Rating: 
Summary: Good Film!
Review: After seeing this one, I feel like Hollywood needs to do another World War II film. Saving Private Ryan was great, but I think we need a spy movie, like this one. This has it all. Great stunts, good acting, and a precarious cable car. Sure, our heroes escape with hardly a scratch, but suspend your disbelief and watch Burton give one of his best performaces and watch Eastwood warm up for the Dirty Harry movie as he lays waste to the enemy. Oh, and yes, the setting is beautiful and if you ever get a chance to visit the area, its well worth trip.
Rating:
Summary: The Schloss Adler.....The Castle of Eagles
Review: As far as World War II action films are concerned, they don't get much bigger & better than this nail biting, thrill a minute, nearly three hour ride into espionage, escapism & excitement !!From the pen of Alistair McLean came the book...and then director Brian G. Hutton has done a superb job in truly capturing onscreen the pulse pounding thrill ride of the novel. The movie is like a grenade with the pin pulled out...you never know when the next explosion is coming ! Clint Eastwood (Eastwood said "Let Richard do the talking") and Richard Burton (Burton said "Clint acts with a type of dynamic lethargy") lead a group of Allied paratroopers on a daring raid to the Schloss Adler in Bavaria to rescue an American general held prisoner high in it's snow covered towers. However, all is not what it seems...the commandos are dying one by one and it soon becomes quite obvious that there is a traitor in the ranks. The film then becomes an exercise in espionage and double cross as Eastwood & Burton seek to ferret out the truth behind every man's identity....but not before Burton totally confuses Eastwood to the point where Clint remarks "Major, right now you have me about as confused as I ever hope to be !" The movie is filled with incredible stunts, fiery shootouts and battle sequences as Eastwood & Burton seem to lay waste to regiment after regiment of German troops trying to stop their mission. Just suspend your disbelief (just like the cable car), and sit back and enjoy good old fashioned, grand scale entertainment. Over the thirty years since this movie first came out, I must have watched it dozens of times...and I can't see myself tiring of it in the future either ! Just when the heck is it finally going to come out on DVD with a few extra goodies thrown in ?? If you don't own a copy of "Where Eagles Dare"...what are you waiting for...a true "must have" movie for any fan of big screen adventure films.
Rating:
Summary: Sit! Down! Major!
Review: This is a fantastic, classic WW2 action film / 'Boys Own'-adventure, and it's a criminal shame that it isn't out on DVD (perhaps with extra sequences in which we see Clint Eastwood reload, or narration from a real WW2 Commando which, presumably, would degenerate into laughter as out heroes fight out entire divisions of German soldiers with nary a scratch). After a slow build-up, during which a carefully-planned, daring commando raid seems to unravel, the film kicks into gear and becomes non-stop action and intrigue. Even after blowing up most of a castle, our heroes get to cause mayhem with period kubelwagens and tripwires. Rather like 'Armageddon', almost everything in the film that can be blown up or shot, is. It's like a cross between 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' but with Nazis, and 'The Guns of Naverone' but with Clint Eastwood. Everything about the film is perfect, from the opening credits sequence (blood-red Germanic script, a Junkers transport plane, a driving, foreboding score) to the cast - Clint Eastwood is utterly Clint, Richard Burton is clipped enough to pass for Patrick McGoohan, and the Nazis are a fascinating, aristocratic bunch with groovy, well-pressed grey uniforms and matching MP40s. Furthermore it's *the* cable-car movie. It's also utterly irresponsible and very silly - only 'Kelly's Heroes' and 'Star Wars' have matched the comic-book, off-hand brutality of the violence, and there's a nasty bit with an boot, a cable-car, and somebody's face that makes me wince every time I see it. It's probably Richard Burton's most memorable screen performance, too, which is something Burton himself would probably not have anticipated. It's a shame that most of the distinctive cast are either dead, or very old nowadays. It gets shown on television every time there's a bank holiday, but it's hard to tire of watching it. Somebody release it on DVD - now.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Greatest War Films of All Time !
Review: Quite simply one of the greatest war movies ever made. A top notch thriller loaded with action, espionage and double crosses, "Where Eagles Dare" is the kind of movie that Hollywood just doesn't make anymore. This isn't some politically correct drama steeped in reality. No, this is good guys vs. bad guys. This is pure unabashed fantasy which keeps the audience on the edge of its seat. This is just darn good entertainment! Richard Burton is absolutely cunning as the British agent who leads an elite group of soldiers behind enemy lines and into a seemingly unpenetrable German castle to rescue an imprisoned American General. A young Clint Eastwood is the only American on the mission. Clint is his usual cool and calm self. However he, like the audience, isn't sure who to trust. Somebody's a double agent, but exactly who is anyone's guess. Don't worry about figuring it out, just sit back and enjoy the drama. You'll love the growing tension and suspicion between Burton and Eastwood. The journey into the castle is classic heart-stopping drama. Even better is Burton's fight with a German soldier high atop a ski lift -- truly one of the most riveting action sequences ever filmed. Bullets are flyin' and bombs are blastin' throughout. In the end, heroes emerge while evil perpetrators get their just due. Classic, absolutely classic! And yes, as several reviewers have noted, the stunning scenery and beautiful cinematography in this film would greatly benefit from a widescreen DVD treatment. So, how 'bout it, I want my DVD!
Rating:
Summary: Major, If I Live To Be A Hundred...
Review: ...I'll probably never see as enjoyable an action-war movie as "Where Eagles Dare." Sure, it's got its errors (like the reference to an Allied rendezvous scheduled for Crete - which was still occupied by Germany at that stage of the war), but the basic plot, actors, scenery, action and dry humor are absolutely without peer. The scene in the castle where Burton and Eastwood crash the interrogation session of General Carnaby is priceless - it has more twists and turns than an Alpine road. I especially appreciated Heidi (Ingrid Pitt). What a knockout. If all the "top Allied agents" in Bavaria looked like her, World War II would have ended much sooner than it did. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: DARES TO BE PERECT!
Review: WHERE EAGLES DARE IS A BRILLIANT CLASSIC! THIS FILM HAS IT ALL ACTION, SUSPENCE, EVERYTHING! CLINT EASTWOOD IS PERFECT TAKING A BREAK FROM ALL OF HIS CLASSIC WESTERN FILMS. THE STORY IS GREAT AND THE PLOT IS TEN TIMES AS GOOD. TWISTS AND TURNS WILL KEEP YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT. ON A SCALE OF ONE TO TEN, THIS CLASSIC WW11 STORY GETS A TWENTY! BUY IT TODAY! I PROMISE YOU WON'T BE SORRY!
Rating:
Summary: Why isn't this movie on DVD yet?
Review: This is probably my all time favorite movie. I love the setting in winter time Austria and the cast are reason enough to enjoy this movie. I havea pretty old original vhs and I am in need of a fresh copy. I am going to try to hold out for the DVD though. I hope I live that long.
Rating: 
Summary: Trashy and absurd, but still fun
Review: This is a campy movie, but enlivened by gorgeous scenery, unintentionally funny dialogue and some of the most unbelievable action scenes ever devised (count how many times Clint Eastwood reloads... never!) Richard Burton is his usual over-acting self, and he delivers his lines with more bombast that usual. A favorite is when he's pretending to be SS Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler's brother in order to swagger around in a beerhall. Someone gets wise with him and Burton sneers, "My name is Bernard Himmler. Does the name mean anything to YOU? " The last half hour of the movie is hilarious. Watch particularly the poker-faced Mary Ure, who hangs out of the back of a ski bus, machine gun in hand. She effortlessly mows down 10 German divisions single-handedly and never so much as twitches one facial muscle. Talk about a blase killer. Mary knocks off more German tanks, trunks and motorcycles in this movie than the Allied and Soviet forces achieved in all of World War II. This is an enjoyable, escapist movie with plenty of laughs. Those of you who appreciate campy humor and enjoy ridiculing movies that take themselves too seriously will have a field day.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly faithful adaption of the book by A. Maclean
Review: WHERE EAGLES DARE is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of the book of the same name by popular action/suspense novelist Alistair Maclean. The premis for the movie is this...or at least it appears to be this at the outset...an American general with heavy responsibilities for planning D-Day is shot down over Germany. British military intelligence (MI6) decides to send in a top-notch team of agents to help him escape from the Schloss Adler -- a seemingly impregnable castle fortress housing the region's German intelligence collective. A nearby base also houses the training center for the German army's Alpinekorps. The British team consists of six British agents, and one American (and one woman who is secretly brought along). Richard Burton plays Smith, the leader of the British group, and Clint Eastwood plays Shaffer, the only American who goes along. The film adaptation is extremely faithful, even to using dialogue directly from the pages of Maclean's book. There are a few differences though...for one, the character of Shaffer is much more stoic in the film than in the book, and there is no mention of budding romance between Shaffer and Heidi -- you'll meet her later on in the movie. Burton and Eastwood's characters in the movie kill a lot more people than they do in the book. The book also explains better how and why they do what they do. I must say, though, that I thoroughly enjoy this movie. I particularly enjoy the scene where Smith and Shaffer meet the American general and the Germans interrogating him -- after that you won't know who or what to believe. It's great suspense and intruige. Burton and Eastwood complement each other well in this movie, and carry it along. Great story telling. 5 stars. Alan Holyoak
Rating:
Summary: Fictional but Fascinating WWII Movie
Review: Non-stop thrills keep your heart pounding as you watch Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood make there way to, through, and out of a heavily-fortified German castle located on top of a mountain. This castle is so inaccessable that it's called "Castle of the Eagles." This rescue story is full of turns, twists, and unexpected reversals. You don't know exactly who is good and who is bad until the very end. There are plenty of shooting scenes (although they made the German soldiers have very poor aim, the only thing they could hit in this movie was Richard Burton's hand!) and explosions. Clint Eastwood is carrying a bag of dynamite throughout the entire movie it seems, and he's not afraid to use it. If you like spy movies, action movies, and war movies, "Where Eagles Dare" is the movie for you! It's an absolute classic that you're sure to enjoy.
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