Overview

• Released by MGM Records
• Number SIE-16 ST
• Number of Tracks 11
• Total Time 40 minutes, 1 second
• Composer and Conductor Ron Goodwin
• Recording Engineer John Richards
• Director of Engineering Val Valentin
• Liner Art Frank McCarthy
• Art Direction David E. Krieger

When Where Eagles Dare premiered in 1968, audiences were not only captivated by its daring espionage and icy Alpine landscapes but also by Ron Goodwin’s thunderous score. Goodwin, one of Britain’s most celebrated film composers, crafted a soundtrack that perfectly matched Brian G. Hutton’s tense war adventure. Recorded for MGM Records and running just over forty minutes, the score remains a benchmark of action cinema music — bold, rhythmic, and unmistakably British in its precision.

The Main Title, with its relentless snare drums and sweeping brass fanfare, immediately establishes the film’s tone: disciplined, militaristic, and full of danger. As Classic FM notes, the theme opens with a terse drumbeat before the orchestra erupts into a bombastic brass section — a simple yet commanding motif that mirrors the peril and grandeur of the mission itself. The ascending scales in the melody evoke the treacherous climb to Schloss Adler, the snowbound fortress where much of the story unfolds.

Across eleven tracks, Goodwin weaves variations of this main motif to follow the film’s progression — from the suspense of Ascent on the Cable Car and Encounter in the Castle to the breathtaking Descent and Fight on the Cable Car, one of the most dynamic cues of his career. The drums drive forward like engines of war, while violins and brass accentuate moments of panic and determination. In contrast, short diegetic pieces such as Beguine, Polka, and Fox Trot capture the eerie normality of life within the enemy’s territory, offering brief moments of calm before the storm.

Goodwin’s music succeeds because it understands the film’s psychology: courage expressed through order, tension through rhythm. The score never overstates emotion; instead, it commands attention through structure and momentum. It’s martial yet melodic, cinematic yet symphonic — a rare balance that elevates every frame of the film. More than five decades later, Where Eagles Dare remains not only a masterclass in wartime storytelling but also a showcase of how film music can become inseparable from the imagery it supports. Few action scores have achieved such enduring impact.

Tracks – Original version

1. Main Title (3:05)

This piece of music accompanys the beginning of the film. A very grand piece that makes me shiver with delight. It is developed for the action-filled sequences in the film and the feelings you get from this piece agrees with feelings you get when you watch the movie. The entire soundtrack is based on a theme created in the Main Title. 

2. Ascent on the Cable Car (7:07)

You hear this piece among others when Smith and Schaffer goes up to the castle on the roof of the Cable Car. A piece that well accompanys the thrilling in this scene. The violins are the dominating instruments och they, like the drums in the Main Title, characterize this piece. 

3. Pursued by the Enemy (4:02)

This piece is based totally on the theme based in the Main Title, and you can here it, for exempel, when Thomas, Christiansen and Berkely are writing in their notebooks in the golden hall. The piece gets you in the right mood and in the end you have heart in your mouth. The end is just magnificent and it’s hard to keep unaffected. This is maybe the best piece of the soundtrack. 

4. The Booby Trap (3:20)

It starts very calm, but the end is everything but calm. It ends very dramatic. The piece is played just before Smith and Schaffer go by the motorcycles. You can also hear it when they adapts the Booby traps. You can also recognize this piece from the scenes with the first attacks on the German Radio Operator and on the attack on the German Helicopter Pilot. 

5. Encounter in the Castle (2:00)

You can hear this piece pretty often during the group’s sneaking in the castle. You can really feel the excitement and the danger behind the next corner. Based on the mainittle, but a bit stuttering and without running smoothly. The piece is composed in this way to match the story. 

6. On Enemy Territory (3:58)

This piece is played when the group arrives to Werfen. Even here you can recognise the stanzas from the Main Title. This is not as melodious as the Main Title, but still a very breath-taking piece of music. The careful listener recognize this piece of music from the scene where Smith examines Harrod and finds out that he is murdered. 

7. Descent and Fight on the Cable Car (7:14)

You can here this piece during the fantastic actionscenes on the Cable Car in the end of the film. Maybe these are most famous from Where Eagles Dare, and this piece accompanys these scenes very well. When you listen you can almost see the despairing struggle for surviving on the roof of the Cable Car. A very dramatic piece of music. 

8. The Chase to the Airfield (3:40)

The chase to the Airfield is one of the most thrilling scenes in this movie. To make these scenes even more thrilling you should need a fast piece that gets you in the right mood. This piece really match the description. The fantastic drum-rolls is perfect and you can almost feel the jabbing snow from the wheels. 

9. Three Incidental Pieces from the Film (5:35)

A) Beguine (1:13)

When Schaffer sneaks up the stairs to the radio room, you can hear the German Radio Operator listening to music. It is this piece that you hear. It is played in waltz time and it sounds like a piece from fourties. Just the period when this movie is to take place. 

B) Polka (2:12)

A really glad piece of music. You can here it in scenes from Zum Wilden Hirsch. This is music that makes you want to dance. Listening to this piece will make you happy, that is an guarantee. The piece smells of beer and German gasthaus.

C) Fox Trot (2:05)

This is the piece that the German Radio Operator listen to just before he switch of the radio. That is a pity becasue this is a very good pieace of music. A Fox Trot in a calm tempo, that I think sounds like the classical Wiener walz.