MovieChat Forums > Where Eagles Dare (1969) Discussion > One thing I always wondered [Spoilers he...

One thing I always wondered [Spoilers herein!]


The traitors, why didn't they just kill the rest of the bunch as soon as they landed? They killed the radio operator, but why stop there? As far as they knew, their mission must've been to just kill the all guys and make it all look unintentional. So, why prolong the killings and make the guys suspicious?

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Well, for openers the rest of the movie would be ruined!

Seriously though, you do make a good point. They killed the radio operator in an obvious effort to cut off communications with London. My guess is that they may have been under orders not to kill Smith and Schaeffer and to turn them over to the Germans and SS alive for intelligence purposes.

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No! They thought Smith was a German double agent, so of course they wouldn't kill him. And since they weren't sure about Shaffer, they didn't kill him either. A little weak for Shaffer, but Smith - or Johann Schmidt as they thought they knew him - they would not kill. Remember, when they wrote the names out, they thought they were showing Schmidt/Smith that they were truly German spies - which, of course, they were! Ingenious part of the story.

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