Where Eagles Dare (1969)

Best movie ever!

Absolutely Fantastic

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Years ago, I saw "Where Eagles Dare" and loved it. Now, quite a few years later, I watched it again and was less impressed. Now I am NOT saying it's a bad film but it suffers from two huge problems. First, the plot itself is very convoluted and difficult, at times, to follow. According to IMDb, co-star Clint Eastwood was NOT happy about the script...and I can see why this was most likely the case. Second, the ease at which the two heroes kill off Germans is almost cartoonish. The Germans miss again and again and again and the heroes (Richard Burton and Eastwood) are practically impossible to kill. Bomb blasts narrowly miss them and the worst they incur is a slightly wounded hand that NEVER impairs Burton's character in the least! And, they both manage to kill about 100 well trained German soldiers! It reminded me a bit of "Hot Shots Part Deux"...and that is NOT meant as a complement.Now if you can ignore all this, the film is a good escapist war film. Not as good as the same author's "Guns of Navarone"--where some of the heroes DID manage to die and the same insane ratio of killed isn't quite as bad! Enjoyable and worth seeing...but flawed when you see it twice and realize its shortcomings.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Clint Eastwood Filmography in order, I come to Where Eagles Dare (1968) Or as Clint Calls it 'Where Doubles Dare' due to the amount of stunt doubles used, Plot In A Paragraph: Allied agents stage a daring raid on a castle where the Nazis are holding an American General prisoner... but that's not all that's really going on.Clint took second billing and a slight pay cut $800,000 compared to Richard Burtons $1.2 million, to star in this bloated WW2 movie.I enjoy war movies, but for some reason I have always disliked this one. Maybe it's because I had to watch it every Christmas it was on TV when I was a child, including one year, when it clashed with Superman 2 on a different channel (which we videotaped) a decision that reduced the younger me to tears!! Despite a lot of screen time Clint doesn't speak many lines. In fact he doesn't speak until the 21st min, his character Lieutenant Schaeffer probably kills more people than any other Eastwood character. One of the lines he does speak, he could actually be speaking for the viewer when he says "You've got me about as confused as I ever hoped to be" I'm sure the movies many twists and turns were meant to add intrigue, but they are just simply baffling!! If you cut an hour out of this movie it may be more entertaining. As it is, I just find it over long and dull. Even Clint looks bored when he is not gunning people down. Give me The Expendables any day!! There I said it.Grossing $7 million at the domestic box office. It didn't quite make its budget back at the domestic Box Office, it fell short by a few hundred thousand, but it did end the year the 21st highest grossing movie of 1969!!

I think WHERE EAGLES DARE is a tremendously exciting, action-packed WW2 adventure and certainly the best adaptation of a novel by Alistair MacLean that I've watched. My only complaint is that it's taken me until the thirty-fifth year of my life to actually bother sitting down and watching it, which is almost criminal. In any case, this is a classic war film that can be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of THE GREAT ESCAPE. It features an all-star cast of heroes doing heroic things in a film which has a bit of everything: suspense that never lets up from beginning to end, huge action in the form of countless shoot-outs, sinister Nazi villains, beautiful women, and rugged male heroes.Richard Burton is the erstwhile lead, doing unsurprisingly well with a multi-layered character, and Clint Eastwood is the perfect choice for his young, cocksure, American partner. The setting itself - this was filmed in the Bavarian Alps - is beautifully shot and a fine addition to the movie. I find the idea of infiltrating a Nazi mountaintop fortress to be incredible in itself and WHERE EAGLES DARE runs away with the premise. In the second half, there's as much action as in COMMANDO, it gets so thrilling.Mary Ure and Ingrid Pitt in particular make their mark as the femme fatales caught up in the action. Other reliables like Donald Houston, Patrick Wymark, Michael Hordern, and a superbly slimy Derren Nesbitt really make their mark, and Anton Diffring plays one of his most memorable Nazi characters. There are some stunning set-pieces here, but the latter bit on the cable car is by far the best moment of the film. I just can't get over how fresh and modern-feeling WHERE EAGLES DARE, and how much entertainment it packs into that lengthy running time. It's a classic!

If you're a war movie fan don't think about it just watch this movie and you won't be disappointed! For me this movie and "The Great Escape" are two of the greatest WW2 films ever made I highly recommend them both. It has a great storyline/sequence of events and the acting is great especially the non-German actors playing German characters. Clint Eastwood is great as always and this is one of Richard Burton's greatest films as well. I must also note that the soundtrack composed/conducted by Ron Goodwin is stupendous and one of my favorites. Anyway, get this movie and watch it even if you have to order a Netflix DVD!