Ok so Dragon talks Hemlock into doing one last kill, telling him they do not know the targets name but he will be on a international climb of Eiger mountain and will have a limp. They want Hemlock to go on the climb and kill the guy, probably making it look like a climbing accident.
So Hemlock goes to his old pal and asks to whipped into shape, which the guy does.
While training an old friend/foe? comes to the resort where he is training and makes an attempt on his life, which fails and Hemlock leaves him to die in the desert.
So now the climb is underway, Hemlock’s old pal came with and is watching from the base. He sees a storm approaching and realizes Hemlock is in trouble, he organizes and rescue.
While this is going on aunt Jemima and another assassin(they both work for Dragon the same fellow Hemlock works for) are chatting and he tells her Hemlock is the target, this whole thing has been a ruse just to kill Hemlock.
Thew storm makes conditions dangerous and everyone except for Hemlock dies in a fall, his old pal finds him and rescues him. Hemlock realizes his old pal is limping and realizes his old pal was the one he was supposed to kill, his old pal confirms it.
They get to the bottom, Jemima is there to meet him and she doesn’t say shit. Then Dragon calls on the phone and congratulates Hemlock, saying he obviously had the guts to kill all three guys because he didn’t know who the target was and says good job man.
THE END-
WTF? Was the target Hemlock or not?!
If the target was his old pal, how did dragon know he would be on the mountain AND know he would be limping? The friend says the unusually cold weather has him limping because of an old injury, so dragon can predict the future?
If I remember correctly, The George Kennedy character (Hemlocks buddy) was the guy who was supposed to be killed but he hadnt positively be identified. Dragon thought the real target was one of the three pther climbers. And the agent who had that conversation with Jemimah Brown (The absolutely stunning Vonetta McGee) was jealous of Hemlocks prowess and wasnt shy about trying to blow Hemlocks cover on his own initiative. Eastwood realizes at the end that Kennedy was the real target but doesnt act on it.
One side note: In the book the Jack Cassidy character ends up eating his little dog in the desert.
All the director of C2, Mr. Dragon, knew was that the target was a member of an international mountain climbing team which would ascend the Eiger. C2 is unsure of the target’s identity, and Hemlock is only told that the man walks with a limp.
Bad intelligence about Ben Bowman (George Kennedy), bad assumptions about who exactly “a member of an international mountain climbing team” might include, excellent film with Eastwood insisting on doing all his own climbing and stunts.
But didn’t Kennedy only go to Eiger because he was following Hemlock? He wasn’t on the climb, in fact the only reason he set foot on the mountain was to save Hemlock. So how was the only piece of info Dragon had on him that he would be going on the climb and would have a limp?
BTW if anyone is interested as madsircool said this movie has not one but two stunning actresses who get naked, it delivers what Bond movies promise.
I believe that Kennedy was the climbmaster so he had to be there…he was part of the team as the intelligence suggested but it was thought that the real agent was one of the climbers.
Isn’t the book and by extension the movie somewhat a parody of this genre? (Same way that “Scream” was a winking parody of slasher horror movies by being a very good slasher horror movie) I believe I read that years ago after seeing the movie for the first time. I think it’s not supposed to add up completely.
WTF? Was the target Hemlock or not?!