It is amazing how much editing and directing was done to make Burton look like the big hero.
Out climbing the much younger Eastwood.
Being much smarter than Eastwood.
Fighting off two Germans while having a bad hand.
Jumping 20 feet or so - with a bad hand - to a cable car.
This is one of my fav WW2 movies. But they went too far making Burton look good, and Eastwood barely competent.
Burton was a superman
shareOut climbing the much younger EastwoodBurton was born in 1925, Eastwood in 1930. How is 5 years younger "much younger"?!
The athletic difference between 38 and 43 is tremendous. With the average retirement of most world class athletes at around 36, Burton was well over the hill. I just think the movie needed a little more balance.
shareI'm pretty sure that we see Clint gunning down a lot more of the Nazis than Burton plus he seemed to do a lot more of some of the hands on stuff like setting up the bombs.
shareLook at the trivia section of this movie. The concept was by Burton's step son and he wanted to make his step dad look good. I think Clint went on to prove himself 100 times over, I am glad we have this film of Burton kicking ass, even if he was a bit over the hill due to his massive drinking.
It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage.
Clint Eastwood called the movie "Where Stuntmen Dared"
shareEastwood and Burton were equal in this one. Eastwood was the one man army as Burton was thinker man and mastermind.
Also those roles suits them fine. At that time, Eastwood was action man and Burton was main man.
´´This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time´´
To be technical, there is no way in hell any soldier 38 years old or 43 years old would be sent on this mission! They would have sent in Army rangers about 19-22 years old for this job. And Burton looked (and acted) WAY older than 43 here. He had to have stuntmen do any of his "stunts," especially running. Smoking 5 packs of cigarettes a day and drinking 3 bottles of vodka aren't going to make you very athletic.
shareAgreed!
shareIf the roles had been reversed, and you'd had an American as the brilliant mastermind leader and the Brit as little more than an efficiently murderous thug, you'd have seen a lot more screaming about it than we're seeing here.
But personally, I simply think Burton was more suited to his role than Eastwood would have been, and vice versa. Honestly, if you can be objective about it, the lead casting in this film was brilliant. Burton was hired for his acting ability (as he always was), not for his athletic ability. And on those grounds he came through with flying colors. So did Eastwood, for that matter.
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I always see this as Clint being the one who does more physical stuff where the experience of the Burton character comes more into play - it still oversteps the bounds of reality, but on the other hand the guys Burton fights off on the cable car don't exactly look like ninjas. A guy in his forties can do a lot of stuff a guy in his twenties can do, he'll just have to spend more time in bed later. :)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mortal-Creeps-ebook/dp/B006LO3TCA
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