Underplayed Gems

The Eiger Sanction (1975)

The Eiger Sanction poster
Directed by
Clint Eastwood
Genre
action film, thriller film
Country
United States
Runtime
2h 03m
Rated
R
Rating
6.1 of 10 from 456 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

A retired assassin who now works as an art professor is blackmailed into taking one last killing job. He joins a mountain climbing team in the Swiss Alps, where the mission and his own survival become intertwined.

tenseslow-burnbleakmethodicalcoolsuspensefulvisceralmoody

What happens

The Eiger Sanction is a 1975 American action film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. Based on the 1972 novel The Eiger Sanction by Trevanian, the film is about Jonathan Hemlock, an art history professor, mountain climber, and former assassin once employed by a secret government agency, who is blackmailed into returning to his deadly profession for one last mission. Hemlock agrees to join an international climbing team in Switzerland which is planning an ascent of the Eiger north face to avenge the murder of an old friend. The Eiger Sanction was produced by Robert Daley for Eastwood's Malpaso Company, with Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown as executive producers, and co-starred George Kennedy, Vonetta McGee, and Jack Cassidy. Principal photography started on August 12, 1974, and ended in late September 1974. The picture was filmed on location on the Eiger mountain and Zürich in Switzerland, in Monument Valley and Zion National Park in the American Southwest, and in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Monterey in California. Special equipment and handheld cameras were employed to film the climbing sequences. Eastwood did his own climbing and stunt work under dangerous conditions. Twenty-six-year-old British climber David Knowles died on the Eiger during the production. The film score was composed by John Williams. The Eiger Sanction was released in New York City on May 21, 1975, and received mixed reviews. The general reaction among many reviewers offered criticism of the story and screenplay, and praise for the climbing footage and action sequences. The film, which was made with a budget of $9 million, earned $14.2 million at the box office. The Eiger Sanction was first released on DVD in 1998 and on Blu-ray in 2015 by Universal Studios. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.