Where Eagles Dare
| Year: | 1968 |
| Studio: | MGM |
| Writer: | Alistair MacLean |
| Cast: | Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood |
It's interesting to realise how nowadays when we make movies about wars, they're solemn, heavy-handed, dramatic affairs, but barely 20 years after World War II was over, Hollywood directors were making war movies that were the modern equivalent of the action blockbuster - big-scale cowboys and Indians games where we have a great time cheering on the heroic and plucky Brits or Americans as they outsmarted and outgunned the evil Nazis.
Where Eagles Dare is definitely in that vein. It's an epic and rollicking adventure where a small force lead by British officer Richard Burton and his American offsider Clint Eastwood are sent to the snowy peaks of Europe to infiltrate a castle in the mountains. The castle is a Nazi stronghold where the baddies are holding a captured American officer captive who has information that could turn the tide of the war.
All isn't what it seems however, and a thought-provoking and dense plot strings some very tense and thrilling scenes together until a climax overlaid with multiple double crosses you can't believe the heroes can possibly escape from.
Well photographed and directed, the brooding depths of the cold mountain range a character in itself, and great fun.
Where Eagles Dare is definitely in that vein. It's an epic and rollicking adventure where a small force lead by British officer Richard Burton and his American offsider Clint Eastwood are sent to the snowy peaks of Europe to infiltrate a castle in the mountains. The castle is a Nazi stronghold where the baddies are holding a captured American officer captive who has information that could turn the tide of the war.
All isn't what it seems however, and a thought-provoking and dense plot strings some very tense and thrilling scenes together until a climax overlaid with multiple double crosses you can't believe the heroes can possibly escape from.
Well photographed and directed, the brooding depths of the cold mountain range a character in itself, and great fun.