MovieChat Forums > Where Eagles Dare (1969) Discussion > The fight atop the cable car (spoiler)

The fight atop the cable car (spoiler)


The fight was so very uncomfortable to watch, as Donald Houston's character struggles and panics the closer he gets to falling. It was simply fantastic acting on Houston's part, but such a awful death scene that it rather took some of my sympathy away from the Richard Burton character who I was supposed to be rooting for.

I've read someone on another thread suggest the Burton character intentionally prolonged the Houston's character's slide off the cable car to be vindictive. I'm not sure. My impression is Burton's Major Smith was just desperately fighting for survival and that's simply how the final moments of the fight turned out.

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"I've read someone on another thread suggest the Burton character intentionally prolonged the Houston's character's slide off the cable car to be vindictive. I'm not sure."

No! Christianson was hanging on to Smith's legs, who himself was hanging on to the pick axe with at least one arm, so he couldn't get a lot of leverage to push Christianson off earlier. He had to wait for him to slip, whilst he was hanging on himself.

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