2018 marks the 50th Anniversary of Where Eagles Dare, the WW2 movie starring Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton about a daring commando mission deep behind enemy lines to rescue a captured US general from a fortified mountain top castle.
Filmed partly on location in Salzburg,Austria from January 1968 to July of the same year, the film has gained cult status over the years and one that places itself in the warm fuzzy cosy spot of many a mans heart. The films daring backstory of secret agents, a fortified Nazi outpost and an elite commando unit operating deep behind enemy lines is the stuff of cinematic legend.
At 50 years on the film still entertains as the ultimate adventure story set in World War 2, complete with a daring raid, sabotage and firefights all of which comes to a thrilling climax with a bus chase through an military airfield. Best of all though is that plot-wise, the movie shifts from a daring rescue / raid to one of weeding out traitors in British Intelligence and sabotaging Germany's high command, if you can keep up with who's who the film does have a dizzying start as you try to figure out who to trust.
The film is an absolute classic of epic proportions and thoroughly deserves to be digitally remastered or at least get an Anniversary edition steelbook version of what is quite possibly one of the greatest war movies ever made. Where Eagles Dare ranks highly with the Hollywood elite, its Steven Spielbergs favorite war movie and Quentin Tarantino's most loved 'men on a mission' movie of which he paid homage to in his own Inglorious Basterds.
WHERE EAGLES DARE
The Castle Adler Schloss (Hohenwerfen Castle), and Schloss Neuschwanstein - Schwangau are two different castles which actually make up the fortress in the film, the gothic towered Schloss Neuschwanstein makes up the dramatic exterior as Burton and Eastwood spy on the target location from a hilltop and Hohenwerfen castle was used for the interior shots including the courtyard shots where the Bell helicopter and AA gun were located. UK Studio locations made up the rest of the interior filming during the Spring of 1968. It's worth noting that Hohenwerfen isn't actually serviced by cable car but does have a rail lift these days. During WW2 it was used by the Hitler youth but little actually exists of its wartime history if you visit and surprisingly it makes no mention of its movie history for Where Eagles Dare either and disappointingly I think the cultural aspect of this is lost on the current caretakers of the castle. The town of Werfen is only a short drive away and the castle is bordered by some truly breathtaking scenery. At the rear of Hohenwerfen castle the ground slopes away into the valley, falconry days and flying Eagles and birds of prey are a regular event.
The Reversible German Uniform 'Tan and Water'
In order to fool the German garrison, team Broadsword needed to look like traditional winter troops who at the time donned a camo tunic known as 'Tan and water'. The Germans, never ones to miss a good opportunity to be efficient created a reversible parka for their winter troops, white on one side to operate in snowy conditions and an olive drab and brown mixed camo pattern for everywhere else. A careful look at the hood and neck area shows the telltale white flash of the snow version and vice versa for the normal camo. The actors made good of both versions of the parka as they infiltrated the castle before ditching the outer clothing and posing as German officers in traditional service uniforms.
British actor Michael Cain also wore the famous Tan and Water camo smock in the film "The Eagle has Landed", again, this was also the reversible version featuring both winter and olive camo which you can see on the lapel area of the parka in the image below Richard Burton.
The Most Kills for Clint
Clint Eastwood was 38 when he made Where Eagles Dare, one of three films he made in 1968 which included Hang em' High and Coogan's Bluff. Eastwood's agent convinced him that the role would be good working alongside someone of seniority in Richard Burton. Eastwood wasn't a fan of the early draft of the script by MacLean and actually demanded less lines so in turn was handled more of the action scenes and all for a cool fee of $800,000.
It's no secret that Eastwood has killed many people on film but Where Eagles Dare remains the most kills the actor has racked up in a single scene, in the iconic double handed MP34 corridor siege Schaffer kills 18 German soldiers. In total his character kills 73 enemy combatants, 5 of which are shared with Smith and 10 shared with Mary.
The scene is relatively tense as approaching Germans locate the group in an upper part of the castle as they attempt to make their daring escape, Clint decides to buy the group more time and fends off the assaulting Germans by going on the offensive himself, tossing back stick grenades and blind firing in a narrow corridor that creates a lethal choke point. Stacked up on the stairwell the Germans look to throw even more men at the group to overwhelm them but Clint is having none of it, casually appearing at the head of the stairwell he mows the squad down in a blaze of machine gun fire emptying his entire magazine.
The beauty of the Double Agent Double Cross
If you haven't seen the movie, then skip this bit, its got a spoiler in it. In one of the best scenes in the film, Burtons character, Smith offers to prove his identity in an attempt gain the trust and effectively fool the other double agents in the room who are siding with the Nazi's so that he can obtain the names of the agents working against the British.Smith identifies himself as Sturmbannführer Johann Schmidt of the SD of the SS intelligence branch. As proof, he discreetly shows the name of Germany's top agent in Britain to Kramer, who silently affirms it. Further proof is provided when he gets Kramer to call a German officer, Major William Wilner who reveals that if Schmidt / aka Smith is the man he claims to be he'll have no problem showing some tell tale scars on his right forearm, Kramer asks to see Smith's forearm which reveals two parallel scars 3 centimeters apart, Wilner then asks Kramer to ask Smith how he got them. 'I was born with them" replies Smith.
Wilner jokingly remarks 'tell him he's a traitor", Smith overhears and retorts 'Tell him he's a renegade" At this point Smiths so called German spy credentials are confirmed " Yaah, that is Schmidt, no question about it."
After the call of course is where it transpires the whole thing was a front, Smith has bluffed the Germans all along for years, got the names he needs and is firmly a British operative,Yay!
Filming
Its estimated that the production of Where Eagles Dare used in the region of 30,000 rounds of blank ammunition during filming, 20,000 of which was allocated to the sub machine guns which are used by both the main actors in their escape from the castle as they are pursued by the Germans and in the fire fight scene with Clint in the stairwell as he holds off the advancing soldiers.
Weather hampered shooting on many occasions and it took the actors hours of travel for a shot that only lasted several seconds on screen.Due to filming in Winter and early spring, the harsh conditions proved challenging for cast and crew, blizzards, avalanches and cold temperatures would also hamper the production.
Stuntman Alf Joint who would double for Richard Burton for the film lost three teeth jumping from one cable car to the other in the pivotal fight scene because Burton had knocked himself out from drinking too much (rumor has it 4 bottles of Vodka a day). if you're old enough and British enough to remember Alf Joint was actually the mystery man dressed all in black in the famous 70's TV ad for Milk Tray when he cliff dives into the shark infested sea to deliver chocolates to a boat, needless to say he broke his shoulder doing that stunt.
Aside from the challenges of weather, the shoot was also hampered by the notorious drinking habits of Richard Burton who took it upon himself to go off and party in Paris for several days with his drinking chums and fellow thespians Peter O'Tool and Richard Harris.
While many of the exterior shots were filmed on location in Austra, Interior scenes were filmed at Borehamwood in the Spring of 1968.
Stuntman Alf Joint takes the leap in MilkTrays 1972 TV advert.
Clint Eastwood shares a joke with fellow cast members on set.
The Tragedy of Mary Ure
Mary Ure played Mary Ellison in Where Eagles Dare,and was part of the SOE infiltration team in the raid on the castle. A stage actress by trade her film career was limited to only 9 appearances in film but 11 plays, the last of which, the Exorcism with Brian Blessed in 1975 would be her last acting appearance, Ure committed suicide by barbiturate overdose after a disastrous opening night of the play in London in 1975. Ure had suffered from poor mental health during the early part of the 70's and also suffered from alcoholism. At the time of her death she was married to Jaws actor Robert Shaw, who had discovered her body at home. Ure's captivating looks complemented her extremely well spoken and delicate voice.
Broadsword Calling Danny Boy
If Where Eagles Dare is famous for anything its the film that coined the cult phrase "Broadsword Calling Danny Boy" as Col Smith attempts to establish radio contact with British HQ. The phrase has become a cult of its own appearing in tv sitcoms, dance music, tshirts and even a phone hacking scandal.
The trial into alleged phone hacking by senior staff at the News of the World newspaper heard that former editor Rebekah Brooks instructed her personal assistant, Cheryl Carter, to retrieve seven notebooks from the News of the World's newspaper’s archive, two days before the tabloid was due to close. The jury was also told of text between the security men hired to protect Brooks’, which read: “Broadsword calling Danny Boy. Pizza delivered and chicken is in the pot” in relation to the notebooks and phone hacking scandal that closed one of Britains infamous tabloid newspapers.
Broadsword Calling Danny Boy tshirts, mugs can be found all over the internet and Tom Craft and Jimmy Pop released a Techno remix track called Broadsword Calling Danny Boy (Kosomo Records). In popular sci-fi Doctor Who, (series 5, episode 3) 'Victory of the Daleks' which features Winston Churchill the call names Broadsword and Danny Boy are references to Where Eagles Dare in which the line 'Broadsword calling Danny Boy' is repeated by a character who shares the name the Doctor occasionally adopts - John Smith. In Video-games 'Broadsword Calling Danny Boy is an unlockable achievement for completing the 4th mission in Chapter 3, called The Keep in the Zombie Army Trilogy.
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