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Where Eagles Dare (DVD, 2003, Clint Eastwood Collection Widescreen)
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This 1968 classic pairs the enigmatic Richard Burton (The Night of the Iguana, The Desert Rats, The Wild Geese, Cleopatra, etc) with the iconic Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Dirty Harry, Gran Torino, Absolute Power, etc) in a tale of wartime bravery and treachery. World War II is raging and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in Schloss Adler, a Bavarian citadel that is nearly impossible to breach. The general allegedly has the date and place of the Normandy invasion in his mind-so he must be rescued. It is up to a highly skilled Allied soldiers (led by Burton and Eastwood) to liberate the general before the Nazi's break him and he reveals the information. Director Brian G. Hutton, tragically, did not direct too many movies-this one and Last Train from Gun Hill being the two big hits he did on the big screen. He also directed portions of Gunsmoke Season 2 on tv-- so he was a capable director that did very professional jobs when he worked. He places great war action in this movie as well as suspense in getting the allied soldiers into the citadel, and weaves a spy into the mix-without revealing it until the final moments to add to the suspense. If you enjoy war action and suspense filled classic movies-then this movie is for you. If you are a collector of Clint Eastwood movies, this one is also a must have. For most people this movie will give a full evenings entertainment too.Read full review
This film is widely considered a classic war movie of it's era (1968). The special effects were cutting edge at the time & Burton & Eastwood are at the top of their form. A sad side story is the beautiful blonde spy girl played by Mary Ure. I had often wondered what had become of such a beautiful & talented actress. Upon searching I found that she was mostly a stage actress & very well regarded. She was part of the same crowd as Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole & Richard Harris; all heavy drinkers. That & her personal daemons led her to early death by suicide. Only her radiant & wonderful presence in this great film seems to be left & that is a true tragedy. They say Burton would have been Olivier's inheritor but for drink too. His performance in the film is one of his finest. Eastwood is also good, still green but almost Burton's equal here. Lately his best roles seem to involve soliloquy with empty chairs. Politics & show biz make bad companions. The script is one of the best of it's type; Taut & loaded with twists, turns & surprises. Buy this movie if you are a fan of really good War Drama Adventures; Can't go wrong.Read full review
It is the winter of 1944. A lone transport plane, in German Luftwaffe insignia, picks its way through the peaks of the Bavarian Alps by night. Inside, seven paratroopers, in German Fallschirmjaeger uniform, wait in grim silence for the jump signal. Among them is their leader, Major Smith (Richard Burton) and his junior officer, Lieutenant Schaeffer (Clint Eastwood). The others: Christiansen (Donald Houston), Barkely (Peter Barkworth), Thomas (William Squire), Mac Pherson (Neil Mc Carthy) and Harrod (Brook Williams) are enlistedmen. In the silent tension, Major Smith ponders his mission briefing. Flashing back to headquarters in London, the Fallschirjaeger paratroops turn out to be a team of highly trained British MI6 agents (except for Shaeffer, who is on loan from the American OSS). Briefed by intelligence cheif, Admiral Rolland (Michael Hordern), and his executive officer, Colonel Turner (Patrick Wymark), the team's mission is to rescue a captured American, General Carnaby (Robert Beatty), an Allied planner for Operation Overlord (D-Day). The General's plane has been shot down, & he is being held prisoner at the Schloss Adler (Castle of Eagles), an impregnable mountain-top fortress that also serves as headquarters for the German Alpine Korps. The prisoner must be rescued before he can divulge any information about Operation Overlord. The "Schloss Adler" castle fortress on the mountainside is actually the "Schloss Hohenwerfen" in Austria. At the time of filming, the castle was being used as a police training camp. There are no cable cars near Schloss Hohenwerfen. Hence the Cable Car shooting is done somewhere else. The castle is still open today to the public & is the site of a falconry. Other than the exterior, the only feature that will be familiar to movie fans is the courtyard We must wonder what the body count turned out to be in this film. The body count floats right around 100, which most are single handed killings by Schaeffer (Eastwood). Many of the deaths were not that bloody, just maybe gunned down and then fall over. Despite Clint Eastwood's reputation for violence in other films, his character kills more people in this film than any other Eastwood character. Eastwood was reluctant to receive second billing to Burton, but agreed after being paid $800,000. Burton wanted Richard Egan to play the Clint Eastwood role. The German soldier who was a traitor was pretty good footage as we see him fall to his death after being shot. A funny note about this is that when the traitor is shot while dangling from a rope outside the castle, the close-up shows him wearing a standard German field gray uniform. In the next shot, as he plummets to his death, he is wearing a camouflaged winter overcoat. Although this film contains roughly 1472 edits during 151 minutes of action (which equates to an approximately 6 seconds a shot, there seem to be long & quite somber sections of the film where people are busy doing other things like putting on their coats, making sure the radio works, etc. The part that ultimately went to Clint Eastwood was also offered to Lee Marvin, but he declined, telling the producers they were about 4 years too late. Marvin had already starred in a WW2 action-adventure, The Dirty Dozen (1967) which he hated. Although it made him a huge star, he did not want to return to that type of movie. Nazi concentration camp survivor Ingrid Pitt found filming very difficult because many of the cast were wearing German Uniform.Read full review
I think this is a truely great movie. I have always enjoyed older war movies and this is one of the best. This 1968 classic pairs the great Sir Richard Burton (The Night of the Iguana, The Desert Rats, The Wild Geese, Cleopatra, etc) with the iconic Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Dirty Harry, Gran Torino, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Absolute Power, etc) in a tale of wartime bravery and treachery. World War II is raging and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in Schloss Adler, a Bavarian citadel that is nearly impossible to breach. The general allegedly has the date and place of the Normandy invasion in his mind-so he must be rescued. It is up to a highly skilled Allied soldiers (led by Burton and Eastwood) to liberate the general before the Nazi's break him and he reveals the information. The director places great war action in this movie as well as suspense in getting the allied soldiers into the citadel, and weaves a spy into the mix-without revealing it until the final moments to add to the suspense. If you enjoy war action and suspense filled classic movies-then this movie is for you. If you are a collector of Clint Eastwood movies as I am, this one is also a must have. For most people this movie will give a full evenings entertainment.Read full review
I love war movies, the story line is great with intrigue and mystery, there is a great mixture of men and women characters who make the story more believable .It has that , who did it, sum up in the end . I love this film so much I have watched it 6 times. Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton are the bomb.
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