the only one not in on the joke is the script-writer

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2007)

Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood play this movie as a parody without jokes, and that's the spirit in which to see it. As a war movie, a spy movie, a kind of WWII "Mission Impossible" film - its utterly doomed by its own absurdity and the pretentiousness of the dialog. But as an overblown action film comedy (without jokes), it's a hoot - and a classic on that basis.
There's one scene where Eastwood kills about fifty German soldiers on a staircase with one machine-gun - without reloading. And without sweating, or blinking, or breathing hard. Pure comic book book. If you don't take the film on that level, you'll be wasting your time.
I think of this on about the same level as the Adam West "Batman: the Movie", and enjoy it for very similar reasons. If you recognize that the only one not in on the joke is the script-writer, you will too.