The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

Director: John Sturges

Starring: Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter, Donald Pleasence, Anthony Quayle, Treat Williams, Larry Hagman

More info: IMDb

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

Plot: Oberst Steiner, a German parachute unit commander, is sent to England on a covert mission to kidnap Prime Minister Winston Churchill and bring him to Berlin. The seemingly impossible assignment becomes more and more feasible as the mission grows nearer with Steiner and his men arriving in England to a very real possibility of success.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah.

Man, I haven't seen this since the 80s. Great flick. It's one of those WWII movies where you start rooting for the Krauts. OK, so I did but there's a good reason - Michael Caine is the leader of the mission and he's just all kinds of kickass.

Meet the bad guys...

Robert Duval as Col. Radl

Donald Sutherland as Liam Devlin

Donald Pleasence as Himmler

Michael Caine as Col. Steiner

And now the good guys...

Treat Williams as Cpt. Clark

Larry Hagman Col. Pitts

For the most part, I really dig the all-star cast...except for Hagman. He's playing it like a Keystone Cop. WAAAAAY over the top. I seriously doubt his character in the novel was THAT idiotic. I'm sure those kind of people were in positions of authority in the military but that performance did not belong here. It's embarrassing. Other than that, I really liked it. Sturges does a good job of keeping you in suspense from start to finish when the operation is under way. You really don't know if they're going to succeed or not. Now obviously this didn't happen in real life but this could be a film that deals with alternate history. I would have liked a different outcome but I'm cool with it. Check it out, it's a fun WWII thrill ride.