The Eiger Sanction

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The Eiger Sanction

R

1975

2h 9m

Adventure

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

64%

Tomatometer

22 Reviews

54%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Former government assassin Jonathan Hemlock now devotes his time to teaching and collecting paintings, but his quiet life is interrupted when he is persuaded by his former employers to work for them again. Hemlock has to join a crew of explorers on a trip up the Eiger, a treacherous Swiss mountain. Hemlock must simultaneously determine which of his fellow climbers is a Soviet spy, kill his target and scale the deadly peak.

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Joe Clay

The Times (UK)

08/08/2022

The scenery is magnificent and the white-knuckle action well handled...

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

10/23/2004

3/4

It has a plot so unlikely and confused that we can't believe it for much more than 15 seconds at a time, but its action sequences are so absorbing and its mountaintop photography so compelling that we don't care.

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Brian Orndorf

Blu-ray.com

03/12/2025

C

Doesn't feature much of a mystery, with Eastwood's dry, unhurried directorial style at odds with the demands of the superspy genre. It's a tepid thriller, best appreciated as a travelogue with periodic bursts of violence.

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Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

05/09/2023

A poorly contrived spy story with enough cliches to fill 90 minutes, but not enough to fill the holes in the plot.

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

12/04/2020

There is indeed some great climactic Swiss Alps footage in this espionage tale, but the film runs an awkward gamut from supervillain cartoonishness to straight thriller. Its loutish humor also indulged its maker's (and audience's) worst tendencies...

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James Clay

Fresh Fiction

11/19/2020

B-

It's a wild ride, and for all the flack Eastwood gets for being a bland filmmaker these days, he sure had no problems taking risks earlier in his directing career.

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Matthew L

@Mattog1 Jun 14

One of Clints best. Amazing movie.

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Jerod S

@jeroduptown Apr 29

Eastwood is a professor art collector that also climbs mountains? In order to avenge a friends death. It's a pretty dumb plot, but the scenery is good.

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acsdoug D

@acsdoug Mar 21

The climbing scenes are truly impressive. Eastwood and the actors truly look like they're on dangerous precipices thousands of feet up. Great photography and a story a bit above average makes for a decent Eastwood vehicle.

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Matthew H

@Hendy2013 Feb 18

Another exciting Clint classic

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Tony S

@RT22145614 Feb 7

A thin plot, but some beautiful mountain climbing scenes. Typical Eastwood character.

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Jonathan O

@RT41230270 Oct 13

Is 007 meets Hitchcock in a highest suspenseful action adventure thriller of the 70's and Eastwood did really incredible work especially doing he's own stunts including climbing real mountains and really great cast including George Kennedy and really breathtaking cinematography and great score by John Williams who later and executive producers would later do JAWS but also really great writing and humor and best lines.

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Synopsis

Former government assassin Jonathan Hemlock now devotes his time to teaching and collecting paintings, but his quiet life is interrupted when he is persuaded by his former employers to work for them again. Hemlock has to join a crew of explorers on a trip up the Eiger, a treacherous Swiss mountain. Hemlock must simultaneously determine which of his fellow climbers is a Soviet spy, kill his target and scale the deadly peak.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Producer: Robert Daley
Screenwriter: Hal Dresner, Rod Whitaker
Production Co: Malpaso Company
Rating: R
Genre: Adventure, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): May 18, 2016
Runtime: 2h 9m
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)