What do you think?
Rate this book
Broadsword Calling Danny Boy
From the acclaimed writer and critic Geoff Dyer, an extremely funny scene-by-scene analysis of Where Eagles Dare - published as the film reaches its 50th anniversary
A thrilling Alpine adventure starring a magnificent, bleary-eyed Richard Burton and a coolly anachronistic Clint Eastwood, Where Eagles Dare is the apex of 1960s war movies, by turns enjoyable and preposterous. 'Broadsword Calling Danny Boy' is Geoff Dyer's tribute to the film he has loved since childhood: an analysis taking us from its snowy, Teutonic opening credits to its vertigo-inducing climax. For those who have not even seen Where Eagles Dare, this book is a comic tour-de-force of criticism. But for the film's legions of fans, whose hearts will always belong to Ron Goodwin's theme tune, it will be the fulfilment of a dream.
A thrilling Alpine adventure starring a magnificent, bleary-eyed Richard Burton and a coolly anachronistic Clint Eastwood, Where Eagles Dare is the apex of 1960s war movies, by turns enjoyable and preposterous. 'Broadsword Calling Danny Boy' is Geoff Dyer's tribute to the film he has loved since childhood: an analysis taking us from its snowy, Teutonic opening credits to its vertigo-inducing climax. For those who have not even seen Where Eagles Dare, this book is a comic tour-de-force of criticism. But for the film's legions of fans, whose hearts will always belong to Ron Goodwin's theme tune, it will be the fulfilment of a dream.
122 pages, Paperback
First published October 4, 2018
42 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Geoff Dyer
136 books924 followersGeoff Dyer was born in Cheltenham, England, in 1958. He was educated at the local Grammar School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He is the author of four novels: Paris Trance, The Search, The Colour of Memory, and, most recently, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi; a critical study of John Berger, Ways of Telling; five genre-defying titles: But Beautiful (winner of a 1992 Somerset Maugham Prize, short-listed for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize), The Missing of the Somme, Out of Sheer Rage (a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award), Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It (winner of the 2004 W. H. Smith Best Travel Book Award), and The Ongoing Moment (winner of the ICP Infinity Award for Writing on Photography), and Zona (about Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker). His collection of essays, Otherwise Known as the Human Condition, won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2012. He is also the editor of John Berger: Selected Essays and co-editor, with Margaret Sartor, of What Was True: The Photographs and Notebooks of William Gedney. A new book, Another Great Day at Sea, about life aboard the USS George H W Bush has just been published by Pantheon.
In 2003 he was a recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship; in 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature; in 2006 he received the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2009 he was the recipient of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Best Comic Novel and the GQ Writer of the Year Award (for Jeff in Venice Death in Varanasi). His books have been translated into twenty-four languages. His website is geoffdyer.com
In 2003 he was a recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship; in 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature; in 2006 he received the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2009 he was the recipient of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Best Comic Novel and the GQ Writer of the Year Award (for Jeff in Venice Death in Varanasi). His books have been translated into twenty-four languages. His website is geoffdyer.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
November 4, 2018
“Broadsword Calling Danny Boy” is a kind of written commentary track by Geoff Dyer on the 1968 Richard Burton/Clint Eastwood WW2 movie Where Eagles Dare (the title is a line from the film). It sounded like an appealingly unusual book and I’ve heard that Dyer is a hoot so I thought this might’ve been a fun read… and unfortunately it wasn’t.
Maybe he’s hilarious in his other books but, going by this one, Geoff Dyer is a desperately unfunny man! An example of his “comedy”: so the film’s premise is that a team of Allied troops go behind enemy lines to rescue a US General. Burton and co. wear Nazi uniforms, use German guns, transport, equipment, etc. partly to go about their mission undetected and partly out of necessity – that’s what’s lying around so that’s what they’re using.
Ready for Dyer’s joke? This is an example of how crappy Brexit is because it shows that even the Brits prefer using German products ahahahahahahahahahahaha... jeezus.
His observations on the movie were frenetic and dull. When the female actors appear he sets about describing his wretched sexual fantasies involving them. This book hasn’t made me want to watch the movie ever, nor read any more books by this author.
The only thing going for this one is that it’s a short read. Despite that, I still wouldn’t recommend Broadsword Calling Danny Boy to anyone.
Maybe he’s hilarious in his other books but, going by this one, Geoff Dyer is a desperately unfunny man! An example of his “comedy”: so the film’s premise is that a team of Allied troops go behind enemy lines to rescue a US General. Burton and co. wear Nazi uniforms, use German guns, transport, equipment, etc. partly to go about their mission undetected and partly out of necessity – that’s what’s lying around so that’s what they’re using.
Ready for Dyer’s joke? This is an example of how crappy Brexit is because it shows that even the Brits prefer using German products ahahahahahahahahahahaha... jeezus.
His observations on the movie were frenetic and dull. When the female actors appear he sets about describing his wretched sexual fantasies involving them. This book hasn’t made me want to watch the movie ever, nor read any more books by this author.
The only thing going for this one is that it’s a short read. Despite that, I still wouldn’t recommend Broadsword Calling Danny Boy to anyone.
February 4, 2020
4.5 hilarious and excellent criticism.
February 1, 2019
Geoff Dyer has long been a fan of the classic 1960's war film Where Eagles Dare, & this is his tribute to that film. Dyer takes us through the film scene by secene, which sounds very boring, but it isn't! He throws in plenty of witty comments about the film, ranging from Clint Eastwood's acting (mostly squinting) to some of the film's more absurdly unrealistic moments. Some of his observations don't quite work, but many of them made me laugh out loud.
If you're a fan of the film then this is a must read.
The edition I have is a lovely hardback version, signed by the author & is available exclusively from Hatchards Bookshop in London. Go on, treat yourself!
If you're a fan of the film then this is a must read.
The edition I have is a lovely hardback version, signed by the author & is available exclusively from Hatchards Bookshop in London. Go on, treat yourself!
September 12, 2018
I loved being able to own a film previously enjoyed at the movies on a DVD disc and play it whenever I want. This pleasure multiplied numerous times when it included cut scenes, alternative endings or most desired director's commentaries.
However, if I am honest my subsequent re-watching of these films does not justify the expense other than to have it to hand to show to someone who has never heard of the movie let alone seen it.
With the multiple channels and a desire to retreat into a book I don't watch much T.V. However, there are two war movies that I have watched countless times, and despite the time or the urge of sleep I will watch if I catch them ever on the box.
Kelly's Heroes is one and the other is Where Eagles Dare. Interestingly, Clint Eastwood features in both these classics.
So, when I saw a book devoted to the movie Where Eagles Dare along the lines of a commentary scene by scene I was in literary heaven. I had to read it as soon as possible and it is a pleasure to review it after enjoying it so much.
The author brings his youthful zeal for books and movies from his early teens into words that make the film live and project on my mind. Obviously, someone unfamiliar with the film could not appreciate the nuances of the writing or the descriptions used but I suggest they would also enjoy the rich humour. It is a special kind of wit that doesn't always resonate with an audience but in terms of zany, nonsense and logic taken to the nth degree it had me in suppressed laughter and wide grins.
If like me you are of an age to have shared a similar upbringing as the author, then many of the references to other actors and films of this time will be old favourites and in your knowledge. You will enjoy the book on a higher plane of appreciation.
If like me you have seen Where Eagles Dare countless times you will freak out and want to re-read this wonderful book again and find that DVD somewhere and try to remember how to press play.
This is a great idea for a book. Well written and filled with comedy asides and clever facts. It takes the film and makes fun of outrageous plotting and sends Burton up a great deal. The author is well read and although this project flows from his own love of the film he brings many attributed quotes from the stars or the world of film and literature to make his point.
The entire process is to lift the movie into real cult status. I don't mean to drag us all down to WW2 re-enactment conferences or start quoting from the film - "Sit Down!"
No, it simply enhances the whole experience of viewing the film. Agreeing with how did they carry all that equipment? Why didn't the German's spot the dangling legs or rope at the window? To why delay their escape to the point of failure by taking the prisoners with them.
This isn't a behind the scenes insight into how the film was made; shooting schedules or stars that turned the roles down. No, it is a knowledgeable account; not 'bigging himself up' but like a friend invited round who brings so much more to the screening than booze and popcorn. The author brings a comedic timing, shares your own comments and laughs with you along the way but ultimately leaves as happy as you since together your viewing experience has been magnified to a lasting pleasure and shared joy.
However, if I am honest my subsequent re-watching of these films does not justify the expense other than to have it to hand to show to someone who has never heard of the movie let alone seen it.
With the multiple channels and a desire to retreat into a book I don't watch much T.V. However, there are two war movies that I have watched countless times, and despite the time or the urge of sleep I will watch if I catch them ever on the box.
Kelly's Heroes is one and the other is Where Eagles Dare. Interestingly, Clint Eastwood features in both these classics.
So, when I saw a book devoted to the movie Where Eagles Dare along the lines of a commentary scene by scene I was in literary heaven. I had to read it as soon as possible and it is a pleasure to review it after enjoying it so much.
The author brings his youthful zeal for books and movies from his early teens into words that make the film live and project on my mind. Obviously, someone unfamiliar with the film could not appreciate the nuances of the writing or the descriptions used but I suggest they would also enjoy the rich humour. It is a special kind of wit that doesn't always resonate with an audience but in terms of zany, nonsense and logic taken to the nth degree it had me in suppressed laughter and wide grins.
If like me you are of an age to have shared a similar upbringing as the author, then many of the references to other actors and films of this time will be old favourites and in your knowledge. You will enjoy the book on a higher plane of appreciation.
If like me you have seen Where Eagles Dare countless times you will freak out and want to re-read this wonderful book again and find that DVD somewhere and try to remember how to press play.
This is a great idea for a book. Well written and filled with comedy asides and clever facts. It takes the film and makes fun of outrageous plotting and sends Burton up a great deal. The author is well read and although this project flows from his own love of the film he brings many attributed quotes from the stars or the world of film and literature to make his point.
The entire process is to lift the movie into real cult status. I don't mean to drag us all down to WW2 re-enactment conferences or start quoting from the film - "Sit Down!"
No, it simply enhances the whole experience of viewing the film. Agreeing with how did they carry all that equipment? Why didn't the German's spot the dangling legs or rope at the window? To why delay their escape to the point of failure by taking the prisoners with them.
This isn't a behind the scenes insight into how the film was made; shooting schedules or stars that turned the roles down. No, it is a knowledgeable account; not 'bigging himself up' but like a friend invited round who brings so much more to the screening than booze and popcorn. The author brings a comedic timing, shares your own comments and laughs with you along the way but ultimately leaves as happy as you since together your viewing experience has been magnified to a lasting pleasure and shared joy.
March 11, 2019
Every so often i do like to try something totally different from the usual genres that i enjoy reading. Sometimes i find i am wanting to read more of a genre that i haven't thought about before and sometimes not. All i can say that this book wasn't for me. However, i do thank Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy and this is my honest review.
July 11, 2021
I couldn't stop thinking about the boy in high school whose method of 'fitting in' to the outsider group was to engage in non-stop attempts at humour. His efforts were so relentless that he lives in my memory as a Shih Tzu in the likeness of Woody Allen - yappy, hard to house train, and always at your ankles. This book was that kid. It was unfunny. It was pointlessly digressive (and since I feel that almost any digression is a good digression and a book made up entirely of digressions is, by definition, a good book, it pains me to say that). It failed to satirize the film effectively or to illuminate it. There were one or two interesting observations that belonged in some other book about representations of '60s masculinity, a few historical nitpicks of the usual sort, and not much else. Full disclosure: I love the film. I've watched it countless times in the company of people whose pithy observations on all aspects of it had vastly more wit and substance than this book. In other words, there's a book to be written about this film - well, maybe a long essay - but this isn't it. This is an ankle-biter. I'm giving it two stars because the author is half in love with Eastwood.
September 23, 2018
Oh dear. Slapped wrists to all the blurb-writers who mention this as being funny; it's patently not. Instead it's a sugar rush of observations noted down while a film was playing in the background – but with this level of frenetic detail it must have taken multiple viewings, either that or the pause button was pressed every ten seconds. The panoply of detail and forensic "analysis" comes at you in page-long sentences, with far too many clauses, and far too little editing, meaning I tired of the 'style' really quickly. A shame, as I wanted something esoteric along the lines of the 33-and-a-third books about music records – just not this esoteric.
April 10, 2023
A bonkers if hugely entertaining film, here dissected with humour and great affection.
September 25, 2018
‘Broadsword calling Danny boy’ is a phrase imprinted on anyone who knows the film where Eagles Dare and I defy anyone catching those words not to do so without hearing Richard Burton’s distinctive resonant tones announcing it.
The intro sets the scene (literally) for the kind of read you are in for:
“Do the mountains and the blue Bavarian twilight cause the drum march to rattle into existence – is the music an emanation of the mountains? – or are the peaks and valleys hauled into view by the march of drums? Are these Heideggerian questions, or is it just that the Teutonic opening credits – as red as the background of a Nazi flag – could not be any redder against the mountainous blue of snow-clad mountains and the deep blue sky passing for night?”
This description of scenic majesty is followed with the more intimate exposition of the inside of the Junkers Ju-52 flying covertly into Nazi Germany. We are introduced to the inscrutable expression Clint Eastwood and the anxious one of Burton because according to Dyer he has money worries of the kind that people who aren’t weighted down by vast quantities of cash cannot begin to understand.”
It is these interjections, along with Dyer employing the type of zoom in/zoom out change of focus you normally associate with action films and their cousin the novel, which makes you realise this is not a cheap attempt to cash in on what is considered by many to be one of the greatest war films of all time. Instead it is something which lovingly takes a scene by scene approach, dissecting all its foibles and dwelling on why it is Burton should wish to linger in woodsheds with comely young female agents in the precursor to launching an impossible mission with an equally improbable amount of portable munitions. Like the ‘never empty sack’ in fairy tales.
It’s the kind of book you don’t read in public on account of the outburst of chuckles or sudden choking fits after swallowing food while laughing. When it strays into the arena of the pretentious it does so with a hilarious knowing.
Dyer reveals a broad reading palette, along with the ability worthy of the most adept quilter to blend a patchwork of references with the outrageous Alistair Maclean plot into something to warm a reader by a roaring great fire. So grab your milk and cookies (or a large glass of expensive spirit) to sustain you and curl up with a read which is a sit down and consume in one go. Then switch on the TV and glory in every highlighted detail.
The intro sets the scene (literally) for the kind of read you are in for:
“Do the mountains and the blue Bavarian twilight cause the drum march to rattle into existence – is the music an emanation of the mountains? – or are the peaks and valleys hauled into view by the march of drums? Are these Heideggerian questions, or is it just that the Teutonic opening credits – as red as the background of a Nazi flag – could not be any redder against the mountainous blue of snow-clad mountains and the deep blue sky passing for night?”
This description of scenic majesty is followed with the more intimate exposition of the inside of the Junkers Ju-52 flying covertly into Nazi Germany. We are introduced to the inscrutable expression Clint Eastwood and the anxious one of Burton because according to Dyer he has money worries of the kind that people who aren’t weighted down by vast quantities of cash cannot begin to understand.”
It is these interjections, along with Dyer employing the type of zoom in/zoom out change of focus you normally associate with action films and their cousin the novel, which makes you realise this is not a cheap attempt to cash in on what is considered by many to be one of the greatest war films of all time. Instead it is something which lovingly takes a scene by scene approach, dissecting all its foibles and dwelling on why it is Burton should wish to linger in woodsheds with comely young female agents in the precursor to launching an impossible mission with an equally improbable amount of portable munitions. Like the ‘never empty sack’ in fairy tales.
It’s the kind of book you don’t read in public on account of the outburst of chuckles or sudden choking fits after swallowing food while laughing. When it strays into the arena of the pretentious it does so with a hilarious knowing.
Dyer reveals a broad reading palette, along with the ability worthy of the most adept quilter to blend a patchwork of references with the outrageous Alistair Maclean plot into something to warm a reader by a roaring great fire. So grab your milk and cookies (or a large glass of expensive spirit) to sustain you and curl up with a read which is a sit down and consume in one go. Then switch on the TV and glory in every highlighted detail.
February 3, 2025
This is a brilliant and hilarious stream-of-consciousness commentary on one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies, "Where Eagles Dare". The screenplay for the 1968 film was written by novelist Alistair Maclean and starred Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood in the lead roles. A crack commando team is sent into N*zi Germany to rescue an American General before he reveals knowledge of the impending Second Front invasion to his captors. The movie itself is very "over-the-top" with great visuals, continuous violence and dialogue that is both hack and brilliant.
I first saw the movie on television in 1972 when I was twelve, and have lost count of how many times I have seen it since then. Dyer must have had the same experience, and his comments are both hilarious, surreal and incisive. I was laughing out loud.
If you like the movie, then you need to read this book.
I first saw the movie on television in 1972 when I was twelve, and have lost count of how many times I have seen it since then. Dyer must have had the same experience, and his comments are both hilarious, surreal and incisive. I was laughing out loud.
If you like the movie, then you need to read this book.
September 27, 2024
An enjoyable and often funny commentary canter through the favourite film of many a man of a certain age. Witty asides and knowing observations make for a pleasing reminiscence of this action-packed slice of 1960s double dealing and ww2 mayhem from opening to closing credits. If you are one of the many who love this film, then read this little book.
January 7, 2019
For those of us of a certain age (late 50s) this scene by scene deconstruction of the absurdities, inconsistencies and sheer enjoyment of multiple partial viewings of “Were Eagles Dare” over the past 50 years is a constant delight. As the author reminds us, Maclean’s thrillers, though compulsory reading as a 14 year old, are virtually impossible to re-read with any seriousness although I have taken a shine to several of his contemporaries whom I sadly overlooked in the 1970s, Gavin Lyall, Ted Allbeury, Francis Clifford and especially Victor Canning.
Maclean’s narrative is not helped by the book being a novelisation of his own screenplay but the film is implausibly magnificent. Finding someone else who is happy to point out the nonsensical plot and still admit to finding it compulsively watchable is gratifying indeed. Clint Eastwood “squinting in German”!
I was lucky enough to meet the “character of such unrepentant Nazi-ness...” Derren Nesbitt not long after the film came out. He was opening a Traction Engine Rally near Exmouth, and he admitted to being slightly injured during filming by an explosive blood capsule that that irritated his eye. Bravely he didn’t let either setback prevent his career progression. We had Richard Attenborough the following year and look what he did afterwards.
Maclean’s narrative is not helped by the book being a novelisation of his own screenplay but the film is implausibly magnificent. Finding someone else who is happy to point out the nonsensical plot and still admit to finding it compulsively watchable is gratifying indeed. Clint Eastwood “squinting in German”!
I was lucky enough to meet the “character of such unrepentant Nazi-ness...” Derren Nesbitt not long after the film came out. He was opening a Traction Engine Rally near Exmouth, and he admitted to being slightly injured during filming by an explosive blood capsule that that irritated his eye. Bravely he didn’t let either setback prevent his career progression. We had Richard Attenborough the following year and look what he did afterwards.
October 9, 2018
I loved Broadsword Calling Danny Boy. It’s funny, affectionate but knowing and rather insightful in places.
Fairly obviously, this is written for people who know the film Where Eagles Dare and preferably who love it – a group which includes most of us who were teenage boys when it came out in late 1968. I still remember seeing it for the first time at the cinema, and, for example, the roar of laughter when Richard Burton announces that he has uncovered a plot to assassinate the Führer. Geoff Dyer approaches the film in the same way – loving its absurdities while pointing them out and relishing the gleeful excitement, dated attitudes and haircuts and so much else. He made me laugh regularly, while also providing some genuinely interesting and illuminating background. He perhaps dwells a little too much on Burton’s drinking and fading-star status, but otherwise I think he gets the tone just right.
Not all reviewers agree with me; several don’t share Dyer’s sense of humour, for example, but I found it a delight, which also has the immense merit of being under 130 pages long and not over-stretching itself. Personally, I can recommend this very warmly.
(My thanks to Penguin Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)
Fairly obviously, this is written for people who know the film Where Eagles Dare and preferably who love it – a group which includes most of us who were teenage boys when it came out in late 1968. I still remember seeing it for the first time at the cinema, and, for example, the roar of laughter when Richard Burton announces that he has uncovered a plot to assassinate the Führer. Geoff Dyer approaches the film in the same way – loving its absurdities while pointing them out and relishing the gleeful excitement, dated attitudes and haircuts and so much else. He made me laugh regularly, while also providing some genuinely interesting and illuminating background. He perhaps dwells a little too much on Burton’s drinking and fading-star status, but otherwise I think he gets the tone just right.
Not all reviewers agree with me; several don’t share Dyer’s sense of humour, for example, but I found it a delight, which also has the immense merit of being under 130 pages long and not over-stretching itself. Personally, I can recommend this very warmly.
(My thanks to Penguin Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)
December 17, 2019
"Now, I've seen Where Eagles Dare close to a couple of dozen times. It is, to the undying little boy within, the greatest "guilty" pleasure in all movie history. To further amaze, I'm not the only brainy little kid on this cable car. Among my fellow passengers are the distinguished critic Clive James; Man Booker Prize winning author Michael Ondaatje (author of The English Patient); the effervescent New Yorker critic Anthony Lane; and Steven Spielberg, who called Where Eagles Dare his favorite "war movie" (which it really isn't, as it lacks the necessary seriousness).
Another fan piling into that merry little gondola up the mountain is distinguished critic and novelist Geoff Dyer who has done something your everyday highbrow would regard as far-fetched as the movie's absurd plot - write a book, a whole book, about Where Eagles Dare."
Feel free to read the rest of my review on Medium via the link below: Thanks!
https://medium.com/@Thomburchfield/high-old-times-where-eagles-dare-99ac37452de9?source=friends_link&sk=23559e7ec2c0769a37bcec4014333efe
Another fan piling into that merry little gondola up the mountain is distinguished critic and novelist Geoff Dyer who has done something your everyday highbrow would regard as far-fetched as the movie's absurd plot - write a book, a whole book, about Where Eagles Dare."
Feel free to read the rest of my review on Medium via the link below: Thanks!
https://medium.com/@Thomburchfield/high-old-times-where-eagles-dare-99ac37452de9?source=friends_link&sk=23559e7ec2c0769a37bcec4014333efe
October 27, 2018
Where Eagles Dare is a guilty pleasure. A movie I loved as a teenager even with its gaping plot holes. I wrongly thought this would be a love letter to the movie but alas this was anything but.
'Broadsword Calling Danny Boy' started off well but soon the narrative and childish jibes wore thin. I rejoiced that thankfully this book is just a small read.
BCDB felt like Geoff was telling his mates about his fantasies with regards the 2 major female characters. For example and I quote:
'Heidi wearing a Boxing Day dress with holly green and red berry trimmings, shows Mary the various espionage tools she' stored away. If one had the skill. this sequence could be digitally amended so that the accessories stashed away by this original agent provocateur - pistols, binoculars - included a selection of sex toys.'
For those who claim this is a hilarious book I can only assume Mr Dyer's humour must be some kind of upper class Oxbridge literati humour that working class Welsh boys just don't get.
Wasted opportunity here for those who enjoyed the movie.
'Broadsword Calling Danny Boy' started off well but soon the narrative and childish jibes wore thin. I rejoiced that thankfully this book is just a small read.
BCDB felt like Geoff was telling his mates about his fantasies with regards the 2 major female characters. For example and I quote:
'Heidi wearing a Boxing Day dress with holly green and red berry trimmings, shows Mary the various espionage tools she' stored away. If one had the skill. this sequence could be digitally amended so that the accessories stashed away by this original agent provocateur - pistols, binoculars - included a selection of sex toys.'
For those who claim this is a hilarious book I can only assume Mr Dyer's humour must be some kind of upper class Oxbridge literati humour that working class Welsh boys just don't get.
Wasted opportunity here for those who enjoyed the movie.
March 10, 2022
I really enjoyed “Zona”, Dyer’s fine analysis of Tarkovsky’s “Stalker”. Dyer took its source seriously, and wrote a deep analysis of the film, director, and the “meaning” of the film in addition to the plot (there is not much of one). Hoping for the same depth of analysis, I snapped up a cheap copy of this, a book about the movie “Where Eagles Dare”. I watched the film (for the first time — it was better than I expected it to be) and read most of the book the next day. It’ essentially a “fondly snarky” commentary track of the film, but not much more. A knowledge of the lives of Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood is assumed to get much of the humor. Granted, Dyer states right off that Stalker is one of the best films ever made, where Eagles is merely a really good WWII action film that he happens to love, so the difference in tone is understandable. It was fun at first but it’s a long movie and even though the book is a mere 130 pages, I found myself skipping through the last third to get to the end.
November 25, 2018
If you don't know much about the 1969 war thriller/adventure WHERE EAGLES DARE (with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood on a rescue mission to penetrate a German castle fortress atop a snowy peak), then this slight very short read is not for you. Then again, even if you did know about it, it might not be for you. It reads like text from a Mystery Science Theater 3000 script, but written by a very academic British professor who does the odd high toned comedy set at the Erudite Dry Humor and Literary Reference Pub. The author goes through the entire film from opening credits to the twisty end and riffs on how much he loves it while poking fun at the proceedings. It's done with lots of love and nostalgia. It's an eccentric read, but only for fans of this classic war mission film.
January 4, 2020
3.5 Stars!
The good thing about this is that I have never seen the movie before. The bad thing about this is that I have never seen the movie before. I am a huge fan of Dyer and anything of his, particularly in non-fiction always makes for good to great reading. This short book is really a long-form essay, a fan letter to one of his favourite films from his formative years, which he admits that he was too ashamed to declare his love for in public before.
This has many of the classic Dyer traits (hey isn’t that a band?) in it, though it is definitely not for everyone, but it should appeal to his long-term fans. It can be a little hard to follow, especially if you haven’t seen the film before, but overall this was an enjoyable read which had quite a few funny parts here and there.
January 21, 2019
Effectively an extended comic riff/essay on the eponymous staple of Xmas TV.
I smugly got all the pretentious contemporary art references, (Mr & Mr Becher, Thomas Struth, Candida Hofer etc.) but it wasn’t ultimately as funny as it’s meant to be.
I smugly got all the pretentious contemporary art references, (Mr & Mr Becher, Thomas Struth, Candida Hofer etc.) but it wasn’t ultimately as funny as it’s meant to be.
March 4, 2019
Oh Geoff Dyer, you always make strange obsessions seem completely normal!
Now I'm going to watch the movie and later this week I'm going to see him give a presentation based on the book, including scenes from the movie, and as far as I'm concerned this is heaven.
Now I'm going to watch the movie and later this week I'm going to see him give a presentation based on the book, including scenes from the movie, and as far as I'm concerned this is heaven.
March 1, 2022
Fun, fannish, a little fancy at times but never less than likeable - the perfect love letter to the ultimate guys-on-a-mission movie.
August 18, 2021
There was a moment towards the end of Broadsword Calling Danny Boy, Geoff Dyer's unusual riff-strewn commentary on the classic war film Where Eagles Dare, that would have made the book a five-star read if it had been the sort of content delivered on every page. Narrating the chaotic escape of Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood and Mary Ure in the final big set-piece of the movie, a gloriously over-the-top pell-mell of screeching tyres, machine-gun bursts and explosions, Dyer writes:
"They are outlaws now, freedom fighters opposed to the racist policies of the Third Reich, indifferent to any and all rules of the road except those mandated by the need to escape. Adam and Eve should have bolted from Eden like this, trashing the place and exiting at speed, leaving their Alpine paradise behind like a frosty ruin rather than skulking out, heads in hands, so that we would not be left, thousands of years later, harking back to some blissful condition of lost innocence and peace." (pp100-1)
This sort of William Bolitho-like flourish, had it been more frequent, would have gone a long way in justifying reading a book that otherwise seems completely pointless. Dyer's short, essayistic book is a scene-by-scene commentary of a Sixties action film, often little more than a plot synopsis with added riffs. Why? We are certainly entitled to ask. It's nice work if you can get it, to be sure, but there's no critique of the film or its place in cinema, no 'making-of' titbits or behind-the-scenes information, and no real insight or interpretation. There's not even a wider discussion of war movies (I love wider discussion of war movies), not even in a shallow, blokey sense. Only riffs, often stale. The mix is so eccentric that when Dyer writes that Burton had it written in his contract that he, not Eastwood, "had to have the last word, that the last bullets fired in the film had to come from his gun" (pg. 106), I wasn't sure if he was delivering a real piece of trivia or still just riffing.
Eccentricity can often transmute into entertainment, and sometimes Dyer's riffs are amusing. Noting how often war movies involve storming an impregnable enemy fortress, Dyer writes that "by the time I was twelve the idea of the impregnable had been so thoroughly impregnated by notions of pregnability that to describe a place as impregnable was to suggest its extreme vulnerability to infiltration and attack" (pg. 6). But more often, they're not amusing: most notably, Dyer adds a lot of unwelcome sex-toy seediness to the film's outdated but harmless depiction of women. A dig at Brexit is pointless and, along with a few studiously off-the-cuff allusions to more artsy cinema, suggests Dyer looks down somewhat on the happy audience of the film. An attempt on pages 108-9 to recast Where Eagles Dare as an inadvertent demonstration of Continental superiority (the heroes choose to use reliable German vehicles, uniforms and weaponry, while the sole British-made gun misfires impotently at a crucial moment) not only labours the point but is disingenuous in order to make the bit work. You see, the heroes use German weapons and a German plane because they're supposed to be undercover (despite everything getting a bit loud and explode-y), and the British-made gun misfires because a character has deliberately removed the firing pin.
Regardless, Dyer for the most part gets into the outlandish spirit of the film – "why open something when you can smash it?" (pg. 100) could have been its unofficial motto – though you'd no doubt have a much more entertaining couple of hours if you just watched the film itself. Dyer does well to avoid discussion of the Alistair MacLean novel that was written parallel to the film – "unreadably bad", he rightly says (pg. 117) – and the capable juxtaposition of the explode-y nonsense of the film with its Shakespearean title and lead actor suggests that Dyer retains enough love for his childhood favourite to try and attach some method to its madness. It might not be essential reading – not even close – but a writer who can seamlessly work Philip Larkin into a discussion of the proper way for a commando to silently kill a German with a knife (pg. 41) is a writer who will always inspire some degree of fondness. A lot of Dyer's riffs may go awry, but most of the bullets in the film missed too, and yet it was still a lot of fun to see them sprayed everywhere.
"They are outlaws now, freedom fighters opposed to the racist policies of the Third Reich, indifferent to any and all rules of the road except those mandated by the need to escape. Adam and Eve should have bolted from Eden like this, trashing the place and exiting at speed, leaving their Alpine paradise behind like a frosty ruin rather than skulking out, heads in hands, so that we would not be left, thousands of years later, harking back to some blissful condition of lost innocence and peace." (pp100-1)
This sort of William Bolitho-like flourish, had it been more frequent, would have gone a long way in justifying reading a book that otherwise seems completely pointless. Dyer's short, essayistic book is a scene-by-scene commentary of a Sixties action film, often little more than a plot synopsis with added riffs. Why? We are certainly entitled to ask. It's nice work if you can get it, to be sure, but there's no critique of the film or its place in cinema, no 'making-of' titbits or behind-the-scenes information, and no real insight or interpretation. There's not even a wider discussion of war movies (I love wider discussion of war movies), not even in a shallow, blokey sense. Only riffs, often stale. The mix is so eccentric that when Dyer writes that Burton had it written in his contract that he, not Eastwood, "had to have the last word, that the last bullets fired in the film had to come from his gun" (pg. 106), I wasn't sure if he was delivering a real piece of trivia or still just riffing.
Eccentricity can often transmute into entertainment, and sometimes Dyer's riffs are amusing. Noting how often war movies involve storming an impregnable enemy fortress, Dyer writes that "by the time I was twelve the idea of the impregnable had been so thoroughly impregnated by notions of pregnability that to describe a place as impregnable was to suggest its extreme vulnerability to infiltration and attack" (pg. 6). But more often, they're not amusing: most notably, Dyer adds a lot of unwelcome sex-toy seediness to the film's outdated but harmless depiction of women. A dig at Brexit is pointless and, along with a few studiously off-the-cuff allusions to more artsy cinema, suggests Dyer looks down somewhat on the happy audience of the film. An attempt on pages 108-9 to recast Where Eagles Dare as an inadvertent demonstration of Continental superiority (the heroes choose to use reliable German vehicles, uniforms and weaponry, while the sole British-made gun misfires impotently at a crucial moment) not only labours the point but is disingenuous in order to make the bit work. You see, the heroes use German weapons and a German plane because they're supposed to be undercover (despite everything getting a bit loud and explode-y), and the British-made gun misfires because a character has deliberately removed the firing pin.
Regardless, Dyer for the most part gets into the outlandish spirit of the film – "why open something when you can smash it?" (pg. 100) could have been its unofficial motto – though you'd no doubt have a much more entertaining couple of hours if you just watched the film itself. Dyer does well to avoid discussion of the Alistair MacLean novel that was written parallel to the film – "unreadably bad", he rightly says (pg. 117) – and the capable juxtaposition of the explode-y nonsense of the film with its Shakespearean title and lead actor suggests that Dyer retains enough love for his childhood favourite to try and attach some method to its madness. It might not be essential reading – not even close – but a writer who can seamlessly work Philip Larkin into a discussion of the proper way for a commando to silently kill a German with a knife (pg. 41) is a writer who will always inspire some degree of fondness. A lot of Dyer's riffs may go awry, but most of the bullets in the film missed too, and yet it was still a lot of fun to see them sprayed everywhere.
May 10, 2021
"Broadsword Calling Danny Boy" by Geoff Dyer; Pantheon: New York; $22.00
Sometimes it is just fun to read a book! I mean laughing fun. Geoff Dyer, eclectic author of many award winning books like Zona and Out of Sheer Rage, currently the writer in residence at the University of Southern California, also has many honorifics in literature from around the world as well. And well he might because he brings a vast array of film and literary expertise and wisdom to bear on his study of the movie, Where Eagles Dare.
In this retrospective on that now 50 year old film, Dyer is witty, imaginative, funny, insightful, and a true pleasure to read and enjoy. I say enjoy in the sense that he dissects with gusto and humor this film, based on a novel by adventure/ thriller writer Alistair MacLean. Dyer, like me, was enamored of MacLean's writing when he was a boy. Where Eagles Dare translated into a movie which certainly fit the bill for thrills as well as double dealing by sneaky Nazis. Oh, it was not a touching, meaningful art film that would win awards for nuance. Rather it was one of the very first to introduce what we now see at standards for the genre of Nazi-adventure-explosives-ridden 'drama'.
Where Eagles Dare is the story of a secret mission. British commandos are to rescue a captured Allied general held in a secret castle somewhere in Germany. If that were all this secret mission entailed! Twists, turns, and double crosses abound. Dyer gleefully shows Richard Burton, the team commander, to be a merry scamp whose loyalties are a sight to behold. His deputy, American Ranger (no explanation on how he got into this unit) Clint Eastwood develops his sole talent facial 'squint' to perfection. He employs his accessorized Schmeisser machine gun to great advantage at seemingly every 10 minute interval to lay waste to whole squadrons of Nazis. And there are plenty of Nazis who live up to the evil 'we have our ways' voice stereotype which wasn't popularized until this movie came around. The revelations of traitors in the commando squad, of traitors in the Nazi entourage, and devilish double dealings kept 12 year old boys like me riveted when I read this book many years ago. The movie made it better. Laugh along with the witty explanation of the multi-vehicular chases, escapes, and 'getaways' which were also relatively new. You'll have a great time.
Sometimes it is just fun to read a book! I mean laughing fun. Geoff Dyer, eclectic author of many award winning books like Zona and Out of Sheer Rage, currently the writer in residence at the University of Southern California, also has many honorifics in literature from around the world as well. And well he might because he brings a vast array of film and literary expertise and wisdom to bear on his study of the movie, Where Eagles Dare.
In this retrospective on that now 50 year old film, Dyer is witty, imaginative, funny, insightful, and a true pleasure to read and enjoy. I say enjoy in the sense that he dissects with gusto and humor this film, based on a novel by adventure/ thriller writer Alistair MacLean. Dyer, like me, was enamored of MacLean's writing when he was a boy. Where Eagles Dare translated into a movie which certainly fit the bill for thrills as well as double dealing by sneaky Nazis. Oh, it was not a touching, meaningful art film that would win awards for nuance. Rather it was one of the very first to introduce what we now see at standards for the genre of Nazi-adventure-explosives-ridden 'drama'.
Where Eagles Dare is the story of a secret mission. British commandos are to rescue a captured Allied general held in a secret castle somewhere in Germany. If that were all this secret mission entailed! Twists, turns, and double crosses abound. Dyer gleefully shows Richard Burton, the team commander, to be a merry scamp whose loyalties are a sight to behold. His deputy, American Ranger (no explanation on how he got into this unit) Clint Eastwood develops his sole talent facial 'squint' to perfection. He employs his accessorized Schmeisser machine gun to great advantage at seemingly every 10 minute interval to lay waste to whole squadrons of Nazis. And there are plenty of Nazis who live up to the evil 'we have our ways' voice stereotype which wasn't popularized until this movie came around. The revelations of traitors in the commando squad, of traitors in the Nazi entourage, and devilish double dealings kept 12 year old boys like me riveted when I read this book many years ago. The movie made it better. Laugh along with the witty explanation of the multi-vehicular chases, escapes, and 'getaways' which were also relatively new. You'll have a great time.
March 5, 2019
A solid three stars for an admirably executed experimental work that I would have been proud to have had ghost-written myself. The results of the experiment have been adequately documented by others (see, for example, Heidigger et al, Annals der Literschrifen, 2017 (6;3)), so I will not detail them here, but instead concentrate on the possibility of extending Dyer's concept. In case you are struggling to follow, I should say that Broadsword Calling Danny Boy is a scene-by-scene description of the film of the book Where Eagles Dare interspersed with the author's opinions and observations on a myriad of topics more or less connected with the descriptive narrative. It is, therefore, a book about a film of a book. What, I wondered, might a great post-modernist author (modesty forbids me from saying simply 'I') make of the idea of writing a book about Broadsword Calling Danny Boy-a book about a book about a film about a book? Just as Dyer describes each scene in the film, spicing his description with what are intended to be humorous interjections, perhaps I could write a page by page summary of Dyer's book, with my own, vastly funnier and more original observations. Indeed, having published the work, and accepted the plaudits of an astonished literary world, what would be to stop me writing a page by page review of my own book? We would then have a book about a book about a book about a film of a book. And perhaps, then, some entrepreneurial documentary maker could make a film about how I had written my latest masterwork, thus creating the film about the book about the book about the book about the film about the book. And then...
Nurses enter room, administer drugs, patient wheeled away for further treatments.
Nurses enter room, administer drugs, patient wheeled away for further treatments.
March 20, 2020
Where Eagles Dare is one of the genre-defining movies. It’s the ne plus ultra, almost perfect crystallization of the WWII action film, and rightly called by Tarantino the best guys-on-a-mission movie. A tightrope act between the implausible and the absurd. Breathtaking scenery and stunts. A suicide mission behind enemy lines to a vertiginous Nazi castle “where eagles dare not perch.”
Alistair MacLean gives the plot more twists than a dreadlock, stocks it with the full set of menacing Nazis and stormtroopers who are terrible shots, and an astonishing array of transportation modes for the infiltration and getaway: Junker airplanes, parachutes, motorcycle sidecars, trucks, a cable cars, cable car roofs, rappelling ropes, and a snowplow bus, all of them thru snow and slush.
As much as I love this film it’s even better accompanied by Geoff Dyer’s 'Broadsword Calling Danny Boy'. Dyer is one of the England’s best writers, and his book-length study/memoir/commentary on Tarkovsky’s Stalker called Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room transformed my understanding of the film, and film. Here he takes a lighter approach to his second favorite movie. The book is essentially a personal, often hilarious audio commentary to Where Eagles Dare. I listened to the audiobook on earbuds while rewatching the film, pausing each as necessary for the other to catch up. It’s like watching a favorite movie with a much funnier, smarter friend.
November 22, 2018
A Wonderful, Reverent and Comic Review of the Classic Film “Where Eagles Dare”:
This is a delightful trip down memory lane for those of us who regard “Where Eagles Dare” as one of the best adventure films ever made.
Dyer’s affection for the film is obvious from the start as he provides an in-depth commentary on "Where Eagles Dare": scene by scene, actor by actor, and dissects the plot. Nothing escapes his witty pen as he reverentially analyses this endearing film. Most, if not all, of the intended readership of this book, will have seen the film. Probably many times over. And Dyer relies on the reader’s familiarity with the film throughout. Dyer’s review focuses on the sublime and the ridiculous which when combined with inspired directorship made this film the classic it became. Messrs Burton and Eastwood’s rivalry in their rôles as they vie for acclaim as the leading actor don’t escape Dyer’s wit. Dyer takes the film apart in a way only a film critic of his calibre can.
The book makes for an engrossing read and will no doubt entice many readers into watching that classic Alpine WWII movie yet again. Highly readable and short, the book serves as a fitting tribute as the film approaches its 50th Anniversary. Incredible to think that it’s now that old. Mind you, as Dyer points out, some of the more ridiculous scenes are a homily to the classic adventure films made in the 1960’s: a golden age. If you enjoyed “Where Eagles Dare” then you will definitely enjoy Geoff Dyer’s light-hearted book.
(My review was based on an eBook file provided to me by the publisher. My review is totally independent.)
This is a delightful trip down memory lane for those of us who regard “Where Eagles Dare” as one of the best adventure films ever made.
Dyer’s affection for the film is obvious from the start as he provides an in-depth commentary on "Where Eagles Dare": scene by scene, actor by actor, and dissects the plot. Nothing escapes his witty pen as he reverentially analyses this endearing film. Most, if not all, of the intended readership of this book, will have seen the film. Probably many times over. And Dyer relies on the reader’s familiarity with the film throughout. Dyer’s review focuses on the sublime and the ridiculous which when combined with inspired directorship made this film the classic it became. Messrs Burton and Eastwood’s rivalry in their rôles as they vie for acclaim as the leading actor don’t escape Dyer’s wit. Dyer takes the film apart in a way only a film critic of his calibre can.
The book makes for an engrossing read and will no doubt entice many readers into watching that classic Alpine WWII movie yet again. Highly readable and short, the book serves as a fitting tribute as the film approaches its 50th Anniversary. Incredible to think that it’s now that old. Mind you, as Dyer points out, some of the more ridiculous scenes are a homily to the classic adventure films made in the 1960’s: a golden age. If you enjoyed “Where Eagles Dare” then you will definitely enjoy Geoff Dyer’s light-hearted book.
(My review was based on an eBook file provided to me by the publisher. My review is totally independent.)
March 23, 2024
Writer and critic Geoff Dyer serves up a scene-by-scene analysis of the classic war movie, ‘Where Eagles Dare’ highlighting his favourite scenes as well as commenting on some of the actors’ proclivities – such as Richard Burton’s drinking, and Clint Eastwood’s stock-in-trade expressions.
‘Where Eagles Dare’ is one of my all-time favourite movies and has been since I first saw it as a teenager. It’s fair to say that parts of the film went over my head (such as the whole thing about the notebooks), but having now watched it a trillion times, I didn’t think there was much left that I didn’t know. However, Geoff Dyer’s approach is to lay out the movie scene-by-scene, dropping in details like how Richard Burton managed to effortlessly scale the castle walls as if mountaineering was something he did every day. Dyer manages to throw in dozens of literary and filmic links to the movie, as well as pointing out plot holes and various activities that make no sense in terms of the story.
Like Mr Dyer, I too read loads of Desmond Bagley books but for some reason I never got around to Alistair MacLean (on whose book the movie was based). In the final section of ‘Broadsword Calling Danny Boy’ Dyer explains his reasons behind writing the book and also reveals that he now finds MacLean’s thrillers unreadable. Looking them up on Amazon, I have to agree and am glad I didn’t waste my time on them.
Despite its shortcomings, ‘Where Eagles Dare’ is still a great film and reading this little book was as entertaining and insightful as watching the film with Burton and Eastwood by my side.
‘Where Eagles Dare’ is one of my all-time favourite movies and has been since I first saw it as a teenager. It’s fair to say that parts of the film went over my head (such as the whole thing about the notebooks), but having now watched it a trillion times, I didn’t think there was much left that I didn’t know. However, Geoff Dyer’s approach is to lay out the movie scene-by-scene, dropping in details like how Richard Burton managed to effortlessly scale the castle walls as if mountaineering was something he did every day. Dyer manages to throw in dozens of literary and filmic links to the movie, as well as pointing out plot holes and various activities that make no sense in terms of the story.
Like Mr Dyer, I too read loads of Desmond Bagley books but for some reason I never got around to Alistair MacLean (on whose book the movie was based). In the final section of ‘Broadsword Calling Danny Boy’ Dyer explains his reasons behind writing the book and also reveals that he now finds MacLean’s thrillers unreadable. Looking them up on Amazon, I have to agree and am glad I didn’t waste my time on them.
Despite its shortcomings, ‘Where Eagles Dare’ is still a great film and reading this little book was as entertaining and insightful as watching the film with Burton and Eastwood by my side.
April 9, 2024
This book will only appeal to those who have a) seen and b) enjoyed (ideally several times) the 1968 movie Where Eagles Dare. For those who haven't, this book is meaningless. For those who have and like it, this book is a joyful and hilarious retelling of a classic overblown and strange action story filled with much scenery chewing and ridiculous plot points. Geoff Dyer is a clearly a fan, and this scene-by-scene recap, complete with critiques and historical digressions, reflects his true love of the movie. In places, it is laugh-out-loud hilarious, without taking itself or the film too seriously.
The book is also a great example of "meta", that strange concept of almost hyper self-awareness in films or stories. Where Eagles Dare was originally written as both a screenplay and an accompanying novelization. For Dyer to have novelized the film with awareness of both the screenplay and novel, as well as the subsequent 50 years of analysis and criticism, makes it almost a parody of itself.
The originating author of Where Eagles Dare is one Alistair MacLean, a Scottish novelist whose larger-than-real action thrillers were apparently legendary for teenage boys of the 70s and who contributed other classics of film including Force 10 from Navarone, Ice Station Zebra, and Breakheart Pass. In an understatement worthy of himself (another meta point perhaps), a biography of MacLean states that his later novel were less popular as, "...he sometimes lapsed into unduly improbable plots."
The book is also a great example of "meta", that strange concept of almost hyper self-awareness in films or stories. Where Eagles Dare was originally written as both a screenplay and an accompanying novelization. For Dyer to have novelized the film with awareness of both the screenplay and novel, as well as the subsequent 50 years of analysis and criticism, makes it almost a parody of itself.
The originating author of Where Eagles Dare is one Alistair MacLean, a Scottish novelist whose larger-than-real action thrillers were apparently legendary for teenage boys of the 70s and who contributed other classics of film including Force 10 from Navarone, Ice Station Zebra, and Breakheart Pass. In an understatement worthy of himself (another meta point perhaps), a biography of MacLean states that his later novel were less popular as, "...he sometimes lapsed into unduly improbable plots."
October 29, 2018
Coming from Pantheon Books in February 2019
A few years ago Geoff Dyer wrote a book called ZONA, an analysis of Andrei Tarkovsky's movie Stalker. He says in his new book "it was...absolutely the only film to which a book could be devoted." There have been many books published recently that are devoted to a particular film -- one on High Noon, one on Pride of the Yankees, and the whole BFI series. None of them are anything like BROADSWORD CALLING DANNY BOY. Dyer loves the action film Where Eagles Dare passionately, but he also realizes that the movie is inordinately silly. In this book, he tackles both sides of that equation. This is almost like reading a conspiracy theorists view on movies. Armed with intellectual citations and references to art, Dyer takes on the personality differences between the two stars of the film; Richard Burton, the bossy one, and Clint Eastwood, the killer. Dyer is quick to point out that the 1969 film is a cross between The Dirty Dozen (a film of which he does not approve) and The Guns of Navarone (like Eagles, based on an Alistair McLean novel). This book is flat out hysterical, yet in its way its also loving. The best way to enjoy both film and book is to watch one in the afternoon and read the other at night (fear not, it's short). I doubt that I will ever watch Where Eagles Dare again, but if I do I will be watching it through Dyer's informed eyes.
A few years ago Geoff Dyer wrote a book called ZONA, an analysis of Andrei Tarkovsky's movie Stalker. He says in his new book "it was...absolutely the only film to which a book could be devoted." There have been many books published recently that are devoted to a particular film -- one on High Noon, one on Pride of the Yankees, and the whole BFI series. None of them are anything like BROADSWORD CALLING DANNY BOY. Dyer loves the action film Where Eagles Dare passionately, but he also realizes that the movie is inordinately silly. In this book, he tackles both sides of that equation. This is almost like reading a conspiracy theorists view on movies. Armed with intellectual citations and references to art, Dyer takes on the personality differences between the two stars of the film; Richard Burton, the bossy one, and Clint Eastwood, the killer. Dyer is quick to point out that the 1969 film is a cross between The Dirty Dozen (a film of which he does not approve) and The Guns of Navarone (like Eagles, based on an Alistair McLean novel). This book is flat out hysterical, yet in its way its also loving. The best way to enjoy both film and book is to watch one in the afternoon and read the other at night (fear not, it's short). I doubt that I will ever watch Where Eagles Dare again, but if I do I will be watching it through Dyer's informed eyes.
December 31, 2020
I love this film. It's firmly lodged in my brain as a classic 'Christmas Film' not that it's particularly festive (although it does have lots of snow) but because it was a staple of the BBC schedules, along with a Ustinov Poirot and a Bond.
It's also one of Geoff Dyer's favourite films, but categorising what he's trying to do with this slim, eminently readable tome is tricksy. It's not just a background primer or a critical review. Neither is it the story of the making of the film or even the scripts.
The best I can come up with is it's like one of those conversations you have in the first weeks of university, several bottles of wine down, when you're trying to make friends AND show you are the best/most expert at something. For Dyer that something is 'Love of Where Eagles Dare'.
It's difficult to keep track of all the references (he's definitely the film nerd every hall of residence has), but this is essentially him drunkenly explaining the narrative of the film, with all the love, passion, conversational side-tracks and cul de sacs the best of these sort of conversations have.
It's a thing of fanboy beauty and I now need to rewatch Eastwood and Burton in action just so I can follow Dyer's adoring meanderings.
It's also one of Geoff Dyer's favourite films, but categorising what he's trying to do with this slim, eminently readable tome is tricksy. It's not just a background primer or a critical review. Neither is it the story of the making of the film or even the scripts.
The best I can come up with is it's like one of those conversations you have in the first weeks of university, several bottles of wine down, when you're trying to make friends AND show you are the best/most expert at something. For Dyer that something is 'Love of Where Eagles Dare'.
It's difficult to keep track of all the references (he's definitely the film nerd every hall of residence has), but this is essentially him drunkenly explaining the narrative of the film, with all the love, passion, conversational side-tracks and cul de sacs the best of these sort of conversations have.
It's a thing of fanboy beauty and I now need to rewatch Eastwood and Burton in action just so I can follow Dyer's adoring meanderings.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews