Review of The Eiger Sanction (1975) by Ola G — 01 Sep 2015

College art history professor Dr. Jonathan Hemlock (Clint Eastwood) is a retired government assassin who performed "sanctions", a euphemism for officially approved killings. He also has a reputation as one of the world's top mountaineers. During his career with a secret government agency called "C2", Hemlock amassed a private collection of 21 masterpiece paintings, paid for from earnings from his previous sanctions. The director of C2, Mr. Dragon (Thayer David), is an albino ex-Nazi confined to semi-darkness and kept alive by blood transfusions. He has an uncouth, inept aide, Pope (Gregory Walcott), whom Hemlock can't stand. Dragon wants Hemlock to kill two men responsible for the death of another government agent, code name Wormwood. Insisting he is retired, Hemlock refuses until Dragon threatens to expose Hemlock's art collection to the IRS. Hemlock then agrees, travels to Zurich, and carries out the first sanction for $20,000, twice his usual fee, plus a letter guaranteeing no trouble from the IRS. Returning from Europe, Hemlock meets C2 courier Jemima Brown (Vonetta McGee), who seduces him, then steals his money and IRS exemption letter. Dragon agrees to return them if Hemlock completes another assassination. Hemlock learns the murdered C2 agent, Wormwood, was in fact his old friend Henri Baq (Frank Redmond), who once saved Hemlock's life. He then demands $100,000 plus expenses. Hemlock is particularly qualified because the target is a member of an international mountain climbing team which, in the summer, will ascend the north face of the treacherous Eiger in Switzerland. It is arranged for Hemlock to be the American member of the team. He must kill one of the climbers. C2 is unsure of the target's identity, and Hemlock is only told that the man walks with a limp...

"The Eiger Sanction" received varying reviews on its release in May 1975. The New York Times said, ""The Eiger Sanction" is a long, foolish but never boring suspense melodrama." Joy Gould Boyum of the The Wall Street Journal remarked, "The film situates villainy in homosexuals and physically disabled men." The film was a commercial failure, taking $23.8 million at the box office. Eastwood blamed the production company for poor earnings and publicly left Universal Studios. Clint Eastwood did all of his own stunts, including the scene where he cuts his safety line over a drop of at least one thousand feet. The only stunt he did not perform was a 2500-foot drop, for which a dummy was used. Clint Eastwood went on a three-day climbing course in Yosemite National Park, then practiced at home for several months. In between westerns and cop movies such as "Dirty Harry" , Eastwood made "The Eiger Sanction" and it feels lost in a way. I have seen most Clint Eastwood movies, but "The Eiger Sanction" has passed my radar and it´s not until now I got to see it. I reckon the action and suspense, high risk mountain climbing and tongue in cheek dialogue doesn´t fully match, and the acting is not 100% during the running time, but I did enjoy it. The climbing scenes are of high standard and I do like Eastwood´s sense of using the camera and there´s plenty of great sceneries from both Arizona and Switzerland. Jack Cassidy´s Miles Mellough stands out, George Kennedy is his usual self as Ben Bowman and Vonetta McGee is just fantastically lovely as Jemima Brown. She lights up the whole screen with her presence and beauty. It´s not Eastwood´s best movie, but good enough for an evening infront of the tv.