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Castle Keep

R Released Jul 23, 1969 1h 46m War List
40% Tomatometer 10 Reviews 48% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
A one-eyed World War II Army major (Burt Lancaster) and his men occupy a Belgian count's (Jean-Pierre Aumont) castle open to a German attack.
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Castle Keep

Critics Reviews

View All (10) Critics Reviews
Variety Staff Variety Apparent efforts to insert a fresh side of war by concentrating on some of its grim humor act more as a deterrent than a booster to interest. May 26, 2008 Full Review Time Out Pollack's folly remains an intriguing curio in spite of its pretensions. Feb 9, 2006 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times It's a sometimes funny and entertaining movie that accomplishes the dubious feat of being both anti and pro war at the same time. Rated: 2.5/5 May 9, 2005 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Burt Lancaster has starred in several good war flicks, but Castle Keep isn’t one of them. Rated: 1.5/4 May 14, 2024 Full Review Richard Schickel LIFE Well worth seeing, not because perfection has been achieved, but because a good serious film response has been made to a good serious book. Jul 18, 2023 Full Review Penelope Houston The Spectator As though a marriage had been arranged between Catch 22 and A Long Day's Dying, and neither party felt much confidence in the outcome. Jul 10, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (37) audience reviews
stanley b Unusual to say the least war film. Surreal and thought provoking. Burt kicks ass. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 06/28/24 Full Review Steve D Amusing for a while but unravels. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/17/24 Full Review david s I've loved this movie since it came out in 1969.Surreal,thought provoking,surreal. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/22/23 Full Review Red T It's a Mess but entertaining toward the end. The music is pretty generic and forgettable. The is ok with Flak & Lancaster standing out with decent performances but the rest just all blend in and are very generic and forgettable. The editing is ok enough and the pacing is a tolerable mess. This overcompensates for 60% of the runtime basically sitting around talking in riddles and proverbs about art and why the castle should/shouldn't be protected and it feels like it never goes anywhere, never contributes to meaningful character development, or builds suspense. Than the final 40% is nothing but straight action. The cinematography is decent and the best part of this. The castle is a memorable setting and its shot well but the scenes don't really have anything going on besides talking about religion, art meaning, and philosophical expose that goes in circles. The action is the best part and is surprisingly good with very well done practical effects overall including some awesome destruction shots like the church and castle burning. That being said I didn't really care for anyone in it much and it did become a bit mindless in the fighting at times. Honestly unless your a super die hard Lancaster fan skip this. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/13/23 Full Review deke p What A SNOOZE-FEST! More like a BORE movie than a war movie. It is said that war is long periods of boredom, punctuated by moments of killing. This movie concentrates on the boredom. Can't believe I've never seen this 1969 movie until now on tv 7.26.2022, tho I've heard of it since it came out and thot by the title that I was really missing something. A small group of US army soldiers being bored, and having sex with wanton Euro women, while occupying a very rich man's castle. Finally gets soe action near the end, but not enuf to save it. Bruce DERN is in it as a crazy Christian pacifist. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member This was a great film and difficult to work on in POST-PRODUCTION. I worked on it - TIMING at Technicolor Studios in Hollywood! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Castle Keep

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Cast & Crew

Soldier of Orange 92% 87% Soldier of Orange Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 86% 79% Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence Missing in Action 19% 43% Missing in Action Lucie Aubrac 74% 65% Lucie Aubrac Straight Into Darkness 57% 38% Straight Into Darkness Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis A one-eyed World War II Army major (Burt Lancaster) and his men occupy a Belgian count's (Jean-Pierre Aumont) castle open to a German attack.
Director
Sydney Pollack
Producer
Martin Ransohoff, John Calley
Screenwriter
Daniel Taradash, David Rayfiel
Production Co
Filmways Pictures, Avala Film
Rating
R
Genre
War
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 23, 1969, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2012
Runtime
1h 46m
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