The events in the final climbing scenes are loosely based on the 1936 Eiger tragedy, when, during an attempt to the first ascent of the North Face all four members of the climbing party (Andreas Hinterstroisser, Toni Kurtz, Willy Angerer and Edi Reiner) died in circumstances that are picked up in this film. Willy Angerer was injured by rockfall during the ascent (the french climber in the film). After attempting to escape the face by ascending, the party decided to retreat but got stuck on the way down above the Hinterstroisser traverse. This passage had been first climbed by Andreas Hinterstroisser on their way up, however they could not cross it back due the fact that they had not left fixed ropes in place, combined with ice covering the rock since the weather had meanwhile deteriorated (as shown in the film). The climbers tried a desperate attempt to abseil down an overhanging section of the wall, approximately above the railroad window (as shown in the film), but Hintertroisser, Reiner and Angerer fell to their deaths in the attempt. Toni Kurtz, like Eastwood in the film, survived the fall but was hanging from a rope and unable to abseil or climb back. A rescue party of mountain guides managed reaching a position directly below Kurtz and provide him with a rope to abseil. Tragically, unlike Eastwood in the movie, Kurtz had by then reached the limit of his strength and, when his carabiner got stuck into a knot in the rope, he was unable to cut the rope above him with his frostbitten hands and free himself. He died only a few meters above his rescuers. These events have been later portrayed on film with more strict factual adherence in 'The Beckoning Silence' (2007) and North Face (2008).
Reviews
4 Reviews
Eccezzziunale... veramente
(1982)
the best Abatantuono's movie ever!
15 May 2005
Abatantuono at his best. Probably his best performance ever! There are gags in this movie that are gonna change your idea or having fun in a movie (if you understand Abatantuono's Italian, of course), the fake phone call from Budapest is funnier than you could ever imagine. I'd say that in general the Tirzan character is the most precious and well mastered, but the 'Ras della fossa' is exceedingly good too: most of the gags related with his affair with Stefania Sandrelli are over the top! You can't miss this! I can't just understand why so little comments are posted about this milestone of Italian cinema. This movie is a must! It's one of the funniest Italian movies ever made! I think the problem is that we Italians are so ignorant and we just don't know English well enough to post a comment, so I encourage the American film lovers to learn Italian, watch and enjoy this movie, and then start posting something about it in English! I'd love to exchange with someone my opinions about the best gags in the movie!
Grand Hotel Excelsior
(1982)
a classic Italian trash movie!
15 May 2005
For the fans of Abatantuono's first period this is a classic. The film is not completely focused on his character (as in Attila flagello di Dio, Viulentemente mia or other glorious titles), but still we can find in it some of his best gags ever: when he flies out of the hotel's balcony (...svulazzo!) and when he states he is able to mentally communicate with seafood. The story is about many different unlikely characters that find themselves in the same hotel at the same time (classic setting). The movie is really stupid, and I won't recommend it to anyone who doesn't know exactly the kind of movie is gonna watch, but as I previously said, if you love the trash Abatantuono, this is a must. Celentano also plays a precious role as the hotel manager: his silent weird looks fit perfectly with his character. In general I think that underground classics of Italian cinema such as Grand Hotel Excelsior are way too much under estimated, considered too the huge number of fans and real lovers they find amongst the best Italian youth. If you like stupid and dumb movies, watch it!
The Duellists
(1977)
the best understanding of Napoleon's age ever (thanks to Conrad)
15 May 2005
The best issue about this movie, other than, of course, the aesthetic perfection, is its absolute fidelity to Conrad's short novel. I think this is very good in the movie because the book is so good, and it would have made no sense try to change it in the least way, as it often happens when movies come out of books (for example, Kubrick always made his films somehow look different from the books they are taken from, and I should say often improved them, but in many other cases it's true the opposite). It's noteworthy saying that in another, more popular, Ridley Scott's movie such as Blade Runner, always derived from a novel, important changes have been made from the original story ( in that case, all the part about the 'empathy' religion doesn't appear in the movie, and I think it was a good choice to omit it). But ' The Duelists' had to stick to the book! The point about the Duelists is all about the rich simplicity of its being a movie: Ridley Scott just takes the story as it is, and it's a damn good one, and he tells it to us in the best possible way, with an incredible attention to the graphical details (the duel scenes are just one better than the other), and an amazing use of the camera (the boxing scene, the horse riding duel). Now, going back to the story, in less than 100 pages, Conrad managed in explaining everything about the great illusion of Napoleon's empire, without the emperor ever appearing in it. It's incredible how he managed making the ever lasting duel between the two officials a great metaphor of that age, still keeping the two characters real and alive. The movie gives you all this. Watch it!
Tell Your Friends