The Eagle Has Landed

The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

Runtime: 135 minutes

Directed by: John Sturges

Starring: A great cast, including Donald Sutherland (RIP)

From: ITC Entertainment

RIP Donald Sutherland

Like everyone else, I was saddened to hear yesterday afternoon he had passed away. Many in the general public know him best for The Hunger Games movies; those aren't for me but never will I begrudge a great actor getting positive attention for a character when he was in his 70's and 80's. He apparently had “a long illness,” which is a shame but I am glad that during my twelve (!) years at Letterboxd I have seen more of his highly-regarded work. In my youth there was The Dirty Dozen and Animal House but it's been nice to view then discuss quality movies as varied as Ordinary People, Kelly's Heroes and just about 6 weeks ago, Don't Look Now. I'll be viewing at least one more Sutherland picture before moving on to something else; there are still some blind spots w/ movies that seem to be up my alley.

The Eagle Has Landed was selected due to the genre it's in and its status as another 60's to 70's war film w/ a stacked cast. I've seen a few and liked most of them so it seemed like a wise choice—and it was. It was a fictional tale of a German plot to kidnap Winston Churchill, but I know all the genre examples I've seen had at least some historical inaccuracies so I was just hoping for an entertaining yarn.

What a cast it has:

Sutherland in a key role
Michael Caine
Robert Duvall
Jenny Agutter
Larry Hagman
Jean Marsh
Donald Pleasence
Anthony Quayle
Judy Geeson
Treat Williams
For a bit, Jeff Conaway

The first half of the film sets all the pieces in place; the actual plot isn't that complex-which is why it's not really revealed for a long while-but that is OK. Sutherland-as an Irishman-goes undercover in the sleepy little English hamlet before Caine and his crew arrive. There is some silliness where Caine's introduction is him attempting to save a Jewish girl as “he has nothing for or against the Jews”; arguably sillier is that he's a German who was “raised in England,” which is why he speaks like Michael Caine in every other acting role. Incidentally, Sutherland's role in the plot presumably didn't involve “fall in love w/ Agutter”... I guess that was an unexpected perk!

It's not until the second half that there's any action of note; don't let that turn you off as personally, my attention never wavered even if it did seem to meander about at a few points. While this is not very good or great like a number of WWII movies from the 60's & 70's (including this director's own The Great Escape-if what I hear from mutuals is correct, John Sturges only took the job so he could have money to fish AND he was more preoccupied w/ that activity while filming); be that as it may, a pretty good time was had with The Eagle Has Landed and its drama. Duvall and Caine are now 93 and 91, respectively. Let's hope for them to be around for many years to come.