gimme the book every time!

Rating: 5/10 (16 January 2012)

I'm pulled two ways by this film. I've seen it several times over the course of the last 40 years. Visually it is stunning. The acting is really good, especially from Eastwood and Burton. I have to say though that I enjoyed the book a lot more as it concentrated more specifically on the intrigue rather than cramming in as much killing as possible. As regards the kill count this for me was the first war movie that ran away with the idea of slaughter on a mass scale, of killing and mayhem for its own sake. To this extent it was the forerunner of the Rambo series; even of the recent re-make of 'Ingloureous Basterds'. In the book the Burton character actually saves a young German soldier who is about the get burned - the complete antithesis of the film. A lot of people who have reviewed this film have said that it would be impossible for so many of the enemy to be killed by so few. I disagree. The allied team were professional assassins unlike the Germans most of whom had probably never seen action. Moreover, the Burton and Eastwood characters were dressed in German uniforms which gave them a decided edge (this made it murder in terms of the Geneva convention, by the way!). I also found it difficult to imagine that such a plan as this could have worked, despite the blips that took place, and ended up with the team safely on board the Junker with the plan accomplished. When you think how military intelligence tended to mess up even the most straight-forward of plans, it does make this convoluted scenario seem even more unbelievable. The whole thing snowballed so much that I ended up feeling really sorry for the German blokes - they were only inexperienced servicemen (probably not Nazis) getting shot to bits by a team of professional assassins, not really knowing what had hit them. As I said, even though I thought Eastwood acted really well, his character just got my goat. He really seemed to be enjoying himself. God help me, I ended up hoping he'd get a bullet where it would do him least good and maybe that would wipe that sadistic half-smirk off his face.