3/5 The Eagle Has Landed... To the Moon Nazi
  by Julian Kennedy (St Pete Florida)
The Eagle Has Landed 5 out of 10: The Eagle Has Landed is one of those revisionist war films that were so popular after the Vietnam War.

In this film the Nazis are the protagonists (though not necessarily the good guys). While the British are painted as morally equivalent (mention is made of the British concentration camps during the Second Boer war) and the United States forces are portrayed as untested buffoons (Two words; Larry Hagman; see below).

The Eagle has Landed is about a Nazi plot to kidnap Winston Churchill and bring him back to Germany. An eye patched Robert Duvall plays the plans author and Donald Pleasence plays his ruthless boss Heinrich Himmler (great casting there). They recruit German airborne leader Michael Caine (Who was educated in England though how a German at Oxford picks up a Cockney accent is never explained.)

Caines character is where the movie starts to float off the rails. Caine and his men are in a German prison camp because they tried to rescue a Jewish girl. This of course sets Caine up as the good Nazi. This honestly is as bad a copout as when Mel Gibsons character in The Patriot was proffered as being the only plantation owner in the American south to use free blacks exclusively.

If the movie wants us to root for the Nazis at least be honest about it. This unfortunate choice also gives a Dirty Dozen vibe to the film that it neither deserves nor can live up to.

After Caines men land in Middle Earth (sorry a small English village) disguised as polish paratroopers (Insert obvious joke here) they quickly set up camp with the help of a local woman with a chip on her shoulder (Jean Marsh) and an IRA man played broadly by Donald Sutherland. The film quickly develops more subplots then its two and a half hour running time can comfortable handle.

The silliest of these involves the romance between Sutherlands romantic IRA gadfly and a local village girl played by a disappointing clothed Jenny Agutter. They have one slight meet cute date at the beach and based on a chaste peck and some poetry (not to mention the promises of an Irishman); Agutters character shoots her other suitor with a shotgun, covers for the Nazis (including working their radio) and needless to say runs away with her charming murdering rogue.

Pile on the Germans demanding the right to wear their Nazi uniforms under their disguises (Yeah thats a foolproof idea. No possible downside there); Sutherlands spy character not noting the large American ranger base just up the road; and the fact that the village itself is not suspicious of an Irishman who seemed to just drop out of the sky. (Literally) Come to think of it this entire dimwitted English shire consists of about 12 people, a waterwheel and a Catholic church. (Not Anglican???) Why Churchill would ever visit such a hamlet in the first place is never explained.

And then there are the American Rangers. Ive heard Larry Hagman was a good actor on occasion (Im not about to sit through Fail Safe anytime soon to find out) but in this film he is unfunny broad comic relief. While up to this point all the actors have done a great job with sometimes poorly written roles (Im giving Agutter a pass on this one) and have really helped to keep the movie together; Hagmans comic relief guy simply kills any serious mood the movie had created up to this point. Its overacting scene-chewing buffoonery that has to be seen to be believed.

The other major American role is played by Treat Williams. Yeah enough said.

Last nail in an otherwise attractive coffin are the action scenes themselves. Maybe I play to much Call of Duty but have any of these guys ever heard of covering fire or squad tactics? Another reviewer compared it to the A-team and I concur. The action scenes seem simply sloppy and the movie piddles out into a trick ending.

5/5 I love this clunky film and here's why... (details)
  by Patrick W. Crabtree (Lucasville, OH USA)
I recently grabbed a good used copy of this film in a pawn shop for two bucks and I would have sworn that I had seen this 1976 production before now... but, as it turns out, I had not. My older brother made precisely the same comment. The movie is, of course, based upon Jack Higgins thriller-novel of the same name: The Eagle Has Landed (Liam Devlin)

I'm pretty sure that this movie never caught on for multiple reasons:

-- The premise of the film is just a little over the top, (a plan to kidnap Churchill during WWII.)

-- The script sort of makes the Nazi special forces team look like good and honorable guys, (details on this later.)

-- The producers/writers/director must have argued about the genre of the film... it's part serious, part tongue-in-cheek.

But I can live with these minor issues, especially since the positive aspects of this movie far outweigh its apparent weaknesses. Here's the story in a nutshell:

By 1943, Hitler is getting desperate as the war drags on so he seizes upon a desperate measure: sending a team into England to kidnap Winston Churchill, the hope being that the mission's success might initiate a negotiated peace. This elite special force, (which has to be sprung en masse from a suspended death sentence stemming from a German court martial proceeding), poses as a Polish Paratrooper unit and they have sympathizers already established in the small community, where Churchill is slated to visit, to help them pull it off. The members of this diminutive Nazi force are so ethical that they insist on wearing their German uniforms under the Polish ones (!?!) The group doesn't anticipate the small American force which is billeted nearby. And the cat is really out of the bag when one of the German soldiers forfeits his life while saving the life of a little English girl and his real uniform is thus inadvertently revealed to the locals. Lots of great action.

Does all this sound vaguely familiar? Yes, what we have here is a quirky sort of The Dirty Dozen in reverse. (I love that film too!)

The movie is packed with terrific stars and here are the main bad guys (including a talented IRA man): Donald Sutherland, Michael Caine, Donald Pleasance, Robert Duvall, and Anthony Quayle. The Americans include Treat Williams and Larry Hagman. Yes, I said Larry Hagman -- he's the tongue-in-cheek guy who gives rise to the film's comedy relief. The sensual Jenny Agutter plays an English gal with mixed loyalties.

So the casting is a bit jumbled in regard to the assigned roles. It's hard for us to think of Sutherland and Caine as evil Nazis and, in fact, they are presented as "virtuous" Nazis. Duvall makes a terrible Nazi but his performance is still excellent. Conversely, Donald Pleasance presents us with a poster-quality Himmler. Larry Hagman is ideal in his role as an inept, inexperienced American Colonel and Treat Williams pulls off the all-American soldier boy role faultlessly. But the viewer can hardly help himself from, at times, secretly cheering on the Germans in their near-impossible quest.

From a technical aspect, this 134-minute film is first-class. The locations are stunning, the sets are perfect, and the cinematography (shot in Panavision) is second to none. Lalo Schifrin composed the very appropriate filmscore and it lends much to the video aspects. The writing wasn't brilliant but, in the end, that's much why I liked it. There are no surprises and the viewer can pretty much anticipate what's going to happen next. All this makes for a superb rainy Saturday afternoon couch potato film. The aspect ratio is letterbox (widescreen) which I also prefer.

I must say that throughout the film, things just sort of bump along and, in the aggregate story, it never seems to jell -- so this one is very episodic. But again, I liked this offbeat approach. I was to a great extent reminded of a superb 1950s John Wayne war flick where The Duke plays a German officer: The Sea Chase. Again, the incongruity of it all launched that film for me.

I know it sounds just a tad peculiar but if you savor these later-period (1950s and '60s) war flicks, and you can endorse the offbeat, then this one will probably work for you.

Highly recommended for fans of the genre.


5/5 WWII Fantasy
  by J. C. Jordan (San Francisco, CA USA)
A WWII fantasy about a German commando team attempting to kidnap Winston Churchill. Wonderful performance by Jenny Agutter (Walkabout & An American Werewolf in London) and Judy Geeson (To Sir With Love). Excellent transfer and terrific price.

4/5 3 stars out of 4
  by One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:

Though a brief description of the plot (a desperate scheme to assassinate Churchill) might make the Eagle Has Landed seem silly or obvious, the movie is in fact a skillful and fast-moving thriller that is well-worth watching.

5/5 Great WWII Thriller
  by Lewis W. Lefevre (Colorado)
This movie is based on a great book by Jack Higgins.It really follows the book very well and the actors in the movie are believable in their roles. I highly recommend this movie and/or the same named book!