Germans And Americans Playing For Keeps

Burt Lancaster, Peter Falk and Bruce Dern star in CASTLE KEEP, an extraordinary melding of war drama, satiric comedy and heroic action adventure from acclaimed director Sydney Pollack (The Firm).

Near the end of World War II, American Major Falconer (Lancaster, Academy Award®-winner Best Actor Elmer Gantry, 1960) leads his weary eight-man squadron to a perfectly preserved medieval castle in the Adrennes Forest. CASTLE KEEP's owner, the aging Count of Maldorais (Jean-Pierre Aumont), shelters the servicemen in hopes they will defend his fortress and his priceless collection of art masterpieces from the advancing German troops. But the servicemen have plans of their own. Major Falconer begins an illicit affair with the Count's beautiful young wife, while Sgt. Rossi (Falk) romances the wife of an absent baker. As the German soldiers push forward, a deadly game of possession ensues, leading to a spectacular ground battle for keeper of the castle. Shaded with off-beat comic moments - a soldier (In Cold Blood's Scott Wilson) falls in love with a battered Volkswagen and a religious fanatic (Bruce Dern) leads his shell-shocked troops through the bombed-out streets - CASTLE KEEP features a top-notch cast hailed as "excellent" by Vincent Canby, The New York Times.