In
Zona
, Geoff Dyer—‘one of our most original writers’ (
New York
)—devoted a whole book to Andrei Tarkovsky’s cult masterpiece,
Stalker
. Now, in this warm and funny tribute to one of his favorite movies, he revisits the action classic
Where Eagles Dare
. A thrilling Alpine adventure headlined by a magnificent, bleary-eyed Richard Burton and a dynamically lethargic Clint Eastwood,
is the apex of 1960s war movies, by turns enjoyable and preposterous.
‘Broadsword Calling Danny Boy’
is Dyer’s hilarious tribute to a film he has loved since childhood: it’s a scene-by-scene analysis—or should that be send-up?—taking us from the movie’s snowy, Teutonic opening credits to its vertigo-inducing climax.