Where Eagles Dare is a 1968 action adventure war film directed by Brian G. Hutton and starring Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood and Mary Ure. It follows a World War II British Special Operations Executive team charged with saving a captured American General from a fortress known as Schloß Adler (Castle of the Eagles), as their mission takes several unexpected turns. It was filmed in Panavision using the Metrocolor process, and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Alistair MacLean wrote the screenplay, his first, while he was writing the novel of the same name. Both became commercial successes.
The film involved some of the top filmmakers of the day and was shot on location in Austria. Hollywood stuntman Yakima Canutt was the second unit director and shot most of the action scenes; British stuntman Alf Joint doubled for Burton in many sequences, including the fight on top of the cable car; award-winning conductor and composer Ron Goodwin wrote the film score; and future Oscar nominee Arthur Ibbetson worked on the cinematography.
Where Eagles Dare received mostly positive critical reaction, with praise for its action sequences, score, and the performances of Burton and Eastwood, and the film has since been considered a classic.
Plot
During World War II, MI6 officers Colonel Turner and Admiral Rolland assemble a commando team to rescue American Brigadier General George Carnaby, a chief planner for the Western Front, who is a prisoner at Schloß Adler, an alpine mountaintop fortress in Bavaria, accessible only by cable car.
The team consists of Major John Smith, Sergeants Harrod and MacPherson, Captains Lee Thomas, Ted Berkeley, and Olaf Christiansen, and US Army Ranger Lieutenant Morris Schaffer. Disguised as German soldiers, they parachute into an area near the castle. Harrod is found dead with a broken neck, and Smith deduces that he was murdered. Smith secretly meets with his lover, British agent Mary Ellison, but keeps her involvement from his men. In a tavern in the nearby village, Smith meets undercover agent Heidi Schmidt, who has arranged for Mary to work inside the castle. Smith tells Mary that Carnaby is an imposter, US Corporal Cartwright Jones, and that the British staged his capture. Later, Smith discovers MacPherson dead.
When a German colonel arrives in the tavern with soldiers ostensibly searching for deserters, Smith realises that the colonel is really searching for his team and surrenders to avoid an unwinnable fight. Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen are taken to the castle, while Smith and Schaffer escape and infiltrate the castle via cable car. Inside, they reunite with Mary and observe General Rosemeyer and Colonel Kramer interrogate Carnaby. Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen arrive and are revealed to be German double agents.
Smith and Schaffer intrude on the men, with weapons drawn. However, Smith then forces Schaffer to surrender his weapon and identifies himself as Major Johann Schmidt of the Schutzstaffel's (SS) intelligence branch. He exposes Carnaby's identity and claims that Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen are MI6 agents impersonating German spies. Smith conveys proof of his identity by showing Kramer the name of Germany's top spy in Whitehall. Kramer silently affirms it, and challenges the double agents to prove themselves as German agents by providing the list of agents they set up across Britain.
With the list in his hand, Smith reveals the truth: believing that German spies have extensively infiltrated British intelligence, MI6 identified Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen as suspects and launched the mission, both to prove this and to obtain the identities of their agents and commander. Smith's ploy is interrupted by the arrival of SS Major von Hapen, who suspects everyone, but Smith causes a distraction which allows Schaffer to fatally shoot von Hapen, Kramer, and Rosemeyer. The team, including Mary and Carnaby, escape and take Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen as prisoners.
As alarms sound, Schaffer sets explosives around the castle while Smith radios Rolland for extraction. The group travels to the cable car station, sacrificing Thomas as a decoy. Berkeley and Christiansen attempt to escape on a cable car but are killed by Smith. The team escapes on the next cable car. Reunited with Heidi in the village, they battle their way onto an airfield in a bus and escape aboard a Ju 52 aircraft, with Turner waiting onboard.
Smith reveals that Kramer identified Turner as Germany's top spy in Britain, confirming Rolland's suspicions. Turner chose Smith to lead the mission, believing him to be a German double agent, but unaware that he was working undercover for Rolland. To ensure the mission's success, Smith secretly recruited Mary, his trusted ally, and Schaffer, who had no ties to the compromised MI6. To avoid a humiliating court-martial and execution, Turner is permitted to jump from the aircraft to his death. As the exhausted operatives fly home, Schaffer wryly suggests that Smith keep his next mission "all-British".
Cast
Richard Burton as Major John Smith Clint Eastwood as Lieutenant Morris Schaffer Mary Ure as Mary Ellison Patrick Wymark as Colonel Wyatt Turner Michael Hordern as Vice Admiral Rolland Donald Houston as Captain Olaf Christiansen Peter Barkworth as Captain Ted Berkeley William Squire as Captain Lee Thomas Robert Beatty as Brigadier General George Carnaby / Corporal Cartwright Jones Brook Williams as Sergeant Harrod Neil McCarthy as Sergeant Jock MacPherson Vincent Ball as Wing Commander Cecil Carpenter Anton Diffring as Colonel Paul Kramer Ferdy Mayne as General Julius Rosemeyer Derren Nesbitt as Major von Hapen Ingrid Pitt as Heidi Schmidt
The cast of When Eagles Dare also includes uncredited appearances by Philip Stone as cable car operator, Victor Beaumont as Lieutenant Colonel Weissner, Guy Deghy as Major Wilhelm Wilner, Derek Newark as SS Officer, and Olga Lowe as Anne-Marie Kernitser.
Production Development Burton later said, "I decided to do the picture because Elizabeth (Taylor)'s two sons said they were fed up with me making films they weren't allowed to see, or in which I get killed. They wanted me to kill a few people instead."
Burton approached producer Elliott Kastner "and asked him if he had some super-hero stuff for me where I don't get killed in the end."
The producer consulted MacLean and requested an adventure film filled with mystery, suspense, and action. Most of MacLean's novels had been made into films or were being filmed. Kastner persuaded MacLean to write a new story; six weeks later, he delivered the script, at that time entitled Castle of Eagles. Kastner hated the title, and chose Where Eagles Dare instead. The title is from Act I, Scene III, Line 71 in William Shakespeare's play Richard III: "The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch". Like virtually all of MacLean's works, Where Eagles Dare features his trademark "secret traitor", who must be unmasked by the end.
Kastner and co-producer Jerry Gershwin announced in July 1966 that they had purchased five MacLean scripts, starting with Where Eagles Dare and When Eight Bells Toll. Brian Hutton had just made Sol Madrid for the producers and was signed to direct.
Filming
Eastwood and Burton reportedly dubbed the film 'Where Doubles Dare' due to the amount of screen time in which stand-ins doubled for the cast during action sequences. Filming began on 2 January 1968 in Austria and concluded in July 1968.Hughes, pp.191–192 Eastwood received a salary of $800,000 while Burton received $1,200,000.Munn, p. 79 This is one of the first sound films to have used front projection effect. This technology enabled filming of the scenes where the actors are on top of the cable car.
Eastwood initially thought the script written by MacLean was "terrible" and was "all exposition and complications." According to Derren Nesbitt, Eastwood requested that he be given less dialogue. Most of Schaffer's lines were given to Burton, whilst Eastwood handled most of the action scenes.A Conversation with Derren Nesbitt. "Major von Hapen" in "Where Eagles Dare" . YouTube (10 June 2013). Retrieved on 2015-11-20. Director Hutton played to his actors' strengths, allowing for Burton's theatrical background to help the character of Smith and Eastwood's quiet demeanour to establish Schaffer. Eastwood took the part on the advice of his agent, who felt it would be interesting to see his client appear with someone with seniority. Eastwood and Burton got along well on set. Ingrid Pitt had spent part of her childhood in a concentration camp and reportedly found it uncomfortable to work on the movie.
Nesbitt was keen to be as authentic as possible with the character of the suspicious Major von Hapen. Whilst on location, he requested to meet a former member of the Gestapo to better understand how to play the character and to get the military regalia correct. While dressed in his SS uniform, he caused a Baron to faint with shock and found out that he was Himmler's driver. Nesbitt said that the "Jewish Chronicle called me afterwards and said, 'How could you play a German?' I said 'I do it because I play them very badly.' That seemed to satisfy them." He was injured while filming the scene in which von Hapen is killed. The blood squib attached to Nesbitt exploded with such force that he was temporarily blinded, though he made a quick recovery.
The filming was delayed by adverse weather in Austria. Shooting took place during the winter and early spring of 1968, and the crew had to contend with blizzards, sub-zero temperatures, and potential avalanches. Further delays were incurred when Richard Burton, well known for his drinking binges, disappeared for several days, with his friends Peter O'Toole, Oliver Reed, Trevor Howard, and Richard Harris.the cellulord is watching: Where Eagles Dare . Cellulord.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved on 20 November 2015. As part of his deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Clint Eastwood took delivery of a Norton P11 motorcycle, which he 'tested' at Brands Hatch racetrack, accompanied by Ingrid Pitt, something that he had been forbidden from doing by Kastner for insurance purposes in case of injury or worse.If Only . Ingridpitt.net. Retrieved on 20 November 2015.
Stuntman Alf Joint was Richard Burton's stand-in and double, performing the famous cable car jump sequence (during which he lost three teeth). Joint had previously played Capungo, the man whom James Bond electrocuted in a bathtub in Goldfinger. He stated that at one point during production, Burton was so drunk that he knocked himself out while filming and that Joint had to quickly fill in for him. Nesbitt observed that Burton was drinking as many as four bottles of vodka per day.
Visitors to the set included Burton's wife, Elizabeth Taylor and actor Robert Shaw, who was then married to Mary Ure.
At one point during filming, Burton was threatened at gunpoint by an overzealous fan.
The Junkers Ju 52 used to fly Smith and Schaffer's team into Austria and then make their escape at the end of the film was a Swiss Air Force Ju 52/3m, registration A-702.Where Eagles Dare – The Internet Movie Plane Database . Impdb.org (30 January 2015). Retrieved on 20 November 2015. It was destroyed in an accident on 4 August 2018 in Switzerland, killing all 20 people on board. The castle setting was Hohenwerfen Castle, Werfen, Austria; filmed in January 1968. Filming of the cable car and lower cable car station took place in January 1968 at the Feuerkogel Seilbahn at Ebensee, Austria, and the close-ups were done on a soundstage. Scenes featuring the castle and the cable car together were filmed using a scale model.