Where Eagles Dare

A ripping yarn. Nothing more, nothing less. Just enjoy it and ignore the pretentious so called 'critics'

This greatly entertaining movie has a big flaw. When the water temperature in the river is about 4°C you have to take off wet clothes in order to survive. You can't continue as nothing had happened.

My official review for Where Eagles Dare to share! Yes I factored in the 1969 release date! But Eastwood was under utilized a lot of the film! Very hokey pokey a lot of the time and with some silly music going on and many silly action scenes. There was some good for its time but overall this is quite long and all over the place! I tried so hard to like, I really did! Best I can honestly give this is a solid 4 to 4.5 out of 10! COOL artwork though to represent this film I took note on.

This film is so far fetched. This film is an insold to the German Army and the people.

Stealth raids and spy games are at the heart of Where Eagles Dare, a saga of cool, calculated courage packed to the brim with spectacular snowy landscapes, lots of schoolboy WWII-style action and even busty wenches in maid uniforms. It offers a relatively light-hearted tale of double-crosses and daring does, thanks to its relatively simple but immensely rewarding writing by Alistair MacLean, it does get a tad disjointed towards the middle but quickly dispenses with that notion to pull it all back for a sensational cable car finale. Directed with sweeping grandeur and an incredible atmosphere by Brian G. Hutton, he drops you right into the action from the get-go and ramps up as the film chugs along at a relatively swift pace given its runtime. The clash of styles between Richard Burton's classic Shakespearean thespian and Clint Eastwood's quietly threatening taciturn offer up a great dynamic of consistently engaging back and forth between the two drastically different personalities. Backed by a great set of supporting roles and a stirring score by Ron Goodwin, Where Eagles Dare achieves what it sets out to do, it doesn't take itself with an overt seriousness, instead delivering action, adventure and excitement in a very Boy's Own way.

I remember watching it as a kid in the early 70's and liking it, so I just watched it again last night. Sadly, I found it confusing and ridiculous. The Germans were made out to be a combination of keystone cops/hogans heros dimwits that can't hit the broadside of a barn with a machine gun. The escape where they were taking the three double agents with them for some reason instead of just killing them like they had done to so many others, hustling them about in the castle as the Germans ran by with the hostages staying quiet, was idiotic. For a 12-15 year old me it was fine, but there was so many facets of this film are bad for old man me.

Good movie. Good acting. No helicopters inGermany at that time.

It is much sillier than people remember (the language difference is ignored, the plan is needlessly convoluted, etc.) but it is fun and engaging for the entirety of the runtime which is pretty surprising.

This film is perfect.

More plot twists in the last 20 minutes than a year's worth of movies! Still remember being on the edge of my seat during Clint and Richard's ride atop the lift to get to the castle when I first watched this in the early 70s. It's still exciting today.