James Bond goes to war

Rating: 9/10 (21 September 2012)

Total escapism, two soldiers manage to hold off an elite battalion of the Waffen SS, kill over 100 Germans and escape with barely a scratch. I think when When Eagles Dare was released, with the Bond franchise in full flow, the producer must have wanted a war film with the same appeal. ( The novel has far less action and the plot is more complex.)
Basically the plot is this. An American general has been captured by the Nazis and as he has full knowledge of the D Day landings, British intelligence send out a team to rescue him from a mountain top castle in southern Germany. However, while the team( particularly Richard Burton and Clint Esstwood) make a very good job, of fighting off the Nazis to rescue the general, all is not what it seems. Two members of the team are traitors working for the Nazis, the famous cable car fight scene features the demise of the two traitors, and in the final scene the general reveals he is a Nazi agent before jumping out of the plane. A clever twist on what is a shoot em up action movie.
However, apart from the catchphrase Broadsword calling Danny Boy and the plot twist, most people sit through Eagles simply because the action is so good and like James Bond in a second world war situation. The bus chase, the cable car scene, the hijack of the plane, and some fantastic shootouts at the Schloss Adler, are what people remember the film for. Yes it's a fantasy, but a good one and the film still has millions of fans today.