…Fifty Years Later
"Fifty years ago, Scottish born writer Alistair MacLean, author of nearly twenty books including The Guns of Navarone, published in 1961, and Ice Station Zebra, published in 1968, was approached by American producer Elliott Kastner to write a suspenseful and action-packed World War II escapade. The two got together at MacLean's residence in Surrey, England to discuss particulars. Usually, writers sell rights to convert their novels to screenplays, but in this situation, MacLean retained the rights to convert his screenplay into a novel.
In March of 1966, MacLean presented a draft he had called Adler Schloss, which translates into Eagle Castle, the castle where much of the action takes place. Kastner renamed the screenplay Where Eagles Dare, taken from a line from Shakespeare's Richard III – "Where eagles dare to perch" (Act 1, Scene 3, Pg 4). Actor and director Brian G. Hutton was chosen to direct, and he and MacLean completed the screenplay.
The movie starred Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood as the primary characters of British Major John Smith and American assassin Lieutenant Schaffer. Their mission was to infiltrate the German castle of Adler Schloss to rescue an American General, held after being shot down by the Nazis before he is forced to reveal the plans for D-Day…"
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