The nearest Richard Burton got to being James Bond...

Rating: 8/10 (3 April 2012)

This must remain one the most reliably comforting bloke's movies, ever! You don't have to think, but you could if you wanted to. Nasty Nazis against nice Richard Burton and exciting Yank Clint Eastwood, all set against the alpine snows of WW2.
I used to enjoy it as a kid, when my Dad watched it, 30 odd years ago. And today, me feeling lousy, it still hits the right spots and pushes the right buttons. More stunts - and exciting and well choreographed ones - than your average Bond and it's action all the way. The one with the snowplough bus and they bring all the telegraph poles down to thwart the pesky enemy on their motorbikes is an all-time great and a highlight of the film. That snow-plough bus then becomes like Steve McQueen on his motorbike in The Great Escape - a very symbol of freedom, possible escape. Will they make it??
Again, the cable car sequences are straight out of a James Bond. Plus the great stereo (we didn't get that on TV 30 years ago) soundtrack by Ron Goodwin, all stirring and loud.
Who cares that there's some embarrassingly obvious looking back- projection and vehicles explode just two seconds after they've been pushed off a cliff and haven't yet bumped into anything, yet alone reached the bottom of the ravine? Well, you might but there's nothing you can do about it, now!
For ultra serious film watchers it's all rather frivolous, of course. There's not an ounce of historical fact, reality is as fleeting as a ghost in a draft but that's what's great about it. It knows all too well what it is and doesn't pretend to be anything other.
Don't watch it again on commercial TV, all cut up with ads in all the wrong places and which bumps it up to 3 hours. Do as I did, 35 years after I first saw it - get the DVD, it's the price of a pint and lasts considerably longer!