Wait, Richard Burton made an action movie? Richard Burton? That guy? He never struck me as that sort of actor. Apparently, he decided to do it at the request that from his two stepsons, Elizabeth Taylor’s boys, and the result was Where Eagles Dare, a movie with a long build-up that then goes to a one hour, nonstop action fest. But man, Richard Burton. I did not see that coming.
Then again, he may be the only actor I’ve ever seen with the gravitas to call Clint Eastwood a “punk,” so there’s that as well.
An American general, head full of strategy for the coming invasion of Europe, was en route to brief allies when his plane went down in the mountains. The general survived, but the Germans got him. It’s only a matter of time before he starts to give up intelligence. To that end, British intelligence sent in a commando squad of their own, plus lone American Lt. Schaffer (Eastwood), to get the man back, all under the leadership of one Major John Smith (Burton). However, the Germans seemed to have some advance knowledge the others are coming, so there is at least one traitor in their midst. Smith and Schaffer will need to find out who they can and can’t trust if they’re going to not only rescue the general, but also remove the spies within their own group. Can they get up an icy mountain, sneak into a heavily fortified castle, find the general, and get out again alive?
In many ways, this movie does everything right. It takes its time to set up the problems Smith and Schaffer are going to face, and there are a lot of them, before executing the action scenes beginning with the two men’s sneaking into the castle by riding atop cable cars. Once that happens and all of the traitors are (mostly) revealed, then it’s all about the escape. Burton and Eastwood make a good pair, and the movie even gives a badass support role to actress Mary Ure as an agent helping out on her own. Granted, for all that she gets to show some action stunts, she’s still objectified by men on all sides of the conflict, but it still a nice role.
If anything, the movie’s one weakness is one from no fault of its own: the effects have aged badly, as is to be expected for an action movie from 1968. Oh, not all of them, but close-ups of Burton and Eastwood on various high speed vehicles are obviously using backdrops. It’s the sort of thing that wouldn’t happen today, even when the actors are sitting in stationary vehicles. Other scenes, like the fight atop the cable car, are much better, and there’s a bit more blood than someone might expect for a movie from this era. The backdrop is a minor complaint, all told, but it is a problem of my own for someone watching a 50+ year old movie.
In the end, I got to see a movie with a complex plot where the last hour is basically action set piece after action set piece. The movie even offered a really good explanation as to why an American was brought along for the ride besides the obvious of sticking Eastwood in the movie as a box office draw. It’s not quite The Dirty Dozen, but it is a different kind of war movie from what came before, something that is perhaps a stepping stone to the more nuanced ones of recent years. If anything, it’s more espionage in the first half, and for that alone, it’s worth a look. All the fireworks at the end, as Burton and Eastwood escape from the castle, are just the payoff for all that the movie opened with, and it’s a lot of fun as a result.
Grade: A-
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