Where Eagles Dare (1968)
May 7, 2016 5:22 PM - Subscribe
Allied agents stage a daring raid on a castle where the Nazis are holding an American General prisoner... but that's not all that's really going on.
NYTimes: In one way or another, almost every adventure movie deals with the attempt to penetrate an impregnable fortress, or with the escape from one—a formula whose success may not be entirely unrelated to the fact that it transmutes into quite acceptable narrative terms the basic, continuing sexual dilemma. If this is true—and I'm not prepared to pursue the matter further here, "Where Eagles Dare" is the ultimate metaphor. It encapsulates human experience into an ordered, comprehensible melodrama that is both absurd and entertaining.
The Guardian: But what a script it must have been! What a plot! How do people dream up twists and turns like that? The key turnaround comes in the castle's Great Hall and involves Burton crossing, double- and triple-bamboozling everyone in sight. In the script the dialogue was divvied up more evenly between Eastwood and Burton, but it ended up with Eastwood doing more of the shooting and Burton more of the talking. Good call. Burton admired Clint's "dynamic lethargy", but in this scene calls him a "punk – and a pretty second-rate punk at that". It's a devastating bit of verbal jujitsu since, effectively, Burton takes Eastwood's signature line – "Ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" – and turns it back on him, before Clint's even landed the part of Dirty Harry.
Unofficial website
Trailer
NYTimes: In one way or another, almost every adventure movie deals with the attempt to penetrate an impregnable fortress, or with the escape from one—a formula whose success may not be entirely unrelated to the fact that it transmutes into quite acceptable narrative terms the basic, continuing sexual dilemma. If this is true—and I'm not prepared to pursue the matter further here, "Where Eagles Dare" is the ultimate metaphor. It encapsulates human experience into an ordered, comprehensible melodrama that is both absurd and entertaining.
The Guardian: But what a script it must have been! What a plot! How do people dream up twists and turns like that? The key turnaround comes in the castle's Great Hall and involves Burton crossing, double- and triple-bamboozling everyone in sight. In the script the dialogue was divvied up more evenly between Eastwood and Burton, but it ended up with Eastwood doing more of the shooting and Burton more of the talking. Good call. Burton admired Clint's "dynamic lethargy", but in this scene calls him a "punk – and a pretty second-rate punk at that". It's a devastating bit of verbal jujitsu since, effectively, Burton takes Eastwood's signature line – "Ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" – and turns it back on him, before Clint's even landed the part of Dirty Harry.
Unofficial website
Trailer
Clint Eastwood kills like 14,000 Nazis in this picture.
posted by valkane at 5:38 AM on May 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by valkane at 5:38 AM on May 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
This movie is so good, and so bad.
There's a first half full of a gloriously demented plot, and then just as you are getting tired of it, Clint Eastwood murders the entire population of Bavaria.
Also, the actual theme of the movie is great too.
I watched this back to back with The Iron Cross and while very different films, boy did I get my full order of WWII.
posted by selfnoise at 9:35 AM on May 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
There's a first half full of a gloriously demented plot, and then just as you are getting tired of it, Clint Eastwood murders the entire population of Bavaria.
Also, the actual theme of the movie is great too.
I watched this back to back with The Iron Cross and while very different films, boy did I get my full order of WWII.
posted by selfnoise at 9:35 AM on May 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
Metafilter: There's a first half full of a gloriously demented plot, and then just as you are getting tired of it, Clint Eastwood murders the entire population of Bavaria.
I'm pretty sure I'm misremembering this. But I am convinced at some point I was taken to a double feature of this and Kelly's Heroes. Good lord, the action! The Eastwood! The slaughtered Nazis! It was something for like an 8-year old, let me tell you!
posted by Naberius at 6:04 AM on May 9, 2016
I'm pretty sure I'm misremembering this. But I am convinced at some point I was taken to a double feature of this and Kelly's Heroes. Good lord, the action! The Eastwood! The slaughtered Nazis! It was something for like an 8-year old, let me tell you!
posted by Naberius at 6:04 AM on May 9, 2016
Broadsword calling Danny Boy.
posted by longbaugh at 3:49 AM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by longbaugh at 3:49 AM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is one of my guaranteed stop-and-watches. I love everything about this movie.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:35 PM on May 12, 2016
posted by ob1quixote at 8:35 PM on May 12, 2016
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posted by Harvey Kilobit at 5:47 PM on May 7, 2016