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The Eiger Sanction

The Eiger Sanction

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I Wanted to Like it More....
Review: Every Clint Eastwood fan will grin at the witty one-liners and sit on the edge of the seat for the mountain climbing sequences - very thrilling.

But the plot, acting, and the tempo of the film fall short of the high quality of Eastwood's best work.

This will kill a couple of hours on an airplane or in a terminal but won't remain long in the mind as a memorable film or performance. Thank goodness he went on to act and direct bigger and much better films.



Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Vintage Clint all the way
Review: Have been a rabid Clint fan since I was born. I've seen this movie at least 30 times since 1975, and it remains one of my favorite of his films. Yes, it's a little cheesy (as many 70's movies were), but it's a very fun movie, quite different from his usual performance as a cowboy or cop. It was filmed during Clint's heyday of the 1970's, when he was the coolest/toughest guy on film. The entertainment value is top-notch, and it's definitely a must-have for all true Clint fans.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Clint Eastwood!
Review: I don't like to give too much of the story away when I tell people about films I've seen or that I really like, and this review won't be an exception. Eastwood is blackmailed into an assasination on a mountain called the Eiger, that's as much of the plot as I think you need know, unless you've seen it of course, in which case you know what will happen. If you haven't seen it then you are missing out. The mountain climbing sequences are fantastic, and I think this story suits Eastwoods direcing style perfectly. It is kind of slow and plods along at times, but I like it that way. The story is textured and the conclusion is pleasing. This is classic Clint Eastwood, that's as much as anyone needs to know really. The special features are pretty poor, no documentary of any value, and it would be nice to hear Clint talk us through his film, you get standard early Universal DVD features instead. The transfer isn't great and the picture is grainy at times, but this is an older film, and I would have liked a remastered soundtrack in 5.1 Dolby digital, but nevermind. I'm contented enough just to have this film on disc. So should you be!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another great guy movie!
Review: I guess I ought to be ashamed of how much I enjoy this movie. But, I am not ashamed, and a really do enjoy this movie.

A relatively young, and satiny-smooth Eastwood is the killer for hire, who avenges the murder of U.S. government agents. He also happens to be a world class mountain climber and an art expert. Conned into coming out of retirement, he takes one last job for $100,000 (and the chance to avenge a friend). Being Clint, he kills the bad guys, survives himself when none others could, and of course gets several girls.

Great cinematography. The scene where Eastwood and George Kennedy scale the unconquerable pinnacle is stunning. One cannot always tell in that scene what was "real" and what was actually a set up. The final shot of that portion of the movie, when a camera obviously set in a helicopter moves away from the height and showing them sitting (and obviously heavily strapped to the top) is stunning. Watching the final quarter, shot on a mountainside, makes one actually feel cold.

The movie is also incredibly sexist. Having said that, I must acknowledge that it also has two positively gorgeous women: Vonnetta McKee (for some reason given the moniker "Jemimah Brown" - spare me!) and an otherwise unknown Brenda Venus (only named "George").

Not thought provoking, not "deep". Just a good show.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "Where Eagles Dare" is a great flick...check it out
Review: I haven't seen the Eiger Sanction. I just can't stand idly by while someone slags off "Where Eagles Dare". It's a brilliant film. Disregard any twaddle posted here to the contrary, Top 500 Reviewer or not. Too bad it's not out on DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Eiger Sanction
Review: I purchased the Eiger Sanction, at Amazon.ca; unfortunately, when I began to play, it wouldn't play; it became stuck in the drawer of the DVD player.
I had to return the player to its vendor, Canadian Tire, in Montreal, where the wonderful people there, took the player apart, and gave me a new one, under the warranty.
So, consider this a warning to Amazon.ca, check each copy of the Eiger Sanction, before it is sold, for myself, I returned my copy, and will never order it again, unless you check it first.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Classic Clint less the typical killing-poor audio (mono)
Review: If you're a Clint Eastwood fan, it is another must have, but with the video's mono 2 channel sound track, the DVD "experience" is a little diminished.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Terrific Eastwood Spy Thriller!
Review: In a stunning and abrupt departure from both his very successful "Dirty Harry" and "Any Which Way But Loose" franchises, Clint Eastwood extended his range of genres to include the spy thriller with this deft adaptation of the best-selling Trevanian novel of the same name. In fact, quite little is changed in this taut and thrilling tale of a once famous mountaineer and retired government assassin turned college art history professor who is forced back into the "sanction" business both by personal greed and crude manipulation by the spymaster of the clandestine government agency that requires his services.

An American courier has been killed in Copenhagen, and he happened to an old friend of professor Jonathan Hemlock (Eastwood), who is seduced back into harms way by "Control", an albino ex-Nazi who now heads one of our most clandestine federal agencies. Before long Hemlock is on his way to sanction one of the two assailants, and the chase is on. By dint of coincidence, Control discovers that the other assailant is included in an international mountaineering party, which will assault Switzerland's "Eiger" the coming summer. Naturally, Hemlock is manipulated into preparing for the climb as a replacement climber.

Once we finally make it to the mountain, the action is literally non-stop, quite accurate technically, and absolutely riveting to behold. As with previous sequences shot in the American southwest, the cinematography is superior, and the plot unfolds in a quite plausible and inevitably tragic fashion with no one necessarily spared as the frenzy reaches its natural conclusion. This is a terrific action film, with a great supporting cast that includes George Kennedy, Jack Cassidy, and bodybuilder Dan Howard in a bit role.
This is great entertainment, and illustrates why Eastwood has been such a consistent box office draw for over forty years. Enjoy!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Hemlock
Review: Now did he throw six snowballs or was it only five? To tell you the truth, I kinda lost track myself in all this boredom.

Hemlock? Leave it out. Whose called Hemlock? Do I look like a Hemlock? Yeah, more like Jack Crabsbelow. How many people have surnames that fit their chosen profession? George W Blunder. Pamela Airhead? Actually, I do recall a dog-catcher named Jackie Russel. Bang goes another smartypants review.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The reasons why
Review: There are several reasons I like this movie. 1) Trevanian wrote the book (trashy, pulp spy fiction...great for a mindless romp into the 60's), Clint Eastwood is in it (not the greatest actor, but he's got a good track record, and he enjoys the craft) 3) The Eiger has always intrigued me 4) I used to climb (age has curtailed my abilities) and 5) My 3rd cousin (Heidi Bruhl) is in it, albeit she plays a trampy wife, but she's my 3rd cousin nonetheless. I like Lee Marvin "flicks" too, my taste in music is much better. Oh sure I enjoy the Hamlets, and Much ado's etc... but we're talking American genre "flicks", not works of cinema etc... flicks.. you know EZ rider, Bronson movies stuff like that. That said... (SERIOUSLY) I remember a climbing book about the making of this movie... and the technical challenges for making some of these scenes on cliff faces and on the Eiger itself were well documented. The challenges were overcome, which and certainly took a bit of skill and logistics to pull it off. Not bad for a "B" movie as described by several reviewers... taking everything into consideration this movie was quite an undertaking, Eastwood didn't write it, he just made it happen. Guy flick? okay, whatever.


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