Good acting, but a poor script

GurraJG

"The Eagle Has Landed" is based on Jack Higgins bestselling book by the same name. And even though it may sound as a cliché to say this, the book is better than the movie.

When Mussolini is rescued by the SS, Hitler wants to kidnap Winston Churchill. Colonel Max Radl (Robert Duvall) is tasked with planning the kidnapping, and the actual operation is to be carried out by a court-marshaled Colonel called Kurt Steiner (Michael Caine) and his band of elite paratroopers. The plan is to drop into a small town called Studley Constable as Polish paratroopers and kidnap Churchill.

The book focuses a lot on the planning stage of the operation, but a lot of this is lost in the movie. Quite a few important parts are left out, but the movie is still easy to understand, especially since the Germans don't speak English with a heavy accent of German.

The cast in this movie is an all-star cast, but opposed to films like "The Longest Day", it's not to much of a disturbance. The acting is very good, with special credits to Donald Pleasance as Himmler. However, Jenny Agutter, who plays Molly, is an exception. She really doesn't play her part to well, mainly because the characters part is reduced a great deal from the book, in which the relationship with the Irish Liam Devlin (Donald Sutherland) plays a much larger role.

In all, the movie is decent attempt at making a good film from the book. It has good acting, but fails when it comes to the story. However, the acting and the descent action saves this movie, and it's a good movie to see if you like WWII movies. A weak 8/10.

score 8/10

GurraJG 10 January 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0996238/