The Eiger Sanction

The trailer itself is so 70’s, I love it & have always loved this film. Also, anything w/Thayer David in it is a bonus, his work/characters on the original Dark Shadows series was awesome, as was he in the original Journey To The Center Of The Earth…

Sadly, this version cut out some of the best scenes. Had I known, I would have searched elsewhere for the complete version.

Honestly have had this movie on my "to watch" list for years. Yeah, I know it's a 70's spy genre film. Even for that- it's terrible. Such a bad script. Such a bad bad bad thin thin thin plot. Wow- wish I could get that money and time back.

The Eiger Sanction is a light weight 70s spy/action film directed and staring Clint Eastwood that seems to surpass the poor script and plot with great camera work and tense climbing scenes. The problem is though, this version of the film has been cropped poorly leaving out about a third of the overall picture. There are many scenes in this download where the people talking are cut off the screen and you end up just looking at their shoulders wondering what iTunes was thinking. There are plot elements that you completely miss due to the transfer. If you want to see this movie, I highly recommend finding it elsewhere.

Eastwood directed himself in this taut thriller with very memorable characterizations, superb acting, a compelling script and great scenery. As a retired assassin who is now a university professor teaching art history, Hemlock is pulled out of retirement by the mysterious C2 organization and the albino head of the group Dragon to avenge the death of his former colleague codenamed Wormwood. The weakness of the script is that it's contrived in many ways -- the plot that leads to getting Eastwood to climb the Eiger is fairly ridiculous, and some of the coincidences are equally problematic. That said, this is a highly entertaining motion picture, with spectacular mountain climbing scenes. The comparison with Hemlock being Dirty Harry-esque is an astute observation, he's constantly using one-line putdowns, giving the classic Eastwood squint and punching out obnoxious characters. A unique movie.

Disagree with me or not, but I know iTunes crowds will at least hear me out. This film is classic Dirty Harry, perhaps best comparable to Magnum Force. and then bring in exaggerated amounts of Dirty Harry dialog in a spy context, and we have the Eiger Sanction. I'm an Eastwood fan all my life, and I can't resist this film. If you can set aside some of the more canned scenarios early in the film (the first sanction), the film is quite enjoyable through multiple viewings. Eastwood's incredibly deep, cutting, yet understated sarcasm is just too good to limit to one character, and I'm glad his career includes this Hemlock character.