million in the country,” and revealed that he had had a “two-month shooting schedule near Novi Sad on five locations,” before going “north to Umag for at least two months.” The 3 Sep 1969 Var reported that despite frequent thunderstorms in Umag, Hutton was on schedule and confident he would finish in Nov 1969. However, a 5 Nov 1969 DV item stated that the film’s set in Vizinada, Yugoslavia, which took 150 men six months to build, was destroyed in a fire of “unknown origin.”
       After “four title changes and three different regimes at MGM,” Hutton finished the film “on budget” at $7.4 million, the 1 Jul 1970 Var announced. The original title, The Warriors, was scuttled because executives thought it sounded too much like a “spear-and-sandal epic.” After the film was shot and edited under the title Kelly’s Warriors, it became Kelly’s Heroes.
       The 23 Jun 1970 LAT mentioned that Clint Eastwood was displeased that two of his films, MGM’s Kelly’s Heroes and Universal’s Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970, see entry), were opening on the same day in New York City, where another of his films, Paint Your Wagon (1969, see entry), was already playing in theaters. “If one studio had two films with the same star, it would stagger the openings,” Eastwood argued. Two weeks later, an 8 Jul 1970 LAT review noted that Kelly’s Heroes opened that day in Hollywood. Like the critic in the 24 Jun 1970 NYT, the LAT reviewer reacted tepidly to the movie, and said its shifts between comedy and adventure were “handled ineptly.” The 10 Jun 1970 DV called the film “preposterous,” but “very commercial.”