Review of Where Eagles Dare (1968) by Tomek S — 25 Nov 2011

Despite it's improbable and often incomprehensible plot, Where Eagles Dare is an effective World War II action film. Director by Brian Hutton, whose other notable films include Kelly's Heroes (also featuring Eastwood), and Gunfight at the O.

K. Carole, guides the film with a proper sense of tension and pace, combined with impressive cinematography. In short- it's smartly made. The script suffers from being overly written (or perhaps overly gimmicky), in that it has an overabundance of twits, some of which are fairly asinine.

The action scenes, though handled well, do also get tiresome toward the end. The casting, however, is very strong, with Richard Burton showing his brilliance (especially in one very memorable scene, which I have seen described as an "epic mindfuck session"), and is complemented well by Eastwood.

That chemistry alone carries the film through any deficiencies.