Castle Keep
| Castle Keep | |
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| Directed by | Sydney Pollack |
| Produced by |
John Calley Martin Ransohoff |
| Written by |
Daniel Taradash David Rayfiel |
| Based on |
Castle Keep 1965 novel by William Eastlake |
| Starring |
Burt Lancaster Bruce Dern Patrick O'Neal Jean-Pierre Aumont Peter Falk |
| Music by | Michel Legrand |
| Cinematography | Henri Decaë |
| Edited by | Malcolm Cooke |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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107 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8 million |
| Box office | $1.8 million (US/ Canada rentals) |
Castle Keep is a "firmly pro- and anti-war" 1969 American Technicolor war film combining surrealism with tragic realism filmed in Panavision. It was directed by Sydney Pollack and starred Burt Lancaster, Patrick O'Neal, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Bruce Dern, and Peter Falk. The movie appeared in the summer of 1969, a few months before the arrival of Pollack's smash hit They Shoot Horses, Don't They?.
The film is based on a novel by William Eastlake published in 1965. Eastlake enlisted in the US Army in 1942. He served in the Infantry for four and a half years, and was wounded while leading a platoon during the Battle of the Bulge.
The film opens with long, beautiful shots of ancient European art and sculptures being blown to pieces amidst the sounds of war and dissonant screams; a lone narrator begins his tale of "eight American soldiers" as the scene abruptly flashes back to a few weeks beforehand. Prior to the Battle of the Bulge, a ragtag squad of American soldiers (strongly implied to be some sort of replacement outfit), led by one-eyed Major Falconer (Burt Lancaster) and including Sgt. Rossi (Peter Falk), art expert Captain Beckman (Patrick O'Neal), and the highly intelligent narrator and sole African-American, Pvt. Allistair Benjamin (Al Freeman, Jr.), takes shelter in an ancient Belgian castle, the Maldorais, containing many priceless and irreplaceable art treasures. Although Falconer begins an affair with the young and beautiful Countess, he is surprised to find the Count (Jean-Pierre Aumont) encouraging him; in fact, the impotent nobleman hopes the Major will impregnate the Countess so that his line may continue. Meanwhile, Beckman begins to butt heads with Falconer over both the value of the art (in the context of either saving or destroying it in the event of a German assault) as well as Beckman's own unrequited attraction to the Countess, who seems to symbolize the beauty and majesty of the European art he studied before the war. The enlisted men seek their own pleasures in the brothel of the nearby town, the psychedelic "Reine Rouge" (Red Queen) run by a mystical madam, whilst Beckman marvels at the castle's artworks, many of which are stored beneath the castle for safekeeping. Sgt. Rossi, a baker before the war, falls in love with a baker's widow and decides to go AWOL, resuming his pre-war life; another soldier falls in love with a Volkswagen Beetle; his affection for the foreign vehicle borders on paraphilia and becomes a long running and anachronistic gag throughout the entire movie.
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