Thatcher What makes THE EAGLE HAS LANDED special to me is its slight deviation from traditional metrics and the unique feeling I receive when watching this film as a result. The first 35 or so years following the end of WWII saw many movies inspired by the events and or battles that took place in the European theater of war, and most of these flicks conform to traditional depictions of the Allies fighting the Nazis-- usually either a small Allied commando team on a fictitious mission to search and destroy Nazi targets, i.e. The Guns of Navarone, The Dirty Dozen, Where Eagles Dare, Force 10 From Navarone, etc. or cinematic interpretations inspired by actual events i.e. The Great Escape, Patton, Battle of the Bulge, To Hell and Back, A Bridge Too Far, etc.Based on the fictional novel written by Jack Higgins, THE EAGLE HAS LANDED takes a unique spin on the former through its portrayal of a Nazi commando unit dispatched to eliminate an Allied target. Because of this, several unique elements rise to the surface-- First, the unique setting in the English countryside rather than traditional European theater of operations in France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. This provides a rather peaceful undertone to the movie as opposed to more traditional worn-torn areas portrayed in other WWII European theater war films. This creates a nice contrast during fight scenes and provides the viewer with a false sense of security.Second and most notably, this film actually makes me cheer for the traditional "bad guys" (to a certain extent), which is very unique in a Hollywood genre and period in which protagonist Allied characters are always supposed to be victorious, right? Okay, so the unique setting and antagonists make this movie special to me and sets it aside from other war films as previously mentioned, but third, the CAST is phenomenal-- Robert Duvall portraying a "Stauffenberg-type" Nazi officer, Donald Pleasence playing an impeccable 'Himmler', Donald Sutherland's character providing the laughs and light undertones, and of course Michael Caine at his best. These actors endear me to the film and provide enough sophistication to diminish less impressive performances seen at various points during the movie. Let's not forget Treat Williams ('Captain Clark') and John Standing ('Father Verecker'), as they execute their character's roles in the film wonderfully as well.This movie does have its slow points early on, but that is to be expected in a 2h 15min film in 1976. The movie also seems to lack a certain production quality if one decides to compare it to the following year's film, A Bridge Too Far, and two years later, Force 10 From Navarone, but this should not be a surprise nor a knock on the movie. All in all, this is a nice, feel-good WWII war movie with a unique, riveting plot and a solid cast.

grantss Great WW2 movie.Based on the Jack Higgins novel, the plot interesting and believable, despite being, on the surface, quite far-fetched. Ending is a bit tame though.All-star cast delivers in spades. Michael Caine in the lead role is superb, as always. Good support from Robert Duvall, Donald Sutherland, Donald Pleasance, Anthony Quayle, Treat Williams and Jenny Agutter. Larry Hagman overdoes the buffoonery though.A classic war-drama.

Neil Welch Nazies plot to kidnap Winston Churchill by landing a small task force in rural England.This is a moderately well-made and well-paced war action thriller, with a sturdy if uncomplicated plot, a very good cast, well-staged action, and various plot threads which are mostly - but not wholly - resolved as you would wish them to be.It is interesting in that it is one of the earliest tales from England/USA to put forward a point of view which shows Germans who are not part of high command as conscientiously patriotic soldiers.And thank heavens we had the Yanks over in England to sort it out for us, eh?

graestella I re watched this recently and its still good. The extended version DVD with the 11 minutes put back in is really much, much, better too. The idiots who cut this film down for TV should be sacked to prevent them committing similar crimes to other movies.Caine's acting is still incredibly subtle in places and each time you watch it you spot something new. Also brilliant are Jean Marsh, Treat Williams, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duval. Duval's character has cancer and winces as he walks in several scenes. Clearly he is clearly method acting the pain in his pauses.To those who have lambasted Larry Hagman's acting as Colonel Pitts - well I can say I have met officers this stupid in the army, and after seeing David Schwimmer's character, who was based on real life, in 'Band of Brothers' it appears idiots of this calibre really did get to battalion rank in the US Army in WW2. Larry is brilliant in this film and I enjoy his moments every time I watch it.