Where Eagles Dare

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While I wait for Netflix to send me Inglorious Basterds, The Hangover, Zombieland, or even Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, I decided to see if this 1968 flick held up against my teenage memories. It did, although the seams showed a little more …

It's World War II, and Richard Burton ("Major Smith") leads Clint Eastwood ("Lieutenant Schaffer") and five other teammates to (ostensibly) rescue a captured American general held in a remote Bavarian castle from the clutches of the Wehrmacht. It's a long-shot mission, and it doesn't help when two members of the squad get killed nearly right out of the chute. Will Burton and Eastwood prevail? As the kids say: three guesses, and the first two don't count. This is not one of those movies with deeply flawed heroes ridden with angst about shooting Nazis. Or blowing them up. Or stabbing them. Or … well, you get the idea.

The plot is convoluted, unfortunately to the point of ludicrousness. Don't think about it too hard. (I also read the Alistair MacLean book back then; I seem to recall that it was slightly less far-fetched.) Although the heroes are in nearly non-stop peril, they are aided mightily by the Imperial Stormtrooper-level marksmanship of the Germans, and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of their own (improbably effective) bullets and explosives.

Trivia: the Movie Body Count site lists Where Eagles Dare as the movie where Clint Eastwood's character kills the most people. Yes, there's a website for everything.


Last Modified 2024-02-02 5:47 AM EDT