Monday, May 16, 2011

WHERE EAGLES DARE




This film as much as anything inspired me to become a paratrooper. The film opens with a swastika-emblazoned Junkers JU-52 flying through the towering Alps - "Whazzat? That's an enemy bird! Huh ? ? ?" No - those are the Good Guys . . . an early in-your-face shock to the audience.

Just the camouflage scheme on the Junkers transport aircraft itself was enough to give me a hard-on - the scene switches to inside the aircraft; the guys inside are kitted up in parachutes . . . they get up, hook up, the red light turns to green and THEY JUMP OUT - into that mountain snow-hell ! ! !


My first Special Forces Team Sergeant had a lot of flaws, but he was the consummate unconventional warfare planner; he used this film to teach us the nuances of tradecraft, using cutouts, and how an operation can be used to mask a secret mission - within the mission - as Alistair MacLean portrays in this excellent story.


















Monday Mystery Babe HERE



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