WHERE EAGLES DARE

Rather embarrassingly I sometimes confuse this classic with ‘The Eagle Has Landed’. Admittedly they are both classic WW2 adventures with similar titles - but even so.

This film is described by Wikipedia as an ‘’action adventure war thriller spy film" which hints at why it is so beloved - over its 155 minutes it manages to span three or four popular genres.

Which is not to say it needs all that runtime - it would be easy to cut 20 minutes or so.  For example, the sequences between the moment when the chief goal of the mission is accomplished and the arrival at the airfield could surely be trimmed.

It is a measure of Richard Burton’s star power in the mid-1960s that all he needed to do was express a wish to be the lead in an action film (for Elizabeth Taylor’s children to enjoy) and hey presto a film studio makes it happen.

I had assumed that this was an adaptation of an existing Alistair Maclean novel but in fact he wrote the screenplay to order, in just six weeks (he then converted it to a novel).

Given such time pressure we can forgive Maclean for the truly bonkers plot British intelligence come up with in order to uncover some German agents within their midst. 

No wonder Clint Eastwood had some reservations about the screenplay and got his speaking parts reduced.  I imagine he was happy enough at this stage in his career to play second fiddle to Burton, and to simply enjoy getting to kill an absurd number of Germans.

Also absurd is the frequency with which German vehicles explode into flames throughout, and as for Burton's character jumping from one cable car to the next, the least said the better.

Clearly it would make sense for both Eastwood's character and Mary Ure’s character to be briefed about the true nature of the mission beforehand rather than during but I guess since he’s only an American and she’s only a woman why bother?  But it is refreshing for a film of this period to feature a female character who is able to look after herself and kill a few Germans into the bargain.

The film is well made with great cinematography and a well-crafted score, but ultimately it is Burton’s commanding presence that holds the film together.

All together now: Broadsword to Danny Boy, Broadsword to Danny Boy….

RATING: ✓✓ Catch It If You Can