The Eiger Sanction 4K Ultra HD Review

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

The Eiger Sanction, based on the novel by Trevanian, is the 1975 spy thriller directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. Eastwood plays Jonathan Hemlock, an art teacher, mountain climber, and former assassin for a secret government agency. Hemlock is forced to come out of retirement by his former government superiors, particular a strange albino named Dragon (Thayer David), who must stay in a dark room heated over 90-degrees away from direct light. Dragon strong-arms Hemlock by threatening his expensive – and possibly illegal – art collection. Hemlock is sent to hunt for a deadly double agent that killed his former comrade. First, he must get back into shape, which is a training session in Zion National Park before heading to Eiger, where he must make a dangerous climb with a team, among them the unidentified target.

This film can be seen as Eastwood’s entry in the James Bond clones, with the added Watergate era paranoia and spectacular mountain climbing sequences. Eastwood did many of his own stunts for this spectacle. The Eiger Sanction begins like precursor to Raiders of the Lost Ark, with Eastwood the nerdy but dashing professor in front of his class, a sexy young female college student flirting with him, but then it quickly pivots to what feels like a Bond-like world of dark rooms, strange characters, and brutal fights.

The tone of the film shifts too much to clearly place it in the world of thriller, dark comedy, or action film, but it hits many points from the genres. Protagonist with gorgeous women, including Vonetta McGee as the sexy flight attendant Jemima Brown, Heidi Brühl as Mrs. Montaigne, and Brenda Venus as George; there are the numerous fights, killings, and of course, the main event, death-defying mountain climbing sequences. Eastwood rattles off a lot of one-liners in this film, more than usual (“Does your physical disability preclude you from coming to the point?”). While this film is not one of Eastwood’s best, it is still a solid thriller.

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The Video

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for The Eiger Sanction is from a brand new HDR/Dolby Vision Master from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative. The included Blu-ray Disc is from the 2020 2K master by Kino Lorber.

The 4K disc is presented in 2.35:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision. It has dense, organic grain, finely layered, crisp, and textured. The colors are vibrant. Look at the scene where Hemlock first goes to meet Dragon in the dark, heated room. The red and yellow, the inky blacks and contrast look stunning. Then moving on to the scenes in Zion and Monument Valley, the level of detail and color of the earth tones, nuance in the clouds and sunlight is stunning, and the same goes for the scenes in Eiger.

The Audio

The Eiger Sanction comes with the original mono in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. The 5.1 mix brings a bit of atmosphere to the surrounds and a little more low end to the sound effects, but both mixes have clean dialogue. The 5.1 mix improves the dynamic range over the mono mix, but the mono sounds better than expected for a film from 1975.

The Supplements

There is only one new bonus feature included, and that is the audio commentary by Justin Hunphreys. The other bonus features, including the Nick Pinkerton audio commentary and the extras on the Blu-ray have been previously released.

Bonus Features:

• Reversible Sleeve
• Audio Commentary by Author and Film Historian Justin Humphreys (4K Only) (NEW)
• Audio Commentary by Film Critic Nick Pinkerton

On Blu-ray Only:

• Interview with Actor Reiner Schöne (1080p; 00:13:15)
• Archival Interview with Actress Heidi Brühl by Pepe Ludmir (00:09:26)
• Vintage 8-minutes Promotional Reel (1080p; 00:08:19)
• Poster and Image Gallery (1080p; 00:07:11)
• The Eiger Sanction – Radio Spots (1080p; 00:02:45)
• The Eiger Sanction – TV Spots (1080p; 00:02:16)
• The Eiger Sanction – Trailer (1080p; 00:02:50)
• Coogan’s Bluff – Trailer (1080p; 00:02:12)
• Thunderbolt and Lightfoot – Trailer (1080p; 00:02:10)

The Final Assessment

The Eiger Sanction looks fantastic on 4K Ultra HD even as one of the weaker of one of these early 1970s films from Eastwood. It is still entertaining and a worthy edition to Kino Lorber’s ongoing restorations of Eastwood’s films on 4K.

The Eiger Sanction is out on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray November 19, 2024 from Kino Lorber

Purchase The Eiger Sanction 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on Amazon.com

• Rating Certificate: R
• Studios & Distributors:The Malpaso Company | Jennings Lang | Universal Pictures | Kino Lorber
• Director: Clint Eastwood
• Written By: Hal Dresner (screenplay by) | Warren Murphy (screenplay by) | Rod Whitaker as ‘Trevanian’ (screenplay by & based on the novel by)
• Run Time: 129 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
• Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Secondary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
• Subtitles: English SDH
• Street Date: 19 November 2024