Agents, Double Agents, Triple Agents

Rating: 10/10 (21 May 2006)

The only problem that Where Eages Dare suffers from is that it came out too soon after The Dirty Dozen and suffers from comparison. That is a pity because in some ways it's even better than the Dirty Dozen.
This was Alastair McLean's only original screenplay and he did a fine job. As a writer of some really great films and novels his stories are a great exercise for the grey cells. He combines action in this as well and Where Eagles Dare has enough action to satisfy an Indiana Jones lover.
British Intelligence has given one of its best operatives, Richard Burton, a difficult assignment. An American general's plane has crashed and he's been taken prisoner by the Germans. He's being held in a remote Bavarian castle where only eagles would try a rescue.
Burton has been given a team of his own countrymen, plus the addition of an American, Clint Eastwood. Nobody's quite sure why he's there, but as we get into the film it becomes clear that the mission Burton is on is far more complex than a rescue.
The best scene in Where Eagles Dare is with Burton and Eastwood finally in the castle and Burton playing a cat and mouse game with the Nazis to elicit information. It's a brilliantly staged scene and Burton pulls it off with aplomb.
Of course the action comes as Burton and Eastwood and company try to leave the castle. As I said enough heroics there that would put any of the Indiana Jones films to shame.
Where Eagles Dare is almost three hours in length. But it holds your interest through out. Action films don't get better than this.