The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

A German plot to kidnap Winston Churchill unfolds at the height of World War II.

Director:

John Sturges

Writers:

Tom Mankiewicz (screenplay), Jack Higgins (novel)

Stars:

Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Caine	...	Colonel Steiner
Donald Sutherland	...	Liam Devlin
Robert Duvall	...	Colonel Radl
Jenny Agutter	...	Molly
Donald Pleasence	...	Himmler
Anthony Quayle	...	Admiral Canaris
Jean Marsh	...	Joanna Grey
Sven-Bertil Taube	...	Captain von Neustadt
John Standing	...	Father Verecker
Judy Geeson	...	Pamela
Treat Williams	...	Captain Clark
Larry Hagman	...	Colonel Pitts
Alexei Jawdokimov	...	Corporal Kuniski
Richard Wren
Michael Byrne	...	Karl

Storyline

Oberst Steiner, a German parachute unit commander, is sent to England on a covert mission to kidnap Prime Minister Winston Churchill and bring him to Berlin. The seemingly impossible assignment becomes more and more feasible as the mission grows nearer with Steiner and his men arriving in England to a very real possibility of success.

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Plot Keywords:

parachute | winston churchill | magnifying glass | nazi | insubordination | 

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Taglines:

The best seller is now a major motion picture.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German Polish

Release Date:

25 December 1976 (Finland)

Also Known As:

L'aigle s'est envolé

Filming Locations:

Berkshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Associated General Films, ITC Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min 125 min (TV) 145 min (extended) 131 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) 4-Track Stereo (some 35 mm prints) (London premiere print)

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of three films in five years where Donald Sutherland played a German character who was either a Nazi or son of a Nazi. The movies are Bear Island, Eye of the Needle and The Eagle Has Landed.

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Goofs

Shadow of the boom mic visible in the top-right-hand corner of the screen while Devlin directs Steiner to the back of the church to show him the escape route he has found.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: [WWII News Story] September 12, 1943, German paratroopers snatched Mussolini from his mountaintop prison in Italy.

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Connections

Referenced in A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers (2009)

User Reviews

Strong Second Half Saves Boring First Hour

I almost gave up on this film after the first hour. It was just too slow for me and I was having difficulty picking up some of dialog with the foreign accents (no subtitles are offered on the DVD).

However, once the "invasion" started the film was very interesting. The only ridiculous part was the role played by Larry Hagman. Liberal Hollywood loves to portray every Southerner as a gung-ho, out-of-control military freak. If I was from the South, I would have been highly offended at this stereotype.

What's really different about this film is that it's a World War II story told from the German side where the Germans are pictured as humane people. You don't see that too much from English-speaking filmmakers.

Michael Caine is the most likable of these people, one of those given the assignment of kidnapping Winston Churchill (interesting premise, off the best- selling book by Jack Higgins). Donald Sutherland plays an Irishman recruited to help in the kidnapping and he's fun to watch.

This is really a man's movie, something like "The Guns Of Navarone," but they inserted Jenny Agutter in here to give the viewers a pretty face and some romance, even though it has absolutely no bearing on the story.

Robert Duvall, Jean Marsh, Treat Williams, Donald Pleasance and Anthony Quayle are some of the other "name" actors who contribute. All in all, a pretty good movie if you can get by that first hour!