Μύ The mission for Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood is to infiltrate the most inaccessible fortress in the world to rescue an important American general right from under the noses of the Germans. What they and the audience don't suspect is the number of twists and turns this highly thrilling film will take.
As a straight adventure the premise of Allied agents springing a general who holds vital war secrets is an exciting one. But director Brian G Hutton sticks closely to Alistair MacLean's original script, which is laden with double-crossing and unexpected adversities. This combined with epic production values and a rousing orchestral score produces a fantastic sense of adventure.
Eastwood sums it up perfectly when he turns to Burton and says "Major, you got me as confused as I'll ever be". Him and the audience both, as right from the beginning the mission is thrown into doubt with the killing of an Allied agent under suspicious circumstances.
Woven into this complex mesh is an abundance of exciting action sequences with parachute jumps, an escape on motorbike, the rigging of bombs and the constant threat of discovery. As if all that wasn't enough, Eastwood and Burton have to get up to the Schloss Adler fortress by cable car but typically not by conventional means. And waiting for them on arrival is a complex rabbit warren of German soldiers and deceit. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of it all is the fact that while this film promises so much, it delivers far more.
"Where Eagles Dare" is on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ1 at 10.55pm, Saturday 25th February 2001.
