MovieChat Forums > Where Eagles Dare (1969) Discussion > Why bother taking the 3 traitors..??

Why bother taking the 3 traitors..??

posted 13 years ago by EuroNYC7
10 replies | jump to latest

First of all, let me just say (and I know we are uninamously in agreement) that this is indeed ONE of THE BEST World War II films of all time, not to mention the overwhelming-outstanding cast. One feature I could NEVER understand, however, was, after taking out all the top staff in the dining room, why on earth did they bother taking the prisoners? I mean, at one point, after Smith took down his last victim (the "Frauline" nurse), Schaffear quickly asks, "What are we going to do with these three.." or something to that extent; simultaneously while phrasing this inquiry, he was getting ready to cock his Schmeisser MP40 submachine gun. Apparently, HIS intention was to cut them down as well. Instead, Smith opted to take them along....this clearly constitutes a major burden since they have to log three reluctant & scheming unfriendlies along with them which can create a problem(s)at any given second. Any ideas or feedback?? :-)

[–] Zanza8 13 years ago

Well, since Burton used one as a decoy, I assume he took them along to use them as decoys.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

[–] Sonatine97 13 years ago

Perhaps Smith still needed them as proof; perhaps by taking them back to England they could be questioned further about other issues.

Smith probably didn't reckon the traitor Col Turner would be on the plane to greet them, and thus subsequently spill the beans. So to be sure Smith took these three in the hope that at least one of them would return to England and be questioned about the operation.

But I have to inwardly confess that I too thought that particular part of the plan was a bit flaky & unrealistic. But I guess it just adds to the drama :)

And I looked & I beheld a pale horse & the name that sat on him was Death & Hell followed with him.

[–] EuroNYC7 13 years ago

Thank you both for the input!! :-)

[–] Zanza8 13 years ago

Smith probably didn't reckon the traitor Col Turner would be on the plane to greet them, and thus subsequently spill the beans.

Of course he reckoned on it. That's why his buddy made sure Turner got a gun that had the firing pin removed. Honestly, the whole mission was about getting the names and addresses of the unknown German agents in England and you think the top German spy isn't going to be on hand at the first opportunity to do damage control?

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

[–] jack-upland 12 years ago

Movies like this tend to avoid cold-blooded murder, especially of characters who have become known to the viewers.

[–] Zanza8 12 years ago

That's true too.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

[–] blufftoni 12 years ago

If he hadn't taken them along we wouldn't have been able to have the awesome cable car sequence.

That's the only reason that makes sense.

[–] spookyrat1 12 years ago

Absolutely!

It was simply a plot contrivance to use a decoy on the rope and enable the guy to have the spectacular fall when shot and for the other two to enable the fight on the cable car.

IRL I'm sure they would have been terminated rather quickly.

[–] bronzescag 12 years ago

Also, it seemed they could have shot the radio man in the back at any point - before he alerted the entire castle. But they just wouldn't shoot an unarmed man in back. Of course, shooting an unarmed man in the front was perfectly okay.

[–] spookyrat1 12 years ago

Yes the siren had to be sounded at some stage to ramp up the action, so they didn't shoot the radio guy...tried to stab him and voila!