The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

A German plot to kidnap Sir 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	...	Oberst Kurt 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	...	Hans Altmann
Michael Byrne	...	Karl

Storyline

1943, The war is entering its final stages and Germany is teetering on the brink of defeat. An increasingly unhinged Hitler, orders a mission to have British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill kidnapped and brought to Germany. The plan seems ludicrous in the extreme, but a message sent from a German spy in the Norfolk countryside makes one German officer realize that such a mission may just feasible.

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Plot Keywords:

army ranger | england | winston churchill | parachute | rescue | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller | War

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Treat Williams spent a week with the 1st Ranger Battalion, 75th Rangers during an exercise in Georgia to prepare for his role.

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Goofs

When Liam Devlin crosses the barbed wire to follow Molly onto the beach, the sign saying that the beach is mined is at an oblique angle and tangled in the wire. A minute or two later as they are leaving the beach, the sign is more upright and planted firmly in the sand.

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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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Alternate Versions

The Carlton distributed DVD "Michael Caine double bill" is the full uncut version incorporating all the cut scenes, including the blood from Colonel Pitts' head and the shot in the back of the soldier. However on the description of the film it has the wrong film length info, it is about 12 minutes longer than shown.

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Connections

Referenced in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005)

User Reviews

It could make The Charge Of The Light Brigade look like military genius.

A small Norfolk village in England is suddenly the focal point for a Polish regiment's training exercise. It would seem they are not all they are saying they are, so with Winston Churchill due to visit the village, there is something seriously afoot.

Written by Jack Higins, directed by John Sturges {The Great Escape} and starring Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall, The Eagle Has Landed is a different sort of war movie. Flipping the axis to a German point of view and having English and American actors playing the Germans, is a bold move that, fluctuating accents aside, makes for a totally engrossing picture. Offering a fair bit more than your standard film of men on a suicide mission for the war effort, the piece's pulp origins, and its idyllic country setting give it a quality that ensures the viewers attention stays firmly with the film's steadily paced first half. Also adding intrigue into this already interesting broth is that our main Nazi protagonist is not down with the whole killing Jews thing. It's very sly in how it pans out, its not asking the audience to feel sympathy with Steiner {Caine professionally impacting}, it's just proclaiming that not all people should be tarred with the same brush.

Mostly the cast are fine and boosted by a brilliant turn from Donald Sutherland as an IRA spy helping the Germans, Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasance, Anthony Quayle, Jenny Agutter and Jean Marsh all are solid within the picture's structure. Oddly the performance of Larry Hagman as the appropriately named Colonel Pitts sticks out like a sore thumb, buffoonery in bravado intent it's difficult to tell if it's meant to be comic relief or a statement of how the British viewed the yanks at this time? A young Treat Williams as Capt. Harry Clark ensures that not all American soldiers in the film come off as dunderheads. Playing out more as a mystery with it's various twists and turns, and seeping with tension amidst the village folk, The Eagle Has Landed is an odd sort of picture, but it certainly delivers enough to make it way above average. 6.5/10

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German Polish

Release Date:

25 December 1976 (Finland)

Also Known As:

L'aigle s'est envolé

Filming Locations:

Holkham Beach, North Norfolk, 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