Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Allied Agents stage a daring raid on a castle where the Nazis are holding American Brigadier General George Carnaby (Robert Beatty) prisoner, but that's not all that's really going on.

Director:

Brian G. Hutton

Writers:

Alistair MacLean (story), Alistair MacLean (screenplay)

Stars:

Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Burton	...	Maj. Smith
Clint Eastwood	...	Schaffer
Mary Ure	...	Mary Ellison
Patrick Wymark	...	Col. Turner
Michael Hordern	...	Adm. Rolland
Donald Houston	...	Christiansen
Peter Barkworth	...	Berkeley
William Squire	...	Thomas
Robert Beatty	...	Carnaby
Brook Williams	...	Sgt. Harrod
Neil McCarthy	...	Sgt. Jock MacPherson
Vincent Ball	...	Carpenter
Anton Diffring	...	Col. Kramer
Ferdy Mayne	...	Rosemeyer
Derren Nesbitt	...	Von Hapen

Storyline

During World War II, a British aircraft is shot down and crashes in Nazi held territory. The Germans capture the only survivor, American Brigadier General George Carnaby (Robert Beatty), and take him to the nearest S.S. headquarters. Unknown to the Germans, the General has full knowledge of the D-Day operation. The British decide that the General must not be allowed to divulge any details of the Normandy landing at all costs, and order Major Jonathan Smith (Richard Burton) to lead a crack commando team to rescue him. Amongst the team is an American Ranger, Lieutenant Morris Schaffer (Clint Eastwood), who is puzzled by his inclusion in an all British operation. When one of the team dies after the parachute drop, Schaffer suspects that Smith's mission has a much more secret objective.

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Plot Keywords:

british intelligence | commando unit | sabotage | infiltrator | mi6 | 

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Taglines:

One weekend Major Smith, Lieutenant Schaffer and a beautiful blonde named Mary decided to win World War II.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

12 March 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agenten sterben einsam

Filming Locations:

Festung Hohenwerfen, Salzburg, Austria

Box Office

Budget:

$7,700,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$7,100,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,100,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gershwin-Kastner Productions, Winkast Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

158 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ingrid Pitt (Heidi) said Richard Burton (Major Jonathan Smith) was drinking very heavily during filming, as he was depressed about the decline of his marriage and his movie career.

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Goofs

When Smith kicks Christiansen in the face on the roof of the cable car, there is already blood on Christiansen's face.

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Quotes

Lt. Morris Schaffer: Look, Major, either you start playing it straight or you can deal me out of this mess. Now we both know that radio operator wasn't killed in any drop. Now with MacPherson dead, there's only five of us left. So either you let me know what's going on or there's only gonna be four.

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Alternate Versions

In the French-language dubbing of the film, all the German spoken parts are taken from the German dubbed version. This includes parts of Burton's and Eastwood's characters speaking German, fixing some plot holes. All the other parts are in French.

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Connections

Referenced in The Meatrack (1970)

User Reviews

Fantastic stuff!

This is one of the first real action movies as we know it today, ever made. The movie has lots of explosions and gun- and fist fights. The story is told in a fast pace with lots of cuts, even though the movie itself isn't short at all (158 minutes.).

Even though it is still a war movie, this movie isn't as heavy and or serious as many other WW II movies made in the same period. It is kind of in the same style as "The Guns of Navarone" (Also written by Alistair MacLean.). It's more is adventurous and fun to watch than heavy or realistic. Director Brian G. Hutton later also made the other 'fun'/adventurous/WW II movie "Kelly's Heroes".

Another element that distinct this movie from other movies from the same genre is the story. The story by famous writer Alistair MacLean is just brilliant! It begins as an average WW II rescue-mission movie but as the movie progresses the story takes several twists, until at a certain point you don't even know who to thrust anymore. The ending is really action-movie-like spectacular and features a tense fight an a moving cable-car followed by the perhaps even better car chase, which really reminded of the chase were Indy and his father are escaping the Nazi's on the motorcycle, in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" Even the music sounded kind of similar! I wouldn't be surprised if Spielberg and Williams were inspired by this movie. The same goes for many other movie directors and other persons in the movie business by the way. I see similarities between this movie with 'modern' work quite often, both in story and characters as well as the action, editing and many other elements from this movie. This really is an inspirational movie, that as an action movie, just like as for instance "North by Northwest", was far ahead of its time.

It was a bit strange to see Clint Eastwood in the sidekick role. The main character of the movie is played by the legendary Richard Burton. Both actors really push this movie to an higher level with their profession and expertise and both are very believable in their roles.

An entertaining, action packed adventurous war movie with a splendid story and two wonderful performances from the two main actors.

10/10

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