For all of the above though, 'Where Eagles Dare' is far from being a great film. Director Brian G Hutton, who would reteam with Eastwood and World War II for 'Kelly's Heroes', struggles with the epic length of the film, and fails to unravel the absurd complexities of Macleans screenplay.

A running time of 158 minutes suggests that all is not going to be that simple, and Maclean has delivered a story that boasts triple and quadruple crosses, and a plot so convoluted that one wonders what the point of it all was come the end. It is a good excuse for some rollicking action, but try and examine the logic of the movie and it will unravel before you. I advise you to have a pen and piece of paper ready about midway through the movie, or to make sure that you have friends and family with you in order to play the 'Whos working for who' game.

Going in it's favour are a couple of top notch lead performances. Burton actually seems interested in the project and is all trademark snarls and contempt. Eastwood delivers the usual Eastwood role, and yes he may as well be in a poncho clasping a cigar between his lips, but it works, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Mary Ure and Ingrid Pitt both get to provide strong female support roles, and it must be said that Miss Pitt has alot to need supporting, ahem, but they are unusually strong roles for both an action picture and one made in the 1960s. Scattered about Burton and Eastwood are a mixture of familiar British character actors, who while entertaining are given little to do other than sit about in sets while Burton and Eastwood destroy acre after acre of Austrian countryside.

Hutton is clearly at his best with the action material, occasionally shines with the characters interplaying, but mostly captures events like we're watching a live storyboard. It is often possible to sit and imagine the pencil lines on screen as Hutton ponderously blocks out his next sequence. That's the story with 'Eagles' though, a wildly hit and miss affair. The locations are as mentioned wonderful, but when not being nicely lit and photographed by Arthur Ibbetson, we are subjected to some dreadful day for night shooting. Murky blues, the action difficult to pick out, huge sharp shadows, and let us not forget that other staple of 60's cinema. Back projection. There's plenty of that, and considering the dangerous nature of most of the stunts, well, they had little alternative. In line with the rest of the film, some works marvellously, some fails miserably.

Production design is simply superb, with massive chunks of the castle, interior and exterior, being recreated on the sound stages of Borehamwood. Peter Mullins would never get a budget like this again, and his design work makes the most of every penny available to him.