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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/where_eagles_dare_movie_poster_1968_1020493767.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Music/IronMaiden They dared to go, where no one would try! They chose to fly, where eagles dare!]]'']]
3
4->''"Broadsword calling Danny Boy... Broadsword calling Danny Boy, come in, over."''
5-->-- '''John Smith'''
6
7''Where Eagles Dare'' is a seminal 1967 novel by Creator/AlistairMacLean (who also wrote ''Literature/TheGunsOfNavarone''). The following year it was made into an action thriller film directed by Brian G. Hutton and starring Creator/RichardBurton, Creator/ClintEastwood, Mary Ure, Patrick Wymark, Creator/MichaelHordern, Creator/DonaldHouston, Creator/IngridPitt and Creator/AntonDiffring. It follows in the footsteps of ''Film/TheDirtyDozen'' and ''Literature/TheGunsOfNavarone'' as part of a then-new trend in war movies toward eschewing historical accuracy in favor of flashy mowing-down-Nazis action and a high JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient, the better to appeal to a younger generation of moviegoers.
8
9The plot: during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, seven Allied commandos are dropped behind enemy lines in the German Alps, ostensibly to find and rescue a captured American general who's a key player in the plans for D-Day. However, after two of the group's members are killed and the local Nazis are alerted to their presence, it becomes clear to them--and the viewer--that there's a traitor in their midst. Is everyone in the team who they appear to be? No. Can the team accomplish their mission against all odds? Just watch 'em. And how many Nazis can be killed in just one castle anyway? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRHqtbt3ORc A lot.]] (Although that missed a few.)
10
11As with any film involving shady deals and double crossing, spoilers ahead.
12
13----
14!!''Where Tropers Dare'':
15
16* ActionGirl: Mary takes this title by the end of the film, where she and Schaeffer gun down hordes of Nazis from the back of the bus. Also Heidi.
17* AdaptedOut: Inverted -- whereas the book has just one loyal commando who dies early on (Harrod), the film has two (Harrod and [=MacPherson=]).
18* AdaptationNameChange: A few in the movie.
19** [[spoiler:Traitor]] Edward Carraciola is now Ted Berkeley.
20** Gestapo officer Captain von Brauchitsch is Major von Hapen.
21** In a more minor example, Colonel Wyatt-Turner's hyphenated surname is shortened to simply Turner.
22* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: A budding love story between Schaffer and Heidi was cut from the film. Indeed, in the novel Schaffer asks the pilot to arrange for a priest to meet them at the airport.
23* AdjectiveAnimalAlehouse: The team meet Heidi at a tavern called "Zum Wilden Hirsch" (At the [sign of the] Wild Deer)
24%%* AdventureDuo: Smith and Schaffer.
25* AffablyEvil: Rosemeyer is remarkably polite and soft-spoken for a German general, treating Carnaby to a fancy dinner before actually starting the interrogation. Likewise, Kramer isn't your typical sneering SS officer (''that'd'' be von Hapen). The dinner scene emphasizes their wish to be as polite as possible with Carnaby. .... Until he tries their patience, whereupon they prove that no matter how affable they are, they're still bad guys.
26* AmericaWonWorldWarII: Played with. Morris Schaffer, as a Ranger, single-handedly mows his way through two thirds of the Wehrmacht, but it's quite clear that Smith is no slouch in the killing department. [[spoiler:It's also made clear that Schaffer is there only because Smith needs an ally, as the Brits can no longer trust their own team.]]
27* AntiHero:
28** Schaffer kills a number of soldiers in cold blood; in fact, the others tend to leave him to that kind of work, such as when Smith stands back to allow Schaffer to stab the radio operator in the back rather than do it himself. (Although it doesn't go as planned.)
29** Smith's treatment of [[spoiler:Christiansen, Thomas and Berkeley]] after they're outed as Nazi spies is quite cold. Sure, they're traitors, but the manner in which he uses and disposes of them after they're of no further use to him is pretty ruthless, such as sacrificing [[spoiler:Thomas]] to distract the pursuing Germans, and kicking a begging [[spoiler:Christiansen]] off of the cable car. Then again they did murder two of the Allied commandos sent in at the beginning of the mission and tried to cover it up. Not to mention for treason, [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves they'd be executed anyway]].
30* TheAppleFallsFar: Poor [[spoiler:Christiansen]] has a good, long look at just how far he's going to have to fall when Smith kicks him off of the cable car.
31* ArtisticLicenseHistory: In reality Germany had few (if any) effective spies in England (most were promptly caught and many were turned), and none of any significant rank in the military.
32* BadassCrew: Smith, Schaffer and Mary.
33* BattleaxeNurse: The Nazi Fraulein is implied to be this.
34* BatmanGambit: Admiral Rolland's scheme [[spoiler:to uncover the lead mole in England]].
35** Smith getting Kramer to [[spoiler: confirm Turner as being the lead mole by writing his name down and Kramer confirming it, convincing Kramer that Smith knew and thus was indeed a German agent.]] Had Smith and Rolland's suspicions been wrong, the entire operation would have been blown in that instant.
36* BoobyTrap: And how! Smith and Schaffer smuggle enough tripwire/timer-activated TNT into the castle to ... well, blow it and everyone in it into smithereens.
37* BottomlessMagazines: Schaffer fires an [=MP 40=] submachinegun minute after minute, never once reloading for a quarter of the movie. Since there are no convenient ammo trucks following him around, the ammo fairy must be helping out. And it is quite an effective ammo fairy; there are moments where he fires more rounds in a single burst than the weapon can hold.
38* CableCarActionSequence: The most famous movie example. If one does not use a helicopter, then the castle of Werfen can only be accessed via its cable car.
39** Smith and Schaffer [[OutsideRide hop on the roof]] of the cable car as it ascends so they will be able to infiltrate the castle undetected. Schaffer nearly falls from the frozen and slippery roof of the cable car station upon arrival. As he's holding onto his ice axe, Smith [[TakeMyHand takes his hand]] just in time.
40** In the climax, there's a lengthy fight inside the cable car as the heroes escape, complete with jumps between two crossing gondolas and Smith fighting Nazi agents [[spoiler:Christiansen and Berkeley]] on top of it. The movie's posters embellished it also.
41* CarFu: Smith's escape in a snowplough-equipped bus full of machine guns.
42* TheChessmaster: Admiral Rolland and, to a lesser extent, Smith. [[spoiler:The entire operation, right down to finding a lookalike for an American general and shooting his plane down over the right part of Germany was all planned months in advance by Rolland, who confided in Smith and relied on his skills at roulette to see it through to execution.]]
43* CruelMercy: Smith informs the traitor [[spoiler:Colonel Turner]] that if he wants to escape the hangman waiting for him all that badly, he's free to jump out the plane's door. The defeated Colonel [[SelfDisposingVillain seems almost grateful and obliges]].
44* DarkerAndEdgier: [=McLean=]'s novel is considerably less violent than the movie. While plenty of people still get killed in the various shootouts [[spoiler:and Christiansen and Berkeley still die in the cable car fight]], [=McLean=] has the commandos non-fatally disable most of the PunchClockVillain Nazi guards they encounter. Most famously, [[spoiler:Smith rescues a radio operator he'd tied up earlier from burning to death, and, instead of shooting all the high-ranking Nazis at the dinner table, he and Schaffer just inject them with a drug which knocks them out.]]
45* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:''All'' the Germans who survived in the book die in the movie, notably Weissner and his men, and all the high-ranking officers in the dining room.]]
46* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The first line of dialogue is "Our man was brought down at 2 am in the morning."
47* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the book Thomas, Carraciola, and Christiansen attempt to escape in the cable car with Smith on the roof. Carraciola is crushed by the steel suspension arm of the cable car while struggling with Smith on the roof; Thomas and Christiansen fall to their deaths after Smith blows the cable car up with plastic explosive. In the film Christiansen and Berkeley (Carraciola in the novel) are killed by Smith on the cablecar, and Thomas is shot and killed by a German soldier while climbing down a rope.
48* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Capt. Olaf Christiansen is dropped to his death this way. Col. Turner being a British Nazi kills himself this way]].
49* DoubleAgent: [[spoiler:Half of the commando party are double agents working for the Germans. Smith is a ''triple'' agent who's managed to convince the Germans he's a double agent working for them when in fact he's working for British counter-intelligence]].
50* DressingAsTheEnemy: The protagonists dress up as German soldiers in order to infiltrate the fortress.
51* EvenEvilHasStandards: General Rosemeyer and Colonel Kramer hate the thuggish Gestapo "cluttering things up with their torture chambers". This opinion is especially interesting with Kramer, who is an SS officer.
52* EveryCarIsAPinto:
53** Bizarrely, the movie manages to restrain itself from this trope right up until the final scene (despite the usual staples of cars flying off bridges, etc., having already provided ample opportunity for this trope), where one of the Kübelwagens blows up.
54** Played straight in the scene where Smith and Schaffer push Weissner's staff car off a cliff. It blows up midway down for no readily apparent reason.
55* FaceHeelTurn & HeelFaceTurn: Smith manages both in the space of five minutes [[spoiler:in order to first convince Rosemeyer and Kramer that Schaffer is an American assassin in order to gain their trust so he can kill Rosemeyer, and then back again when he's collected the information he needs and kills them]].
56* FakeDefector: [[spoiler:Smith turns in Schaffer to the German command after his apparent FaceHeelTurn.]]
57* FalseFlagOperation: The British shoot down one of their own planes, containing a (fake) American general, over Germany as a pretext to sending in a team of undercover agents [[spoiler: in a convoluted effort to flush out TheMole]].
58* FauxAffablyEvil: Von Hapen. Unlike his fellow Germans, his niceness is just a façade to trick people into trusting him. This is just in the movie, though; in the book Captain von Brauchitsch comes off as more truly AffablyEvil like Rosemeyer and Kramer.
59* GambitRoulette: Played with. [[spoiler:Rolland is aware that some of the commando group are loyal whilst others are suspected to be double agents. Other than Smith, the only one he knows is loyal is Schaffer -- who, being American, is an outsider; he doesn't know which of the others are loyal. Part of the overall plan is to expose the traitors.]]
60* GrenadeHotPotato: Played perfectly straight with Schaffer throwing back a grenade when under siege. He later retreats when they start throwing two grenades at a time.
61* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Subverted in the novel. The German soldiers searching for the commandos don't check the ladies toilet where they're hiding. When one commando mentions how stupid that is, his superior points out the soldiers were eager to think up excuses to avoid searching places where desperate men might empty a submachine gun into them.
62* GunsAkimbo: Schaffer is dual-wielding [=MP40s=] to hold of dozens of soldiers.
63* HighClassGlass: General Rosemeyer wears a monocle.
64* HiredToHuntYourself: A variant: Smith is put on the mission by [[spoiler:Colonel Turner]], who believes he is a double agent, in order to sabotage the mission and prevent the loyal British agents from carrying it out.
65* HollywoodSilencer: Averted quite nicely. Schaffer's silenced Walther PPK makes a sort of loud "Chnk!" sound when it fires. Distinct and unmistakably a firearm, yet unnoticed in the midst of confusion or if fired with a large room and a closed door between the shooter and those he doesn't want to alert. While individual silencers vary, this is the typically described sound of a handgun equipped with a silencer from the WWII Era.
66* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Overdone. Mooks from THREE German groups (SS, Luftwaffe, Wehrmacht Alpenkorps) can't hit any of the heroes (except for Major Smith, but it's OnlyAFleshWound).
67* InformedAbility: During the briefing, we're told that the men are fluent in German. Due to the TranslationConvention, they never display this in the film.
68* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Smith confronts [[spoiler: Col. Turner]], but he has a gun pointed at him. No problem: it was arranged he would have that gun, and the firing pin has been removed.
69* JustPlaneWrong:
70** General Rosemeyer arrives at the Schloss Adler in a postwar American Bell helicopter. World War II Germans did have helicopters, most notably the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_Fl_282 Flettner 282 "Kolibri"]] and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke_Achgelis_Fa_223 Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 "Drache"]], but they looked nothing like a Bell, weren't used to transport officers and never reached mass production.
71** Why has an airfield deep in Nazi Germany got half a dozen North American T-6 Texans sitting on the tarmac? The only possible explanations is that someone thought they looked a bit like the Focke-Wolf 190 and couldn't get hold of appropriate replicas.
72* LeaveBehindAPistol: Smith cautions Schaffer against shooting [[spoiler:Colonel Wyatt-Turner]], noting "We mustn't cheat the hangman", but raises no objections when [[spoiler:Turner]] chooses to throw himself out the plane's door rather than face trial.
73* LethalChef: [=MacPherson=] apparently also makes really bad coffee.
74* MadeOfExplodium: Whilst most objects in this movie end up exploding quite legitimately, there's at least two vehicles that burst into flames and explode just from being pushed down a hill. Another truck seems to explode because it drives past an exploding building.
75* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Smith's reaction to getting shot in the hand is an annoyed "Blast".
76* MaleGaze: When Smith introduces Mary to Heidi.
77-->'''Smith:''' Heidi's been one of our top undercover agents in Bavaria for years. And ... ah ... what a disguise.
78* MeaningfulName
79** [[spoiler:John Smith, alias Johann Schmidt, is the man you can't trust to be who he says he is.]]
80** Schaffer (Shepherd) is there to protect Smith.
81** [[spoiler:Colonel Wyatt-''Turner'' is the traitor.]]
82* MindScrewdriver: Whilst almost impossibly convoluted, the plan is revealed in retrospect.
83-->'''Kramer:''' It's incredible![[note]]And at this point, he doesn't know even half of it.[[/note]]\
84'''Smith:''' Yes. But to the British very, very simple.\
85[...]\
86'''Smith:''' Lieutenant, in the next fifteen minutes, we have to create enough confusion to get out of here alive.\
87'''Schaffer:''' Major, right now you got me about as confused as I ever hope to be.
88* TheMole:
89** [[spoiler:Colonel Turner. Whilst it's only revealed at the end of the film, it becomes apparent that the British have suspected him as the mole for a long time and organised the mission to secure proof. Not to mention all the other moles who were killed in getting that information.]]
90** [[spoiler:Smith, who Turner and the Germans ''think'' is their mole, but who is actually a ''triple agent''.]]
91* {{Mooks}}: Nazis are, in some scenes, literally lining up to be shot.
92* MoreDakka: Hoo boy. Many occasions, throughout the film.
93* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Invoked in-universe when Smith claims to be Himmler's brother (nephew in the novel).
94* NaziNobleman: Captain von Brauchitsch (Major von Hapen in the film). General Rosemeyer also fits the trope somewhat.
95* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: When we first see General Carnaby, he is in full uniform and seated at a dinner table with his captors.
96* NoSeatBelts: This caused the death of the {{Mooks}} who were escorting Smith and Schaffer into custody. In particular it sends Weissner flying literally through the windshield.
97* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Not only do our heroes speak English throughout the film, but (due to the TranslationConvention) they do so without any accent. Despite being fluent in German.
98* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: Subverted [[spoiler:in that Rolland removed the firing pin from Wyatt-Turner's gun before the mission started]].
99* {{Oktoberfest}}: The commandos are going to inflitrate a castle in Bavaria, so of course there's going to be a beer hall with Dirndl dress-wearing waitresses, Heidi (Creator/IngridPitt) in this case. That being said, it matches the setting, as that traditional dress is actually worn in the Germanic Alps (Bavaria, Tyrol and so on), moreso in beer halls and restaurants (though nowadays it's more due to tourism prompting them to enforce this than any other reason).
100* OneManArmy: Smith and Schaffer both. [[spoiler:Which is good, because the only other member of the team that is not a traitor is the girl.]] They are badass enough to accomplish the mission ''and'' demolish one of the Nazis' greatest strongholds even with the absurd odds against them.
101* OutsideRide:
102** Smith and Schaffer infiltrate the castle by sneaking onto the roof of the cable car.
103** In the climax, Smith goes onto the cable car's roof again as Berkeley and Christiansen flee in it, and fights them both there.
104* OverTheShoulderCarry: Schaffer does this to a dead German he threw out of Weissner's speeding car, so his body won't be found on the road.
105* ThePlan: [[spoiler:The secondary plan to expose all of the other German spies present in Britain, deliver bogus D-Day plans and assassinate key officers of the Alpenkorps under the guise of a rescue attempt]].
106* PlotBasedVoiceCancellation: While in a tavern (in German uniform disguises), Smith and Shaffer are having a discussion, and just as Smith starts to explain something the Shaffer, the scene cuts to Mary and Heidi laying the groundwork for infiltrating the castle. This is when Smith would have revealed parts of the real plan to Shaffer, including the fact that Christiensen, Berekely, and Thomas, the other three agents on the mission, are all German agents, something not revealed to the audience until later.
107* TheRadioDiesFirst: The radio itself survives (at least, for a while) but the radio operator is killed immediately after the parachute drop into Germany.
108* RatedMForManly: The celluloid was practically impregnated with testosterone prior to filming.
109* RuleOfCool: Quite possibly one of the earliest examples of an entire movie being built on this.
110* SarcasticConfession: Smith tells Schaffer the reason he's late is because he found a beautiful blonde woman lying in the snow. Said woman is an intelligence agent who parachuted in after the commando team and is secretly working with Smith.
111* SelfDisposingVillain: In both the book and the movie, the final traitor opts to jump out of the plane at the end rather than be taken into custody, in a scene lifted almost beat for beat from [=MacLean=]'s earlier novel ''Literature/TheSatanBug''.
112* ShoutOutToShakespeare: The title comes from ''Theatre/RichardIII''.
113--> "The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch."
114* SimpleSolutionWontWork: Played with. When the team is being assigned to rescue General Carnaby from the heavily fortified Schloss Adler to stop the Nazis being able to prize the key details of the upcoming D-Day landings out of him, Christiansen asks why go through such a risky mission when they could instead have a squadron of Lancaster bombers reduce the entire fortress to rubble thus ensuring the information stays secret. Admiral Rollo bluntly tells him that deliberately killing the American general would lead to severe repercussions from the outraged American military. [[spoiler: However, the whole event is in fact a staged front to route out the double agents that have infiltrated British intelligence]].
115* SoftWater: Necessary for their escape from the cable car.
116* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Killing Carnaby is suggested by Christiansen at the start of the mission as a way to stop him from divulging key D-Day information to the Germans.
117-->'''Christiansen:''' There is, of course, another way, sir. A way with a 100% guarantee of success. Whistle up a Pathfinder squadron of Lancasters with 10-ton bombs. I don't think anybody in that castle would ''ever'' talk again.\
118'''Admiral Rolland:''' Nor do I think that you grasp the realities of the situation. The captured man, Gen. Carnaby, is an American. If we were to destroy him, then I think Gen. Eisenhower might launch his second front against us rather than against the Germans. There are certain... ''niceties'' to be observed in our relationship with our allies.
119* StormingTheCastle: The Schloss Adler can be approached only by cable car, under (over?) the watchful eye of an entire battalion of Nazi troopers.
120* StuffBlowingUp: Pretty much every prop and set used throughout the film gets exploded.
121* SwissArmyWeapon: The heroes use "Swiss-Army Dynamite" which can be triggered by either timer or tripwire. It's used for everything from traps to the wholesale demolition of bridges and buildings. And they use so much of it in the movie that 90% of the equipment in their packs has to have been these.
122* TakeMyHand: After Smith and Schaffer reach the castle on the roof of the cable car, Schaffer nearly falls from the frozen and slippery roof of the cable car station. As he's holding onto his ice axe, Smith takes his hand just in time.
123* TakeOffYourClothes: Smith says this to Mary after catching up to her in the woodshed behind Zum Wilden Hirsch. When she reacts he clarifies that he just wants her to change into a disguise to sell her cover as a new hire for Schloss Adler.
124* TenLittleMurderVictims: [[spoiler: Not one, but three of these. Four if you count the Colonel]].
125* ThoseWackyNazis: A classic reinforcer of a lot of the stereotypes. There's the sinister Gestapo officer, the aristocratic generals and the tight-lipped torture-Frau, not to mention the soon-to-be-exploded {{Mooks}} shown to be continually living it up in Bierkellers.
126* ThrowAwayGuns: Our good guys seems to have a never-ending supply of [=MP40s=]. Seeing how many Mooks they mow down, it's rather justified.
127* TranslationConvention: The film begins with the Allied operatives in a meeting being briefed on their mission to infiltrate a Nazi stronghold. The leader helpfully reminds them, "All of you speak fluent German", [[AsYouKnow which they presumably did not need to be told]][[note]]Although it's possible he was addressing the group to emphasize that ''everyone'' had these skills, even if some members weren't aware that other members did[[/note]]; it's just a line thrown in only to explain to viewers why all of the dialogue afterwards is in English.
128* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: When Schaffer asks Smith what the hell is going on, the cameraman wanders off. [[spoiler:Turns out Smith probably lied anyway, considering he pulls a gun on Schaffer later and calls him a second-rate punk.]]
129* UriahGambit: PlayedWith. [[spoiler:Colonel Turner sends his goons along with the rescue party to ensure Major Smith is killed or captured with no loose ends; the film then subverts the trope by revealing both Smith and Admiral Rolland knew Turner et all. were German spies, but had to set up the mission to collect evidence]].
130* TheVonTropeFamily: Major von Hapen.
131* WalkIntoMordor: You can't simply parachute on Schloss Adler, or climb the mountain below it. You have to take the heavily guarded cable car!
132* WarCrimeSubvertsHeroism: Our Heroes commit dozens (if not hundreds) of war crimes, mostly of the "misuse of enemy uniform" variety - which makes every one of their kills a murder. Note that wearing enemy uniforms is such a flagrant violation that (at the time) the generally accepted rules of war allowed anyone caught in such to be executed on the spot. And in an interesting subversion, the Germans commit no war crimes at all.
133* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Actually averted in both film and book. In either, the nameless Nazi {{Mooks}} are treated no better or worse than their superiors by the heroes.
134* WindmillCrusader: Played with/inverted; all of the team are sent in to the castle to rescue the general, but only Smith and Mary are aware that the whole setup is a complete fabrication, and most of the rest of the team are the bad guys.
135* XanatosSpeedChess: [[spoiler:Smith's part in Rolland's BatmanGambit is to continually fiddle the plan to either expose or eliminate the double agents whilst the treacherous members of his team try to eliminate the loyal ones.]]
136* YouJustToldMe: Used as part of ThePlan; [[spoiler:because he's convinced that Smith/Schmidt is actually a double agent working for the Germans, Kramer voluntarily gives him the notebooks containing the lists of German contacts working undercover in Britain ''and'' confirms the name of the lead mole]].

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