Eiger Sanction, The (1975)

The Eiger Sanction (1975), directed by Clint Eastwood.

Ouch. This is a clunker with a low grade comic book plot. It's a shame because the climbing and aerial photography scenes in Monument Valley and the Alps are truly spectacular. Eastwood did his own stunts.

He is Dr Hemlock, a nasty professor of Art with a secret collection of paintings; the IRS doesn't need to know where he got the money. He's a retired "C-2" assassin. The spymaster who calls him back is Dragon, an ex-nazi albino who lives in a germ-free red-lit hospital office where he gets complete blood transfusions from time to time. (How did he manage when he was a spy management trainee in a cubicle?)

C-2 is staffed by imbeciles and we get the standard "we're no better than they are" spy riff. Eastwood gets to combine work with murderous gay-bashing. The plot does not make a lot of sense. Some of the getting-back-in-shape training bits are funny.

Brief nudity and passion scenes. John Williams score.

One man died during filming and people blame Eastwood. Details in the wikipedia article.