Where Eagles Dare [1968]

In 1944, a British commando team, along with an American OSS operative, parachutes into the Bavarian Alps to rescue an American officer from an impregnable castle. But that's not all that's really going on, and soon the mission is complicated by a traitor in the midst.

Richard Burton (RAID ON ROMMEL) is excellent in an easygoing role as Major Smith, cool and competent commando officer. It's not his best performance - Burton is best suited for large, talky roles - but he appears to be having plenty of fun. Eastwood (KELLY'S HEROES) has a pointless role until the second half of the movie, when his talents as an assassin are portrayed full-blast. He kills dozens upon dozens of enemy troops, the bulk of them in an impressive hallway shootout which forgets logic and proves that in Hollywood, the good guys always win. In support, Mary Ure is a blonde heroine; Michael Hordern the sensitive British commander; and Anton Diffring (THE FIFTH OFFENSIVE); Derren Nesbitt (THE BLUE MAX) and Ferdy Mayne are the 1-dimensional, evil Nazi officers. The commando team is made up of familiar British co-stars Donald Houston (THE LONGEST DAY); Peter Barkworth; William Squire; Neil McCarthy (ZULU) and Brook Williams (RAID ON ROMMEL). Watch for Victor Beaumont as the German colonel who takes the commandos prisoner, and John G. Heller has a one-liner as the German Major in the bar.

The movie's real stars, however, are the great action sequences. The movie features five spectacular scenes: the first two being nail-biting treks across a valley on the roof of a German ski lift, one of which has characters fighting eachother with ice axes; the third being a series of shootouts and booby trap explosions within the bowels the castle; the fourth, a car chase through the center of a German village and down a precarious, snow-covered mountain roadway as German cars and motorcycles pursue a bus occupied by the heroes; and, finally, a huge explosive finale in which the good guys destroy an entire airfield while making an escape to Britain. Each scene is packed with expert camerawork, great stunts and plenty of explosions and loud machinegun fire.

The third strongpoint is the script and story. Alistair MacLean's screenplay, based on his own novel, is excellent. There are plenty of plot twists to keep you guessing as to who is really a good guy and who is really a bad guy. The pacing is perfect; the movie is just the right length, despite the fact that it's over 150 minutes long. Finally, there is a great - but not entirely unexpected - surprise ending which will make you gasp as everything comes together.

There are a few other technological aspects of the film which don't fall into specific categories. First of all, the scenery is never less than stunning. The snowy exteriors have a beautiful look and deeply contrast the violence occurring in and around them. The castle is appropriately dark and foreboding, adding to the "evil" Nazi presence inside. Ron Goodwin's classic score is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music. It adds a sharp edge to the suspense. There are innovative props, too, including some package explosives complete with an easy-to-set built-in timer and tripwire - the perfect item for any commando (or even wannabe commando).

WHERE EAGLES DARE has been released on videotape several times over the past years. It disappeared from videocassette in the mid-1990s, only for the rights to be sold to Warner Brothers and for the movie to be re-released. Unfortunately, the later releases exclude the intermission, and there is some awkward editing between the film segments.

WHERE EAGLES DARE is a fantastic Hollywood entry which paints a picture of cinema transition. The action is logic-defying in a way not seen until the late 1960s, when Hollywood began turning away from dramatic pieces all about the story to impressing younger audiences with car chases and violence - what rules cinema today. It was happening in westerns with the revisionist "spaghettis"; in the long-running James Bond series with the "license to kill" motto; and, finally in the war film. It's a product of it's time which stands up quite well today.


Broadsword calling Danny boy!   May 12, 2004
Mr. B. J. Roberts
29 out of 29 found this review helpful

"Broadsword calling Danny Boy." Say that line to anyone over the age of twenty five and they will immediately know which film you are talking about, possibly the greatest war movie of all time. No matter how many times I see this film, I never tire of it.

Everything about it is right on the money, excellent musical score, terriffic performances from Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood and some great action sequences. Check out Burton's fight atop the cable car or Eastwoods shoot out with the Nazi's. These two action sequences stand up to anything Hollywood can produce today and this film is thirty years old!!!

The best thing about "Where Eagles Dare" is it actually acknowledges that it wasn't just America that won the war, in this, the Brits actually play a vital role. Horrah!

That old saying; "They don't make them like they used to," may be well worn and overused, but in this case it is true. A wonderful film.


Terrific Stuff!   March 9, 2004
Anduril (London)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful

Epic war pic where Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood manage to unmask most of the German spy network in England, slip Jerry the wrong plans for the second front, kill the leading members of the Abwehr in Southern Bavaria, and destroy half of the local Wehrmacht- all in a little over two hours. Terrific score by Ron Goodwin, great action sequences and a commanding performance by Burton give this the "must see" imprimateur. Meanwhile it's obvious why the Nazis lost the war- since they rate one worse than Imperial Stormtroopers in the "can't hit the broadside of a barn" shooting stakes. Our plucky Allied troops more or less shoot themselves out of anywhere and anything....

However the radio call-sign "Broadsword calling Danny Boy" is now part of British folklore; the cable-car sequence is unmatched in spectacle; and the whole film makes you cheer up and feel better about the world. For once the Brits are portrayed as cooly proficient rather than public school chumps. What with the Yanks playing second fiddle, it's almost like the good old days ....


Terrific Boys Own Stuff!   July 23, 2004
Anduril (London)
18 out of 20 found this review helpful

Epic war pic where Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood manage to unmask most of the German spy network in England, slip Jerry the wrong plans for the second front, kill the leading members of the Abwehr in Southern Bavaria, and destroy half of the local Wehrmacht- all in a little over two hours. Terrific score by Ron Goodwin, great action sequences and a commanding performance by Burton give this the "must see" imprimateur. Meanwhile it's obvious why the Nazis lost the war- since they rate one worse than Imperial Stormtroopers in the "can't hit the broadside of a barn" shooting stakes. Our plucky Allied troops more or less shoot themselves out of anywhere and anything....

However the radio call-sign "Broadsword calling Danny Boy" is now part of British folklore; the cable-car sequence is unmatched in spectacle; and the whole film makes you cheer up and feel better about the world. For once the Brits are portrayed as cooly proficient rather than public school chumps. What with the Yanks playing second fiddle, it's almost like the good old days ....


Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment   November 6, 2003
maeames (Crawley, United Kingdom)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

Hypothetical scenario: You sit down to watch a repeat of a film you saw two years ago. Normally you would fidget around, talk occasionally to your partner, maybe nip out to put the kettle on. And maybe you would still enjoy the film.

Now watch this one. I bet you'll not do anything else for the two hours it's on apart from sit their eyes glued and mouth open - no matter how many times you may have seen it before. There are many things that might make you think a film is great - sometimes just by being made does a film enter folklore (Lord of the Rings for example). This one though has something that all good films truly need...it is extremely ENTERTAINING!

I accept that the special effects are sometimes er...not so special (witness the 'moving' mountain scenery whilst our heroes are driving the bus!) but the script is excellent, the acting is spot on and the film is just, simply, ENTERTAINING.

Buy it, watch it, watch it again. Consider it an investment in personal satisfaction! Oh, and did I mention that it's very ENTERT...... - yeah, thought I did.