The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

Director:

John Sturges

Writers:

Tom Mankiewicz (screenplay)
Jack Higgins (novel)

Release Date:

25 December 1976 (Finland)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller | War

Tagline:

In 1943 sixteen German paratroopers landed in England. In three days they nearly won the War.

Plot:

Oberst Steiner, a German parachute unit commander, is sent to England on a covert mission to kidnap...

Plot Keywords:

Parachute | Winston Churchill | Magnifying Glass | Cigarette Smoking | Heinrich Himmler

Cast

Michael Caine	...	Colonel Kurt Steiner
Donald Sutherland	...	Liam Devlin
Robert Duvall	...	Colonel Max Radl
Jenny Agutter	...	Molly Prior
Donald Pleasence	...	Heinrich Himmler
Anthony Quayle	...	Admiral Canaris
Jean Marsh	...	Joanna Grey
Sven-Bertil Taube	...	Capt. Hans von Neustadt
John Standing	...	Philip Verecker
Judy Geeson	...	Pamela Verecker
Treat Williams	...	Capt. Harry Clark
Larry Hagman	...	Col. Clarence E. Pitts
Alexei Jawdokimov	...	Corpral Kuniski
Richard Wren
Michael Byrne	...	Karl

Runtime:

135 min | Germany:125 min (25 fps) (TV version) | UK:145 min (25 fps) (extended version) | USA:123 min | USA:131 min (DVD version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German | Polish

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

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

Certification:

Iceland:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:16 (1977) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:A (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Associated General Films

Trivia:

This is the final film directed by John Sturges.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At approximately 1 hr 36 min into the film, when Colonel Pitts goes to kick in the door to Mrs Grey's house, before he kicks the door it already starts to open.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography (1981)

Not the best example of WW II/action-movie making but it has some great moments.

The concept of the movie is both great and original but however the execution of it is not exactly done in the best way possible.

The movie starts of very slow and even perhaps a bit boring. Thankfuly the second halve of the movie is much better once the action and story really start and take more pace and form. It might not be as entertaining and good as other WW II/action movies, meant as entertainment, such as "Where Eagles Dare", "Kelly's Heroes" and "The Guns of Navarone" but it does have some great moments in it which still helps to make "The Eagle Has Landed" a bit of a must see for the fans of the genre.

The story is just great and its interesting to see a movie for once from the perspective of the German side. For once the Germans are not portrayed as ruthless villains but as soldiers with valor and courage instead. The movie is perhaps a bit moralistic in the first halve of the movie (basicly every German soldier shown in the movie openly hates Hitler and is against the deportation of Jews to the concentration camps. It feels too forced all) but nevertheless the perspective the movie is told from is great and works good for the movie. It's too bad that the movie is told needlessly slow at times, while it could had been a great fast paced action-movie.

The movie has a great cast but this is not really an actors movie, meaning that the movie wouldn't had been any better or worse with some other lesser known names in it. It was weird to hear Donald Sutherland talking in an Irish accent and Robert Duvall with a German one. Also Treat Williams in one of his first movie roles was horrible as the American soldier Capt. Clark. On the other hand, it was great to see Donald Pleasance as Heinrich Himmler. Other big names in this movie are Michael Caine, Anthony Quayle and Jean Marsh.

The action sequences are good and definitely the best part of the movie. The movie is somewhat entertaining to watch and it does have some well placed humor at times but its not quite enough to truly uplift this movie to a level of greatness.

This last movie from director John Sturges is a memorable but not perfect one.

7/10