Where Eagles Dare – 1968 | 158 mins | Adventure, War | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood top the dream team cast of Brian Hutton’s superbly wrought World War II adventure. Written from scratch by the thriller author Alistair MacLean in six weeks flat, Where Eagles Dare was commissioned at Burton’s request after his own son expressed a wish to see him in an old-fashioned action adventure. Eastwood fans will gleefully tell you that his character kills more people in this film than any other. This is pulsating high-budget entertainment containing a marvellous series of ingenious plot twists and spectacular action sequences including hand-to-hand combat on a cable car high in The Bavarian Alps and the destruction of the Oberhausen air base by a school bus.

An elite group of paratroopers combining of Maj. John Smith (Richard Burton), American Lt. Morris Schaffer (Clint Eastwood) and five other troops are dispatched on a daredevil mission into the Bavarian Alps: to rescue important American General Carnaby from the hands of German High Command. From the moment they parachute behind enemy lines disguised as Nazi commandoes, it becomes apparent that they face not only the might of the German army, but also a traitor in their midst. Assisting the infiltrators are undercover double agents Mary (Mary Ure) and Heidi (Ingrid Pitt), who aid Smith and Schaffer in infiltrating the Schloss Adler castle, the Nazi hornets’ nest only accessible via cable-car.