Thirty some years after its release, it is now clear that The Eagle Has Landed was a plucked raptor when it fell out of Sturgis' respectable aerie into 1970s theaters. Almost every character is unbelievable, even more so because they're fleshed out by major star shtick working with a script and direction that hugged any cliché within reach but with out the swagger, fun or poignancy of, say, "The Great Escape" or "Von Ryan's Express." So too with the plot contrivances, Thomas Kinkade settings and the clumsy battle sequences. After seeing this expensive movie on TCM last night, it occurred to me why Treat Williams in the film "Hair" (as George Berger) marched with so much anxiety onto the troop transport plane headed for Viet Nam. He was probably remembering what had happened three years earlier to his Captain Clark character in "The Eagle Has Landed" -- defeated by hoakum even as he assumes command after Larry Hagman (doing a Yank version of a Pythonesque/John Cleese kind of military idiot) gets a slug in the head by a tea and bisquit matron. Too bad the gun wasn't fired by Terry Jones in drag.
Review of The Eagle Has Landed
