Il nido dell'aquila

I watched this film when it was recently shown on British television, largely because of my interest in bird watching and nature conservation (although the looks of the young Kathleen Turner might also have been a factor). The story revolves around the doings of egg collectors (or "oologists" as they sometimes call themselves), a breed of men which I, in common with most ornithologists, struggle to understand; if, as they claim, they are motivated by a love of nature, why do they persist in endangering through their activities the very creatures they profess to love? J.P. Whittier, an obsessive and very wealthy egg collector, is trying to obtain specimens of the eggs of a newly discovered (and fictitious) subspecies of the bald eagle. In reality there are two existing subspecies of this bird, the northern and the southern, although the supposed new variety is said to be larger than either. At the time the film was made in 1984 the bald eagle was on the brink of extinction in the continental United States, although its numbers have since recovered and it was removed from the list of endangered species in 2007.

Whittier is well aware that stealing its eggs will be likely to push the new subspecies closer to extinction, but is nevertheless determined to proceed with his scheme. Because the only known nest is on top of a lofty crag, he hires rock climber Mike Walker to steal the eggs for him. Although Walker can no more comprehend Whittier's motivation than I can, he is tempted by the huge sum of money he is offered. There is, however, a problem. The nest is on land owned by Jim Malden, a reclusive and eccentric conservationist who fiercely guards both his privacy and the wildlife on his land, going so far as to attack hunters with a crossbow when he catches them poaching. To allay Malden's suspicions, Walker poses as a photographer. Turner plays Stella Clayton, a local storekeeper in whom both men are romantically interested. Stella is presumably a widow or divorcée, as she has a young son, Adam. Turner may have taken the part in order to try and play down the "femme fatale" image she had acquired after "Body Heat".

"Variety" magazine accused the film of lacking dramatic tension or emotional involvement, and there is justice in the accusation. The main villain of the piece is Whittier, and he always keeps well away from the action. Walker, even at the beginning of the film, never seems very villainous, and by the end he is not a villain at all, having been converted to the conservationist cause by Jim and Stella. Malden is not always entirely sympathetic, seeming at times too fanatical and obsessive; putting a crossbow bolt through someone's leg is not generally regarded as the act of a Christian gentleman, even if done in an ostensibly good cause.

The plot does not always flow very smoothly and there is, apparently, a reason for this. After filming had been completed, one of four reels of film went missing and the director Philippe Mora had, somehow, to put a coherent story together from the remaining three. Despite some attractive shots of the North Carolina scenery, "A Breed Apart" is a routine action thriller which is not always very thrilling, but given its strange history the finished product could have been much worse. 5/10

Hotshot mountaineer Booth ventures onto private nature reserve owned by nutty Vietnam vet Hauer, with the intention of stealing some priceless eagle eggs. Good story is bolstered by a memorable turn by Hauer and some lovely scenery, but it's a shame that Turner is wasted in a thankless role as Hauer's love interest. Music score by Maurice Gibb of Bee Gees fame.

Although the film lacks a strong story line, the actors do well in their roles. Most of the reading of the story comes from "between the lines" and the actors abilities to present the story to us. I think the editor did a good job of putting together a reasonable film even though he was missing a reel that got lost in transit. Admittedly if he had had all four reels, the final cut would have been improved. Still I enjoyed watching this film even though I had to fill in some blank spots with my own thoughts as to how some things tied together. A little popcorn, some spare time, and lets watch 'A Breed Apart'. The scenery is fine.

Rutger Hauer does a typically fine job as Jim Malden, a nature-loving recluse who lives on a privately owned island. Taking care of the animals there is everything to him. A local store keeper, Stella Clayton (a radiant Kathleen Turner), is obviously sweet on him, but he has a knack for pushing people away. (He's one of those movie characters who has turned his back on society after tragedy in his past.) Into their lives comes Mike (Powers Boothe), an expert mountain climber. Mike needs a lot of money for his latest ambitious venture, and hooks up with a creepy collector (Donald Pleasence), who's offered him six figures to steal some bald eagle eggs; these eggs belong to a new (fictional) subspecies that are bigger than ordinary bald eagles.

Directed by cult favourite Philippe Mora ("Mad Dog Morgan", "The Beast Within", "Howling" II and III), "A Breed Apart" is the kind of film more noteworthy for its good intentions than for whatever it actually accomplishes. However, while the script seems to be full of unresolved subplots, this is supposedly because one full reel disappeared while en route from North Carolina to California. The human stories have some appeal, but are trite compared to some of the films' bigger messages and majestic outdoors scenery. One cliched plot point has a pair of braindead, yahoo hunters played by Brion James and John Dennis Johnston seeking revenge against Malden. This leads to predictable developments.

The biggest question that Paul Wheelers' script poses is whether or not Mike will exit the somewhat grey moral area that he currently occupies. The man is something of an enigma, and delights in wasting the time of a sexy reporter (Jayne Bentzen) looking for her big breakthrough story.

The actors are entertaining to watch. Hauer is playing a cliched character (a "noble savage" as Mike calls him), and the charismatic Boothe and the lovely Turner have more interesting roles to play. Pleasence is effective in his select few scenes; James and Johnston are standard-issue but amusing redneck antagonists. (The latter is a semi-regular in the films of Mora.)

Notable for an atmospheric electronic score composed by Maurice Gibb of the Bee-Gees, and its exquisite photography by Geoffrey Stephenson.

In real life, the bald eagle WAS at risk of becoming extinct in 1984, but fortunately its numbers subsequently improved.

Seven out of 10.

In my opinion, this movie is much better than you'd expect for the low ratings it has received. All the starring actors do a great job here and the casting fits the characters easily.

This is a tale of a of vietnam veteran living as a hermit (Rutger Hauer) in his own private island, taking care of the wildlife and protecting the animals. He confronts some nasty scoundrels (Brion James acting one of them, good old Gaff from Blade Runner!), shooting birds just for the fun of it, scares them away, though they keep coming back for more. There's a rich old bird-egg collector (Donald Pleasance) who hires for a grand price a slick mountaineer (Powers Boothe) to collect eggs for a from an endangered eagle species living on the island. A single mother, working as a shopkeeper in nearby village (Kathleen Turner) feels strongly for the hermit veteran and is always turned down by him, though he cares for her boy and spends time with him in the woods, saving some animals etc.. There are some quite strong emotional scenes for Hauer and Turner and I think it's exactly the unrequited love between their characters that's one major motor here keeping the film interesting.

The pace of this is film probably rather slow for younger audience, but there are plenty of good elements to make this movie worth watching. For instance, the cinematography: it's shot mostly in open air enviroments, and it's also a very bright movie, as it is filmed mostly in sunny daylight. Good character evolution: the characters really contemplate on their actions and their consequences. The plot is simple, quite naive actually, but works fairly good in a certain, innocent mood. There's some mild violence to give a bit of tension and mild nudity for the erotica but nothing too nasty to kill the overall positive vibe of the film.