Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Kelly's Heroes/Where Eagles Dare (Action Double Feature) (1 Viewer)

[RobertR]

Not to disparage WED particularly, but "day for night" scenes really bug me. It's very often rather obvious that it's really daytime, and it tends to take me out of the movie.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I've always thought "day for night" was a poor technique, even when they don't screw up and print a "night" scene (or a shot from one) at the original exposure in the middle of a sequence, which I've seen more than once. Still in all, I think Where Eagles Dare on Blu Ray looks as good as I've seen it since that first time in a theater - and possibly better given the crappy theater I saw it in.


And put me down as another who wants Ice Station Zebra (along with The Guns of Navarone) on BD. I like all three movies a lot, for different reasons, and I want to have the whole set. (Even though the DVD special edition of Guns from a couple of years ago is quite good.)


"Broadsword calling Danny Boy",


Joe

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by RobertR

Not to disparage WED particularly, but "day for night" scenes really bug me. It's very often rather obvious that it's really daytime, and it tends to take me out of the movie.

Since childhood, after viewing so many movies filmed that way, I don't even think about it.






Crawdaddy

 

[Michael Harris]

tasked with rescuing a captured British general (Robert Beatty)

One nit - the general to be rescued was American, which is why Clint Eastwood's character was supposedly included on the team.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Originally Posted by Michael Harris

BTW, McLean, like a lot of British writers, really had a tin ear when it comes to American names and American speech patterns. (Thinking mostly of the novel here.) I have a feeling Clint shaped his character somewhat, but both General Carnaby (named after a famous London street) and Cartwright Jones have to be among the least likely "American sounding" names in literary history. I'm sure the reverse is also true and that lots of American writers make a hash of British characters, but there are moments in the film that put me in mind of Bram Stoker's Americans from Dracula and the various not-quite-Yankee Yanks who appear in various Sherlock Holmes stories.

Regards,


Joe

 

[TravisD]

Never loved WED,...but always found the Burton "fake/twist" at the end good acting on his part......convinced me to look for more of his stuff when younger.


KH though,......absolute M*A*S*H* like fun.....and Telly steals scenes left and right.


"Well,....we're gonna get some booze!"


I'm surprised it never was made into some TV spin off.

I actually had the sndtrk on LP for years and lost it in a spring cleaning...and when "Tiger Tank" started in

QT's Basterds,......I think I freaked people out in the theater laughing about it and murmuring to my brother

"that's from Heroes!"


And this was after me already doing the same thing almost 5 min earlier in the film about the

Bowie "gasoline" track from Cat People......yet ANOTHER LP I lost and loved(Moroder was/is a fav of mine).


Great review,..but KH to me is 9/10 just for the sheer characters that they displayed.....even the Nazi at the end.


"Maybe the guy's a republican".......classic....just classic.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

I watched Where Eagles Dare with my 13 year-old son last night, which is about the same age I was when I first saw it at the theater, so it was a good age to enjoy it (and overlook how absurd the whole escape really is). He liked it, except for the very fake looking rear screen shots. I had to explain that all the other stunts, the snow, the castle were all very real and not CGI. That impressed him. Especially the cable car stunts.


I wasn't very impressed with the day-for-night as discussed earlier. The process just wasn't very good and just makes the shots look ugly dark with impossible shadows (from the bright sunlight the scenes were shot in). The sound and score were excellent, though (so much for my technical comments). Clint Eastwood is nothing more than a prop in this film. He has about five lines. After years of the spaghetti westerns, perhaps that's all they thought he was capable of. But Burton carries the whole show and does a good job (especially when you find out he was drunk the whole time, and distracted by Liz).


One plot point really bugged me at the end ...



In the plane escaping, after Colonel Turner is revealed to be the final secret baddie spy, and he has the list, Burton basically convinces him to jump out of the plane rather than face a trial and hanging back in England ... then asks for the list of the German spies back (which was the point of the whole mission). And Turner .... GIVES IT BACK before jumping out of the plane. If he's going to jump anyway, why didn't he just say 'screw you' and jump out of the plane with the list? Oh, well, that's how old fashioned war movies work.


Overall, I re-found it to be a good popcorn movie and was happy to share it with my son, but he also prefers the great characters, irreverence, and Tiger tank of Kelly's Heroes.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Clint Eastwood is nothing more than a prop in this film. He has about five lines.

Well, he was basically the straight man to Burton's witty Maj. Smith. I think the producers wanted a "bankable" American actor who could help sell the film on this side of the Pond, without upstaging Burton. Eastwood knew it wasn't much of a part, so he demanded (and got) $800,000 for doing it. (Back when $800,000 was serious money.) He's also referrred to the film as Where Stuntmen Dare.

Regarding your spoiler:



Col. Turner couldn't just jump out ot the plane's door with the notebooks. The door wasn't open and Burton was between him and it. Turner would have had to get past Burton and Schaffer, pulled the door open and jumped out without getting shot or tackled by any of the others. Not likely. There was no way he was going to get off the plane with the notebooks, and if he tried he would only end up spoiling the "honorable" suicide that he had asked for, and Smith had agreed to. Mind you, Turner would have been happy to jump with the notebooks in his pocket if Smith had been foolish enough to forget about them, or waited until Turner was standing by the open door. But once challenged, Turner really had no choice but to hand them to Smith.

 

[Geoff_D]

Originally Posted by CraigF

Did any of you notice any audio shrillness in approx. the first hour of Kelly's Heroes? I recall that from the DVD, which I watched just after this BD title was first announced. It seemed to clear up later, or maybe I just got used to it... Thanks.

Yep, the harsh audio (especially the dialogue) is immediately obvious, but the PQ is pretty nice. It's the reverse situation with Where Eagles Dare; the PQ is frankly horrible at times, but the sound is terrific.


Put me in the Kelly's Heroes > Where Eagles Dare camp.

 

[CraigF]

Wow, tough audience. I guess I have watched so many actioners from the last several years that WED seems totally plausible in comparison LOL. I just watched the (UK) Zulu BD yesterday and they showed 99% of the battle as occurring in bright sunlight, when in fact almost all of it really occurred at night. Day-for-night to the extreme? You do what you have to do to make the story (and budget) work.

 

[Douglas R]

I must admit I'm disappointed with the soft picture quality of WHERE EAGLES DARE. I have the UK single disc version but I assume it must be the same as the North American disc. Not that it spoils my enjoyment of what is a cracking war-time adventure film.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I didn't think the picture quality of Where Eagles Dare was soft, but perhaps I was too focus on the film to notice it. Yes Craig, a tough crowd indeed.





Crawdaddy

 

[John Hodson]

For what it's worth (i.e. nothing), I'm quite thrilled with Where Eagles Dare; it's the best the film has ever looked on home video (probably ever likely to), and that DTS-MA soundtrack is fantastic - Ron Goodwin's thunderous score unleashed!

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Picked this up earlier this week. Had never seen WED before, but really enjoyed it. A surprisingly dynamic surround track, although I shouldn't be surprised when you consider that WED was a 70mm roadshow in many locations, even if it was a blow-up. Kelly's Heroes will probably be sometime next week.

 

[john a hunter]

Originally Posted by John Hodson

For what it's worth (i.e. nothing), I'm quite thrilled with Where Eagles Dare; it's the best the film has ever looked on home video (probably ever likely to), and that DTS-MA soundtrack is fantastic - Ron Goodwin's thunderous score unleashed!

The music recording is superb but as usual with Warners, what happened to the effects/surround track?.In 70mm, bullets were flying all around the theatre.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by John Hodson

For what it's worth (i.e. nothing), I'm quite thrilled with Where Eagles Dare; it's the best the film has ever looked on home video (probably ever likely to), and that DTS-MA soundtrack is fantastic - Ron Goodwin's thunderous score unleashed!

I totally agree and enjoyed the Blu-ray completely. I do find it interesting that it looks like MGM used the same font for titles for both Where Eagles Dare and Kelly's Hero's. Must have had some left over.

 

[Worth]

Originally Posted by ahollis






I totally agree and enjoyed the Blu-ray completely. I do find it interesting that it looks like MGM used the same font for titles for both Where Eagles Dare and Kelly's Hero's. Must have had some left over.

Same studio, same star, same director and only one year apart.

 

[ScottJH]

It's currently $9.99 @ Amazon

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Thats an amazing price, just ordered mine at amazon.Im glad I waited.

 

[David_B_K]

Originally Posted by Worth




Same studio, same star, same director and only one year apart.

Actually, the more I think of it, this is a good pairing. I had forgotten that a buddy and I saw these two films as a double feature back in '70 or 71. I still have not watched Kelly's Heroes on BD yet, but I had a good time watching Where Eagles Dare over the weekend. The HTF review is spot-on, IMO. The film looked better than I expected (I had not seen the DVD) and I did not think it was too dark at all. I particularly liked hearing Ron Goodwin's score in DTS HDMA. Some of the dramatic chords are really intense on the BD, such as when Burton and Eastwood are looking through the binoculars and the castle is seen for the first time, and when the Gestapo officer maks his appearance in the table scene. I also like the snare drums in the surrounds. Great stuff!