Clint Eastwood's 'Where Eagles Dare' Facts (article) by Paul Kyriazi on AuthorsDen

At first, Eastwood said, "The script is terrible. It's all long, complicated story explanations." His agent to told him to take the part because "It would be interesting to see you appear with someone with 'seniority'."

So, Eastwood requested to be given less dialogue. Many of his lines were given to Burton, leaving Eastwood to handle most of the action. Eastwood and Burton got along well on the set.

It was Eastwood's third feature in the USA after gaining fame in Italian westerns. He first starred in Hang ‘em High and Coogan’s Bluff.

Lee Marvin was first offered the role that Burton played, but Marvin turned it down since he had already starred in The Dirty Dozen and didn’t want to repeat the same type of movie.

Richard Burton said, "I decided to do the picture because Elizabeth's (Taylor) two sons said they were fed up with me making films they weren't allowed to see, or in which I get killed in. They wanted me to kill a few people instead.

Steven Spielberg said this was his favorite war movie because it had ‘a boy’s type of unreality’. Then he went on to quote the ‘Broadsword calling Danny Boy’ line from the movie.

Quentin Tarantino said, “It’s my favorite ‘man on a mission’ movie.” You can see aspects of Where Eagles Dare in Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards.

Clint Eastwood kills more people in this movie than any other Eastwood character.

Stuntman turned 2nd Unit director, Yakima Canutt, who directed the chariot race in Ben Hur, directed the action sequences.

The stuntman who had played the man who James Bond electrocutes in the bathtub in Goldfinger, performed the cable car jump from one car to another. He lost three teeth doing it.

Because of the much use of stunt doubles, Eastwood often calls this movie Where Doubles Dare.

Playing the role of the blond-hair gestopo in the movie, at age 86, Derren Nesbitt, is still going strong with acting and running a large business. About the movie Nesbitt says:

“The main memory that comes to mind about that movie is Richard Burton drinking four bottles of vodka a day. I didn’t mind because I was on a daily rate for a long time. But it was a very happy film set. I love the screen. I love trying to be real. It’s very difficult to present reality."

When filming the scene in the castle, when Burton is speaking about being a double agent that climaxes with Eastwood shooting two German officers and a nurse, all the bigshots from MGM came to watch it being filmed. Nesbitt said:

 “The director, Bryan Hutton, who was a nice man, thought he would get the shot of Eastwood shooting the nurse, so the MGM brass would be satisfied at seeing some action and leave. Bryan called action, Clint shot the nurse and then twirled his pistol several times before putting in his holster. Bryan gently called a cut, went over to Eastwood and said, ‘Clint, that was great, but I don’t think we need that gun twirl at the end of it. Eastwood gave an impish smile and said, ‘Ah, shit. I thought we were doing a western.’”

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Reviewed by Ronald Hull

Reviewed on February 25, 2020

I saw the movie a long time ago. Probably should see it again. Thanks for all the factoids about the movie. It's a good thing that Eastwood readily accepted stunt doubles. He would be marketable as a handsome hero with three teeth missing.

Why do moviemakers love blowing things up and watching movie fans go crazy watching?

Ron