DVDs in Review

Where Eagles Dare (Brian G Hutton, 1968)

Title: Where Eagles Dare (Brian G Hutton, 1968)

Release date: June 7 2010

Certificate: PG

Format: Blu-ray

RRP: £17.99

Rating: 5/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

‘Where Eagles Dare’ is one of the best war films ever made, mainly because of its cast and more importantly because of its tone. Casting two screen titans (a well established thespian in Richard Burton and the ever-dependable action icon Clint Eastwood early on in his film career), this epic action film works thanks to its swashbuckling style.

It’s not that it doesn’t take itself seriously; it does. ‘Where Eagles Dare’ just doesn’t opt for any darkly comedic scenes or gimmicks, and tells its twisting story well, punctuated with fantastic action sequences. What separates this from many other war films is its brilliantly realised sense of adventure. You’re not concerned for the characters' wellbeing; you’re rooting for them to keep going.

The plot sees a group of British Intelligence commandoes (led by Burton) parachute into the Alps to penetrate a Nazi fortress housing a captured allied general who holds key information about the D-Day plan. Eastwood is the only American in the crew which disguise themselves as Nazi officers to gain entry into the compound (with a little help from a sexy local contact played by Mary Ure).

From there on in the plot twists and turns unexpectedly but never inexplicably. ‘Where Eagles Dare’ is an extremely well written film (by novelist Alistair MacLean) that dabbles in double and triple agents without seeming ridiculous even when its realism is stretched to breaking point - for example Richard Burton’s character reacts to a gunshot wound to the hand with “Damn... blast!” before shrugging it off and diving between cable cars and firing machine guns as if the injury never existed. In contrast Eastwood gets kicked in the stomach a few times and passes out. But it hardly matters, when ‘Where Eagles Dare’ finally gets going, it never lets up.

Its plot development is segmented, almost like a video game, with breaks for espionage-ridden dialogue before progressing onto the next action-packed level – it takes its time (out of an already hefty two-and-a-half-hour running time) to actually reach the castle before the stars exchange hundreds of bullets and blow up everything in sight. After stopping for a brandy and a spot of doublecrossing in a Nazi dining room, it’s off to a frantic battle on a cable car before crashing down and stealing a bus for a road pursuit and sabotaging a bridge which leads to a shoot out in an airfield. That’s all before they get to the plane for the proper ending.The point is that it's easier to breach the castle than to get out of it alive, and this makes the action more desperate as it goes along.

‘Where Eagles Dare’ just keeps on going, and it’s a fantastic ride. Great music, expansive widescreen cinematography, excellent stunts and an oddly memorable script (with lines that shouldn’t be quotable but somehow are, i.e. “Broadsword calling Danny Boy”) all combine to serve the film’s stellar stars extremely well.

Its only real gripe is that some scenes just needlessly go on for a while longer than they should. Director Brian G Hutton should’ve trimmed it better to avoid pointless shots of people closing doors slowly or randomly asking for glasses of water after hanging up the phone (really). It means that the dicey pacing in the non-action scenes really show the film’s 40+ age, unlike the perfectly crisp Blu-ray transfer from Warner that boasts an enhanced soundtrack and very little grain even in the darker scenes. Ultimately, it’s a great film on a great format that is an essential for any Clint fan.

‘Where Eagles Dare’ is also available as part of Warner’s extensive DVD box set entitled ‘Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years’. ‘Where Eagles Dare’ kicks off the set (which happens to be the largest single artist box set ever created for DVD) and leads all the way up to his latest, the excellent sports drama ‘Invictus’. The collection represents a perfect introduction to the prolific actor/director who rarely strayed from Warner Brothers, making it an almost complete filmography of the living legend. Titles included are:

1.    Where Eagles Dare (1968)
2.    Kelly's Heroes (1970)
3.    Dirty Harry (1971)
4.    Magnum Force (1973)
5.    The Enforcer (1976)
6.    The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
7.    The Gauntlet (1977)
8.    Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
9.    Any Which Way You Can (1980)
10.    Bronco Billy (1980)
11.    Honkytonk Man (1982)
12.    Firefox (1982)
13.    Sudden Impact (1983)
14.    Tight Rope (1984)
15.    City Heat (1984)
16.    Pale Rider (1985)
17.    Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
18.    Bird (Director’s Cut) (1988)
19.    The Dead Pool (1988)
20.    Pink Cadillac (1989)
21.    The Rookie (1990)
22.    White Hunter Black Heart (1990)
23.    Unforgiven (1992)
24.    Perfect World (1993)
25.    The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
26.    Midnight In The Garden Of Good and Evil (Director’s Cut) (1997)
27.    Absolute Power (1997)
28.    True Crime (1999)
29.    Space Cowboys (2000)
30.    Blood Work (2002)
31.    Mystic River (2003)
32.    Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
33.    Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)
34.    Gran Torino (2009)
35.    Invictus (2010)