Clint Eastwood Collection: Where Eagles Dare (1969)

High Octane Adventure

Based on the Alistair Mclean novel (author of the GUNS OF NAVARONE), this terrific mix and action and intrigue showcases Richard Burton as an undercover operative sent with a team to rescue from a Nazi fortress and American general before he can spill the plans for D-Day. Clint Eastwood plays an American Ranger on the team and Mary Ure as Burton's love interest. When making this movie Eastwood figuring that Burton would (acting-wise) steal the show, reportedly told director Brian Hutton, "Just give a gun and let me do my thing." July 11, 2008

THE BEST MAN FOR THE JOB

IF YOU WISH TO SEE THE MAGNIFICENT ACTING ABILITIES OF RICHARD BURTON EVEN WHEN FACED WITH A MEDIOCRE ROLE THIS MOVIE IS FOR YOU. February 18, 2008

One of the best Eastwood flicks

"Where Eagles Dare" is the granddaddy of all action adventure flicks. If you thought Clint Eastwood killed a lot of bad guys in his westerns, you haven't seen anything yet. The action is pretty much non-stop.

This is one of the rare cases where you don't have to read the book first because the screenplay was written by adventure novelist Alistair MacLean who then wrote the book.

I have watched this movie many, many times and I have always found it enjoyable. Some years ago, I actually made a pilgrimage to Werfen, Austria and toured Schloss Hohenwerfen where the movie was filmed.
December 18, 2007

Were Eagles Dare

I find this to be another good movie for Clint Eastwood. He does the War Storys very well. All the Support Actors are top drawer. It was well written and flimed. The action and suspense keeps You'r attention. Thank You, Jerry October 10, 2007

Well made and exciting but rubbish

The novels of Alistair MacLean are invariably exciting yarns which the reader can't put down and this film is a good cinematic equivalent. MacLean wrote the screenplay and he piles one incredible sequence on another.

The adventure entails the capture by British agents of a bogus hostage from Germans located in an impenetrable castle/fortress in Austria. Richard Burton plays the enigmatic leader and Clint Eastwood a professional assassin. The characters are completely one dimensional, epitomised in the one note performance of the ossified Eastwood. The settings are superb and the film is very well made but the Germans are no match for Eastwood. How he and his colleagues manage to navigate through the fortress to their escape is completely unbelievable and I have to admit that I started to fast forward the DVD: the dialogue was irrelevant, the violence gratuitous and the plot development absurd. The film ends with one of the corniest lines ever from Eastwood.

The DVD print is excellent and the package contains the original trailer and a short "making of" featurette made at the time of the film's release to help promote it. The trailer is a great example of clever marketing because it really tantalises the viewer. The "making of" featurette suffers from a style which was trendy at the time - jump around the subject and avoid an easily followed narrative. It is OK.

You will enjoy the film as a ripping yarn but don't take it seriously. September 30, 2007

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