The Eiger Sanction is sort of a spy movie, but mostly a mountain-climbing movie.
First off, the title. The Eiger is a mountain in Switzerland. It’s probably the most image of The Alps, and its northern face is one of the most difficult ascents to climb (“Eiger” means “Ogre” in German). “Sanction,” in the world of this movie, is an assassination.
So — you guessed it — Clint Eastwood has to kill someone while climbing up The Eiger.
Eastwood plays the perfectly named Dr. Jonathan Hemlock, an art professor, mountain climber, and former government assassin. He’s brought out of retirement by the also well-named Mr. Dragon to avenge the death of an agent killed in Zurich while retrieving some microfilm. They don’t know which member of the climbing party is guilty, so Eastwood heads up the mountain with three climbing partners, any one of which might be his target.
The last 40 minutes of the film is spent on the climb, which is visually amazing. They shot it on location, and Eastwood did most of his own stunts (he was 44 at the time). One crew worker died during filming.
So, is it a spy film? I don’t know …ish? I think it mostly wants to be a mountain climbing movie, though there are a few nifty scenes of spy craft.
All in all, it was… okay, I guess. The plot is pretty thin, and Eastwood basically sneers through the entire film, but I didn’t hate it.