1975 / 123 Minutes / R
Reviewed by Jason Jones

The best way to look at “The Eiger Sanction” is to think of it as a James Bond movie with Clint Eastwood inserted into the mix in place of Bond. And hey, let’s be honest. If anyone could replace Bond it would be Clint. The reason I make the comparison is that minus the gadgets this film has much the same ingredients as many a Bond film has contained over the years. You’ve got women all wanting a piece of Clint (in one form or another), you’ve got treachery and above all else there is the close friend who finds a way to get killed. It is the death of this friend that leads to art collecting college professor Dr. Jonathan Hemlock (Eastwood) to get involved in the world of intrigue that is “The Eiger Sanction”.

After sending an attractive young student (who wanted to perform sexual favors to improve her grade) on her way Hemlock bumps into an old acquaintance of his named Pope. It quickly becomes apparent that these men have never gotten along. Despite that fact, Pope has come to arrange a meeting between Hemlock and a Mr. Dragon to discuss certain actions that need to be taken. The meeting is arranged and Hemlock is blackmailed into performing a sanction (a hit) on a man who killed one of Dragon’s agents. Hemlock himself used to be one of these agents and, having no choice, performs the sanction with relative ease.

Thinking his life can return to normal now that he has delivered, Hemlock returns home beds a stewardess and wakes up to find his payment for the sanction missing. It turns out Dragon needs him to perform one more sanction: The Eiger Sanction. Dragon informs Hemlock that the agent who was killed was an old friend of Hemlock’s, who had actually saved his life once. The second of the two killers can be found taking part in a international climbing expedition on a mountain known as The Eiger, but it is unknown which of the climbers he is. Hemlock, who happens to be an accomplished climber, has fallen victim to the mounatin twice before, but knowing he owes it to his old friend takes the sanction on his own terms.

That is just act one. After this Hemlock goes into training with his old buddy, and fellow climber, Ben Bowman (George Kennedy). This is the best part of the film, as it has laughs, intrigue and naked Indian women. Hemlock manages to even run across an old enemy who the good doctor would like nothing more than to kill at the first opportunity. After the training segment of the film we move into the third and final act, which is the climb itself. Amazingly enough, this is the part of the film that I liked the least. It has it’s moments, but for the most part has difficulty holding one’s attention. I guess it’s just not that exciting watching a bunch of guys climbing a mountain, although the cuts to Bowman watching from the hotel with a telescope were a great deal of fun. Eventually the events of the third act will lead to the inevitable unveiling of who the second killer is. To me this wasn’t much of a payoff as I found it to be rather predictable and uninspired.

The performances are fairly average overall, aside from the top-shelf performances one would expect from the likes of Eastwood and Kennedy. These two are at their best when they are together, which is for a great deal of the movie since the training sequence lasts for roughly a third of the movie. It is during this time that I found myself enjoying the film the most. From Kennedy’s unwanted wake up calls to Eastwood’s handling of his old nemesis these two esteemed gentlemen are at their best during this part of the film. The supporting actors fill their roles and do little more with them. They don’t really add anything to the film, but they don’t detract from it either. The same cannot be said for some of the one or two line extras used at the hotel while the climb is taking place. They are given some rather weak dialogue and make it even worse than it already was when they choose to speak it. Thankfully Kennedy runs these people off rather quickly so they don’t have to be dealt with for too long.

“The Eiger Sanction” is one of Eastwood’s earlier directorial efforts and, at times, it shows. For the most part, he does a fine job with, once again, the training portion of the film being the high water mark of the film. His pacing is excellent during this part, as he never allows anything to go on longer than it has to, although the same cannot be said of portions of the first and last acts, which had a way of feeling overdone and decidedly lacking in interest a great deal of the time.

All things said and done this is a good enough movie. I am critical of it, because I expect a little more from an Eastwood movie than I do of others. Maybe that’s selfish, but he is Clint Eastwood and we all know what he is capable of when he sets his mind to it. But then again he is Clint Eastwood and who am I to judge. This film does display the Eastwood of the 70’s that we know and love. The razor sharp wit. The take-no-shit attitude. It’s all there. So, if you’re looking for Eastwood, and his more esteemed works are not available, “The Eiger Sanction” is more than capable of suitably filling the void in your viewing diet.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2001 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Jason's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.