The Eiger Sanction (film)

''The Eiger Sanction'' is a 1975 American action film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. Based on the 1972 novel '' The Eiger Sanction'' by Trevanian, the film is about Jonathan Hemlock, an art history professor, mountain climber, and former assassin once employed by a secret government agency, who is blackmailed into returning to his deadly profession for one last mission. He agrees to join an international climbing team in Switzerland planning an ascent of the Eiger north face to avenge the murder of an old friend. ''The Eiger Sanction'' was produced by Robert Daley for Eastwood's Malpaso Company, with Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown as executive producers, and co-starred George Kennedy, Vonetta McGee, and Jack Cassidy.

Principal photography started on August 12, 1974, and ended in late September 1974. The picture was filmed on location on the Eiger mountain and Zurich in Switzerland, in Monument Valley and Zion National Park in the American Southwest, and in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Monterey in California. Special equipment and handheld cameras were employed to film the climbing sequences. Eastwood did his own climbing and stuntwork under dangerous conditions. Twenty-six-year-old British climber David Knowles died on the Eiger during the production. The film score was composed by John Williams.

''The Eiger Sanction'' was released in New York City on May 21, 1975, and received mixed reviews. The general reaction among many reviewers offered criticism of the story and screenplay, and praise for the climbing footage and action sequences. The film, which was made with a budget of $9 million, earned $14.2 million at the box office. ''The Eiger Sanction'' was first released in DVD in 1998 and on Blu-ray in 2015 by Universal Studios.

Plot

Art professor and mountaineer Jonathan Hemlock is a retired government assassin called on to return to work for two more "sanctions", a euphemism for officially approved killings. During his career with a secret government agency called "C2", Hemlock amassed a private collection of 21 rare masterpiece paintings, paid for from his previous sanctions. The director of C2, Dragon, is an albino ex-Nazi confined to semi-darkness and kept alive by blood transfusions. Dragon wants Hemlock to kill two men responsible for the death of another government agent, code name Wormwood. Insisting he is retired, Hemlock refuses until Dragon threatens to expose Hemlock's art collection to the Internal Revenue Service. Hemlock agrees, and travels to Zurich, where he carries out the first sanction for $20,000, twice his usual fee (), and a letter guaranteeing no trouble from the IRS.

Returning from Europe, Hemlock meets C2 courier Jemima Brown, who seduces him, and while he is asleep, steals his money and IRS exemption letter. Dragon agrees to return them if Hemlock completes the second sanction. Hemlock is reluctant, but agrees when he learns that the C2 agent killed, Wormwood, was in fact his old friend Henri Baq. Hemlock is an ex-Green Beret, and Baq and he had served together during the Vietnam War, where Baq saved his life. Dragon agrees to pay him $100,000 () plus expenses, and tells him the target is a member of an international mountain-climbing team that will soon attempt an ascent of the north face of the Eiger mountain in Switzerland. Hemlock will be the American member of the team, and must kill one of the climbers—Dragon is unsure of the target's identity other than the man walks with a limp.

Hemlock travels to Arizona to train at a climbing school run by a friend, Ben Bowman, who whips him back into shape with the help of an attractive Native American woman named George. Hemlock also encounters an enemy, Miles Mellough, a former ally from the military, who years before had betrayed him in Southeast Asia. Mellough somehow knows a great deal of what Hemlock is planning. He tries to kill Hemlock by hiring George to seduce and drug him, but Hemlock survives. Later, Hemlock lures Mellough and his bodyguard into the desert, shoots and kills the bodyguard, and leaves Mellough to die in the sun.

Hemlock travels to Switzerland with Bowman, the "ground man" or supervisor of the climb, and meets the other members of the climbing party at the Hotel Bellevue des Alpes at Kleine Scheidegg. The headstrong and condescending German member, Karl Freytag, presents his proposed route up the mountain, and the team agrees that he will lead the party. The following morning, the men begin their ascent of the Eiger north face, but soon the weather conditions become poor. The French climber is struck by falling rocks and later dies. With Hemlock now leading, the surviving members retreat towards a tunnel window that connects to the Eigerwand railway station, carrying the dead climber between them. At the last moment, Freytag and the Austrian, Anderl Meyer, fall to their deaths. Hemlock is saved, dangling alone a few metres from the tunnel window.

Bowman and a rescue crew make their way through the Eiger to the tunnel window, where they attempt to throw a rope to Hemlock. Hemlock notices Bowman is limping, a sign that identifies him as Hemlock's target. Hemlock says, "You're limping, Ben," reluctant to trust that Bowman will rescue him. Bowman throws him the rope, and Hemlock attaches it, then reluctantly cuts his own rope. He falls onto Bowman's rope, and is pulled into the tunnel to safety. On the train back to Kleine Scheidegg, Bowman admits he became involved with "the other side" years earlier, but claims he had no idea that Henri Baq would be killed. Bowman explains he had become involved with Miles Mellough, to whom he was indebted for getting George (who is actually Bowman's daughter) off drugs.

Back at Kleine Scheidegg, Bowman approaches Hemlock, looking to mend his relationship with the assassin. Hemlock takes a phone call from Dragon, who is convinced that—since C2 was never able to positively ID the target—Hemlock killed all three of the other climbers intentionally to ensure he completed the job. Hemlock tells Bowman that C2 believes the target died on the mountain, and that no reason exists to tell them otherwise. After Bowman leaves, Jemima Brown joins Hemlock and wonders if Dragon was correct.

Cast

* Clint Eastwood as C-2 Agent Dr. Jonathan Hemlock
* George Kennedy as Ben Bowman
* Vonetta McGee as C-2 Agent Jemima Brown
* Jack Cassidy as Miles Mellough
* Heidi Brühl as Anna Montaigne
* Thayer David as C-2 Director Dragon
* Gregory Walcott as C-2 Agent Pope
* Reiner Schöne as Karl Freytag
* Michael Grimm as Anderl Meyer
* Jean-Pierre Bernard

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