Freightdawg I am with your posting 100%. I read Kelly's Heroes the same way you do, as a 'riff'. Where else you gonna find Clint Eastwood with Don Rickles, who had a great line when the Tiger Tank shows up:

"Make a deal!"
"A deal, what kind of deal?"
"A deal deal!"

And this reminds me of another great flip off to the old war flick: "Catch 22" which managed to give Art Garfunkel a job. (beep beep we have a music tie-in!)