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Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Dearie me, what was Clint Eastwood thinking when he directed/slept-walked his way through this load of tat?? This film is all about the endless rock-climbing scenes and precious little else. Those scenes in question are impressive in themselves and clearly are exceptionally dangerous to film (before the dreaded CGI effects began their invasion). For a start, "The Eiger Sanction" is on for far too long and needed about half an hours worth of footage removed before being unleashed upon an unsuspecting public! The plot hardly makes any sense after the opening 10 minutes and would barely last the running time of one of those B film programmers. The material that there is, tends to stretch credibility somewhat. I really couldn't believe that Clint Eastwood's character could be either a teaching professor or an operative for the C.I.A. Someone should have told the man that such vocations require something resembling intelligence! I rest my case your honour. Regarding the supporting cast, Jack Cassidy is completely wasted in what amounts to an extended cameo and who isn't connected to the plot in any way. The way he tries to cosy up to Eastwood, he wasn't exactly acting! It is George Kennedy who gives by far the best performance, he is like a rock. His loyal and affable character breaths some much needed life into the proceedings. Like a true professional, Kennedy makes the most out of poor material. "The Eiger Sanction" may have rather lavish production values but that doesn't change the fact that this film offers no intrigue or interest of any kind. Eastwood's direction is digestable but nothing more.

Dr. Jonathan Hemlock is a professor of art, a highly skilled mountain climber and a former assassin for the US government. He is lured out of retirement when a former colleague is murdered. The targets: the men who killed his friend. One catch: killing one of them will require him to climb his nemesis, the mountain that he has twice failed to scale: the Eiger.Directed by Clint Eastwood, scenic and action-filled but poorly written and hammily acted. Clumsy script with contrived plot developments, one-dimensional characters and dialogue that is ridiculous at times. Had a few moments when I thought "Did they just say that?". Yes, things were different 40+ years ago but some of the dialogue would have been pretty odd even for the 70s. Going with the one-dimensional characters, some pretty hammy acting. Even Clint Eastwood seems quite unconvincing. He can't blame the director - he was directing himself! This all said, the clumsiness and weakness of script mostly occurs in the first half of the movie - it gets better as it goes along. The cinematography is good, with some great Alpine scenes. Despite the generally badly-written dialogue, there are some good one-liners in there too.Overall, beneath Eastwood's abilities as both director and actor and not worth watching.

Wonderfully photographed story dealing with betrayal , secret agents action , greed and killings . A classical art professor and collector called Jonathan (Clint Eastwood went on a three-day climbing course in Yosemite National Park, then practiced at home for several months) , Hamlock (it is a venom , no less) who doubles as a professional assassin, is coerced out of retirement to avenge the murder of an old friend . He is assigned by Dragon (Thayer David) to discover a killer during a dangerous mountain climbing (in which Clint Eastwood preformed the sequence where his character hangs off the side of a mountain by a cable himself without the use of a stunt doublé) . Meanwhile , a treacherous , gay spy (Jack Cassidy) deceives Hamlock , but the latter seeks vengeance . The premise is the following : one of his team is a killer but who? This thrilling film has suspense , noisy action , outrageously overblown roles , tension and extraordinary climbing images . Beautiful Swiss Alps scenery falls to partially compensate for several dreary lapses , faults , ungodly length (128 minutes) and script's shortcomings . Based on novel by Trevanian , though novelist Rod Whitaker (Trevanian) scorned the film as "vapid" and blamed the production for "the death of a promising young climber" . The shoot marked the last time that anyone was allowed to climb the "Totem Pole" in Monument Valley , in return for permission to film there, climbers with the production had to remove all of the pitons, which had accumulated from years of climbing, on their way down. Exciting final climax does not make up for movies's various gaps and flaws . Clint is pretty good as a college professor by day and superagent by night sent to expose a murderer during a risked mountain climb . Clint Eastwood did all of his own stunts, including the scene where he cuts his safety line over a drop of at least one thousand feet ; the only stunt he did not perform was a 2500-foot drop, for which a dummy was used . He is well accompanied by George Kennedy because of the friendship that they had formed on their previous picture, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974). Good as well as international support cast playing brief interpretations and with silly names , such as Vonetta McGee , Jack Cassidy , Heidi Brühl , Thayer David , Reiner Schöne and special mention to Gregory Walcott as Pope . Very real climbing images as well as perfectly staged scenes , being marvelously photographed in Panavisión by Frank Stanley , he fills the screen with excitement and suspense ; showing outrageously mountain outdoors . Atmospheric and evocative musical score by the great John Williams , pre-Spielberg collaboration .This pseudo-James Bond flick was professionally directed by Clint Eastwood , though being overlong and contains some faults . Filmmaker Eastwood better known for his ¨Dirty Harry¨ series such as : The enforcers , Sudden impact , Deed pool ; he subsequently directed his overtly personal movies such as Unforgiven , The Bridges of Madison County , Mystic River , Million Dollar Baby , Changeling and Gran Torino . The Eiger sanction results to be one of just a handful of Clint Eastwood movies in the spy / espionage genre , the films include Firefox (1982), Absolute power (1997 , and Open fire (1993) . Here Eastwood contribute to create an acceptable film , plenty of opportunities for Clint to strut his climbing skills , it's all in good fun and often unintentionally funny .

The complete lack of political correctness seems to have endeared this film to some and made them overlook its obvious flaws. The characterisation is weak, the plot rambling and the action sequences largely confined to the last and most interesting portion of the film, the only part which actually takes place on the Eiger. It is a pity that the film takes so long to get here and with so many unnecessary digressions (and much silliness), for the mountain sequences (although not as compelling as they could have been) are easily the most convincing part of this so-so thriller.Clint Eastwood plays Hemlock a lecturer with a secret sideline in adventure. In this respect he is like a prototype for Indiana Jones only he's much darker. While Jones merely tries to redeem lost artifacts for the benefits of mankind (and therefore is an unreservedly good character), Hemlock murders people in cold blood to enlarge his own private hoard of expensive artworks. It is therefore difficult to really care whether he succeeds or fails.It actually becomes more difficult to relate to him as the movie progresses. After he leaves his former friend (a camp homosexual wonderfully played by the much missed Jack Cassidy) to die an agonising death in the desert, any sympathy I had for him disappeared. And of course there is the question left 'hanging' (sorry for the pun) at the end as to whether Hemlock has intentionally 'sanctioned' (ie murdered) several innocent people on the Eiger.Apart from such nastiness there is also a great deal of silliness of a formulaic kind. 'Dragon' is Hemlock's boss- he's an albino with an aversion to light who for some inexplicable reason is the head of the American spy network (how did that happen exactly?) He seems to belong to the world of Austin Powers. His sidekick is Pope another crudely drawn caricature. As indeed is Jemima Brown the sort of over-sexed black chick who were frequent in the early 70s blaxplotation cinema. The scenes where she beds Hemlock only to steal his money is one of the many unnecessary detours.