Your favorite mountain climbing films.

Seeing filmed images (real or otherwise) of people climbing tall towers or standing on the edge of a tall building's roof completely unnerves me. I'm fascinated by the ideas, but those images just terrify me. And yet, I absolutely love mountain climbing movies and books. We just saw Meru recently and it's one of the most hair raising, thought provoking, thrilling, amazing movies I've ever seen. And Jon Krakauer's bonus clip, "The Calling" is a major additional plus. Touching the Void" is another major favorite.

What are some of your favorite Mountain Climbing movies (movies, not the album, although that's great too, LOL).

EDIT: I should add, I'm mostly curious about mountain climbing films that are documentaries or movies based on true stories, but I'm curious about as well about any good fictional movies that might be worth checking out.

 

Vertical Limit is the only one I've seen and I remember it being a fun popcorn movie.

 

I don't know that one. Will check it out thanks!

 

The movie Lost Continent has an endless 20 minute Rock Climbing scene that goes on and on... if that's your thing.

 

The Eiger Sanction

jerol

 

"The Mountain" came on the TV years ago when I was living with a friend of mine. We weren't sure about it when it began, but man... we really got into it.

 

Yes, this was the first one I thought of.

The Eiger Sanction | 1975 | Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy.

Former government assassin Jonathan Hemlock (Clint Eastwood) now devotes his time to teaching and collecting paintings, but his quiet life is interrupted when he is persuaded by his former employers work for them again. Hemlock has to join a crew of explorers (George Kennedy, Jack Cassidy) on a trip up the Eiger, a treacherous Swiss mountain. Hemlock must simultaneously determine which of his fellow climbers is a Soviet spy, kill his target and scale the deadly peak.



Based on: The Eiger Sanction; by Trevanian

 

The Holy Mountain (Arnold Fanck, 1926), starring a young Leni Riefenstahl:

 

The Sound Of Music.

 

Then there is the 1993 film Cliffhanger. Sylvester Stallone.

Outdoor thriller in which a former mountain rescuer is pitted against a group of criminals who have lost their $100 million stash during a plane crash in the Rocky Mountains. After being persuaded to help rescue a group of stranded hikers, he discovers that they are in fact a gang of violent robbers who need help to locate their missing loot.

 

The Blue Light (Leni Riefenstahl, 1932) is another fine example of the German bergfilme genre of the 1920s and early 1930s:

 

North Face - a German movie about one of the expeditions to climb the north face of the Eiger. Outside of the oddly placed romantic angle, it is a pretty accurate account of the adventure and how dangerous the climb actually was; especially for the trail breakers, who people watched and learned from in order to decide how they might climb to the top, in their own expedition.

 

Glen Ford, Lloyd Bridges
The White Tower

 

Valley Uprising (2014)

Brian, as someone who lives in Placerville, you probably know about this film. It's about how a bunch of rowdy, rule-breaking rock climbers have pushed the rangers in Yosemite Valley to allow them to climb. I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix.

 

Meru--excessive at it's best. Note this was a mixed rock and ice climb with a long approach. It is also an interesting example of group dynamics.

There is a special category for excessive people. I once had dinner with Royle Robbins and his wife we talked about climbing in Yosemite. Wow.

 

Lord of The Rings

 

North by Northwest

 

Does 127 Hours count?

 

More than North by Northwest, that’s for sure. Damn, I wish I’d thought of that one! Excellent movie.

 

Everest (2015), pretty good film based on a 1996 expedition to Mt. Everest.

 

Where Eagles Dare | 1968
Clint Eastwood, Richard Burton

A crack team of Allied soldiers stages a daring rescue during World War II. A U.S. general is being held captive in an imposing castle fort, high in the Bavarian Alps. The audacious plan calls for Lt. Schaffer (Clint Eastwood), Maj. Smith (Richard Burton) and other operatives to parachute down wearing Nazi disguises. They'll penetrate the mountain outpost while undercover operatives assist them from within. But their mission changes when they discover that there's a traitor in their midst.

 

Beautiful cinematography in that one. And John Lithgow is great as the sinister villain.

 

The guy that wrote that book (Joe Simpson) also has a book called 'The Beckoning Silence', which was made into a documentary. I recently watched it... pretty intense stuff. It's about the failed attempt in 1936 by Toni Kurz to climb the north face of Eiger.

 

That's the expedition North Face is about, too.

 

Easily for me is "Third Man On The Mountain" from 1959. Don't let the fact it's a
Disney movie fool you...it was critically acclaimed when it was released and as a 10
year old when it came out it blew me away. Some truly remarkable climbing scenes
actually filmed on the Matterhorn.
Haven't seen it in years anywhere, but it is out on DVD and meets your request to a T.