raywest

28th Oct 2020

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Question: Why did Richard Burton crash the bus through the doors of the structure it was in, instead of having one of the team quietly open the doors and slowly driving it out and away from the village? Didn't what Burton did draw unwanted attention?

Answer: Logic is seldom a factor in action movies. "Crashing the gate" has always been a popular action film gimmick, as it creates urgency and tension and elevates the audience adrenaline level, even when "crashing the gate" makes no sense. A similar scene is found in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," when Jones and his father are making their castle escape in Austria. Indiana Jones ingeniously distracts the Nazis by launching an unmanned motorboat down the canal, and the Nazi pursuers are adequately distracted. In fact, the Nazis probably would have left the scene entirely, chasing the motorboat, if Jones had just waited patiently for another minute or so. He doesn't wait. Rather, Jones bursts out of a crate on a motorcycle within feet of the Nazis, instantly giving away his true position and initiating the whole motorcycle chase scene that follows. Again, logic goes out the window, and the hero senselessly "crashes the gate" for no other reason than to drive the action.

Charles Austin Miller

Exactly! That's why they called them "action" movies.

raywest

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