Broadsword calling Danny Boy.

Rating: 8/10 (13 August 2019)

A good old-fashioned men-on-a-mission war-time adventure, Where Eagles Dare stars Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood (the Spaghetti Western star finally shaking off his cowboy persona) as Major Smith and Lieutenant Schaffer, part of a seven man team who embark on a daring raid on a German-occupied mountain stronghold to rescue a captured American general. However, all is not as it seems, with double agents and a hidden agenda complicating an already perilous mission.
Shot on location in the snowy mountains of Austria, this WWII classic benefits from plenty of nail-biting action scenes, lots of nasty Nazis (notably Anton Diffring as icy Colonel Kramer and Deren Nesbitt as slimy Gestapo officer Von Hapen), a couple of sexy ladies (Ingrid Pitt, as undercover allied agent Heidi, reminding me a bit of Scarlett Johansson), and loads of shooting and fighting and stabbing and killing and explosions and noisy stuff like that.
It's gung-ho escapist fun of the kind where none of the actors attempt to speak German (although some do put on an 'Allo 'Allo-style accents) and where the heroes shoot with deadly accuracy but the enemy always misses their targets. At 158 minutes, it goes on for a bit too long, but the pace is snappy enough to avoid boredom setting in, while some of the obvious technical shortcomings (ropey rear projection) can be excused given the film's age.
7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for Pitt in her wench costume.