THE EIGER SANCTION

This movie is hard to find on DVD but just recently I found a 4-pack of Eastwood movies (American Icon Collection) with this one included.

THE EIGER SANCTION - released May 21, 1975 - 123 minutes.

Clint Eastwood plays Dr. Jonathan Hemlock, a retired assassin who is called out of retirement to avenge a friend's death. Hemlock works as a History Professor until his old boss, Dragon calls him in to do a 'sanction'.

Hemlock's boss turns out to be an albino who can't go outside and sits in a dimly lit lair hidden behind a couple of pocket doors. Once in awhile he needs to have new blood (literally) pumped into his body.

I thought the word 'sanction' was used a little too much.. come on, we get the point.. instead of an assassination... it's a sanction... I like to see movies that don't mention the title at all.

The film starts out on a good pace and then kind of fizzles towards the end. The only thing saving it is the last scene where Hemlock goes on a climbing expedition (in the Alps) with 3 other climbers; one of them being the the assassin he's being paid to kill.

The thing is we don't know til' the end who the person is that killed 'wormwood' ... and we're not even sure Hemlock knows who he's supposed to kill until the end.

It's hard not to see some similarities between a s0-so bond film and this one (without the explosions and crashed cars). There are several woman who come on to Hemlock because they know what line of work he's in... I guess killing people for a living is a turn-on.

Here's some dialogue:

HEMLOCK: I can't believe that you're a stewardess.

JEMIMA: Actually I'm not. I'm a skyjacker in drag.

HEMLOCK: Oh, that's reassuring. (pause) Now if you just give me your name I'll report it to the proper authorities when we land.

JEMIMA: Jemima

HEMLOCK: And I'm Uncle Ben.

JEMIMA: I'm serious, that's really my name. Jemima Brown. My mother was hooked on being ethnic.

HEMLOCK: Or else turned on by a pancake.

Overall I will have to give the movie 3 out of 5 stars for trying.

*I would of liked this movie more if not for the cheesy scenes with Dragon and Hemlock. Bad dialogue and bad lighting.