Agenten sterben einsam

A war-espionage film that proves there's nothing like a well-laid plan. (10.07.2010)

A brilliantly well-thought through war movie that plays around nicely with the viewer in the story. The action is effective and polished to the final detail (during the final escape from Eagle’s Nest you gradually realize how well it was all planned). Richard Burton as a tough first in command who knows everything and Clint Eastwood as the ultimate killing machine who, for safety’s sake, knows nothing form a great team with excellent snappy lines. The atmosphere is completed by the excellent military music of Ron Goodwin. (18.10.2009)

The ultimate timeless war flick. The absence of German language can be forgiven, as well as the exaggerated combat skills of the main duo, who never run out of bullets or dynamite, because this gripping and precise overlap of several popular genres packed with twists is so unique and beautiful. The film flows so smoothly that it can never get boring, because it systematically shifts the attention between each of the storylines, o rather, the expected lines of the narrative – it is assumed that the viewer will set expectations on how the story “must” unfold right from the initial introduction of the mission. The film meets those expectations, but the clever distribution of the information generates doubts and questions that lead to an unpredictable development of the identities, while, parallel to the action sequences, it builds a spy story that will turn upside down the motivations of the characters and their part in the war, which by the end the film will flip again. The script is so smart that many of the scenes in the first half don’t make sense until after the key reveal, thus completing the intelligent use of the espionage traditions that accompanied the whole film, which at first were invisible – and shaped the viewer’s forced notion about the tale – and later very explicit (great scene by the fireplace), only to become like a reverberation in the action-packed climax, where the heroes have to escape the enemy territory loaded with information. And if all that refined narration wasn’t enough, you can still rely on the superb actors and the excellent direction that delivers one original roller-coaster after another (culminating in the legendary adrenaline-packed scene on the cable cars). One of the major sources of inspiration for serious film action that, save for a couple of funny moments, hasn’t aged a day. 95% (20.02.2019)