The Eagle Has Landed
1976
Starring: Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Donald Sutherland, Jenny Agutter, Donald Pleasance, Jean Marsh
Director: John Sturges
Runtime: 124 minutes
Distributor: Granada
Rating: PG-13
Given the self-imposed blackout of certain aspects of history by its people for their own sake, combined with a deep seeded sense of shame, we are never going to get a World War II film where the Germans come off well made by Germany. So in the spirit of forgiveness, good relations, and fair play, we duly obliged and made one ourselves. Based on Jack Higgins pulp thriller The Eagle Has Landed could certainly be accused of being more than a little far-fetched (even by war movie standards) but, as it goes, it’s one of the most simple, entertaining and criminally underrated war flicks out there. With an all star cast and a unique take on a genre that’s played out to the point of redundant, this little belter has plenty of charm and a brigade of top notch performances that sees it punch well above its weight.
Robert Duvall is Col. Radall, a dutiful high-ranking German officer prodded by Himler (a delightful Donald Pleasance) into making a political show of a feasibility study on kidnapping Winston Churchill. When intelligence reveals that Churchill will be spending a weekend in a country manner six miles from a deserted coastline, the patriotic and pragmatic Radall realizes that it just might actually be possible. Enlisting the help of exiled IRA operative Liam Devlin (Sutherland) and a crack parachute regiment lead by Col. Steiner (Caine) he dispatches them to England with orders to find Churchill and bring him back to Germany dead or alive.
Despite a budget that would struggle to finance a toddler’s birthday party, Sturges delivers an old fashioned men-of-honor saga that’s genuinely refreshing if for no other reason that its flipped perspective. With so many endless movies about “our brave boys” it’s nice to see a film concede that perhaps there might have been one or two good eggs fighting for the love of their country on the other side too. Caine is as usual brilliant as the charismatic German Colonel, with no time for posturing or politics and little concern for anything other than the sanctity of human life after seeing so many fallen under his command for the sake of ideals. Duvall is the pawn resigned to being shuffled around and manipulated by the top brass but ever willing to serve his Fuhrer. And then there is Donald Sutherland as the affable, conflicted Irish rogue who will ally with anyone willing to fight the British but ends up having his heart stolen by Jenny Agutter’s local girl, who loses her innocence in Sutherland’s enigmatic embrace.
As the kidnap plot slowly comes together the tension comes to a boil and the twists keep you strung along right to the very end (and a little bit of a cop out ending it is, unfortunately). Romantic? yes. Preposterous? certainly. But it pulls you in by layering the accepted historical points of view with that little bit of richness and humanity that most tales of this ilk simply don’t bother with. In fact the Germans in this film are just such downright decent guys that you honestly hope that they actually can pull it off.
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