Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The guy with the eye patch quotes Jung (I think), about the way fate sometimes delivers just the thing we really really want!The movie starts with news clips showing the daring rescue of Mussolini and tells us that Hitler gets the idea of doing the same to Churchill. Of course, we know that didn't happen, so why bother watching all the rest of it? Coz we also know that Higgins can write action-packed thrillers (Was this really his first book?)Having got the basic idea, the Germans set out to do a feasibility study and they have the ideal guy to do it for them, Steiner (Caine) and his band of paratroopers. Conveniently, they have captured an intact MTB AND a C47 plane.Their plan is to pretend to be from the Polish Free Force, but they wear their German uniforms underneath so that if (when) they are caught, they won't be summarily executed as spies.Right on very early on, the movie has the feel of a Higgins super- thriller and so I watch, wondering... how is it going to end? Other reviews will tell you if you don't want to watch it. There are a couple of silly scenes, the instant "love" between Molly and Devlin - nah, and the silly vicar, but apart from that it is all "GO".Treat Williams an American who replaces Larry Hagman's character is the best of the support cast, and he gets a great line.. "there's no such thing as death with honour, only death". Yeah, but tell that to the jingoists.

Although fictional, Jack Higgins' novel, and, this movie, is very believable, and, could have been very possible."Send a detachment of highly-trained and seasoned German paratroopers to England disguised as Polish 'Free' paratroopers and into a town that is nearby where Winston Churchill is expected to be...and, assassinate him."SEAL TEAM Six did this same thing with Osama Bin Laden.This is a great movie (and, a great novel)! I remember the evening that my Dad (EN1(SS) US SUBMARINE SERVICE ETERNAL PATROL...RIP) brought me to see this after a family get-together in 1976...and, also feeling badly for my cousin who didn't get to go with us after talking about wanting to see this movie. His dad was a military failure (US Submarine Service 'drop-out' and life-long zero and sworn sissy); and, he just wouldn't let my cousin join us!?!?However, this movie is great - a detachment of German paratroopers, in disguise; lead by a Luftwaffe Oberst (Colonel), and, a Luftwaffe Hauptmann (Captain), who are both fluent in English...work an operation to assassinate Winston Churchill. This is a great and ambitious endeavor.Yet, SADLY, this movie (and, novel) also shows the corruption and cowardice of the Nazi High Command - in-and-how they cover-up their own failures and deeds by blaming and executing those whom they've ordered to follow through with this operation!?!? This is a great operation lead by a great group of 'real' soldiers who are loyal to their country; but, the operation is overseen by cut-throats and corrupt government sleezes who are only looking out for themselves.If you're a World War II buff...this is for you! :)

Watch out for spoilers: It's a cliché to say "the book is better." Some books are, since they have more depth of character. This is not, however, universal. Many screenplays, for obvious reasons, streamline novels, cutting out extraneous characters and making the stories flow much more smoothly. I can point out lots of cases where the movie actually is better.Not here. "The Eagle Has Landed" does streamline the story, naturally. The entire Preston subplot is excised. So is a lot of the back-and-forth yo-yoing of Radl to Himmler. In fact, Canaris has so little to do in this flick, I'm surprised they left him in at all. (Anthony Quayle is wasted as Canaris; Donald Pleasence has a field day as Himmler, and he lets us know what Hamlet means when he says one can smile and be a villain).On the plus side, the screenplay telescopes the story nicely. The novel takes place over months, while the screenplay seems to cover just a few days.Michael Caine is perfect as the German soldier with a conscience, while playing his cards close to his chest. Donald Sutherland is fine as the wry Devlin (replacing Richard Harris, and it's too bad we missed that performance). Larry Hagman, never the world's greatest actor, plays a character who was an idiot in the book and manages to be even more stupid in the movie (so although he did the part well enough as written, he can't help coming off looking unpleasantly like a buffoon; I'm surprised they didn't hire a comedic actor to play the part). I've never been a fan of Jean Marsh so I'm happy with her performance as the faux-British traitor. Jenny Agutter is pertly pretty; that's all that is required of her and that's all she does.But when all the shooting is over, one has never really connected to the characters. In the book one is surprisingly drawn to the IRA assassin and all the men fighting for their German fatherland (or, in Steiner's case, his real father, who is in Himmler's clutches). Confronted, in the movie, with dumb Americans and Brits, angry churchmen, supposedly compassionate characters studded over with Nazi regalia, and a moonstruck girl who shoots an unwelcome suitor in the back with both barrels to keep him from betraying her hit-man lover, there is really no one here for the film-goer to sympathize with.This is where the book's depth of character makes it superior. In the book you even feel disappointed when the Nazis lose, which shows the author's mastery. In many ways the screenplay and the editing improve on the story. But overall, once the shooting starts it's a bore, when that should be the exciting part.

Michael Caine is outstanding as Colonel Steiner, an untamed German paratroop commander, who's covert mission is to go to Great Britain and kidnap Winston Churchill whilst on a retreat. The Germans are helped by Irishman Liam Devlin, played by Donald Sutherland, who essentially paves the way for their operation at a coastal hamlet (shot in Cornwall and Berkshire, England). Jenny Agutter plays Devlin's near-jailbait romantic interest in the quaint village, while Larry Hagman and Treat Williams play American officers, the former foolishly gung-ho. Robert Duvall and Donald Sutherland are also on hand as German officers.As you can see from the plot, this is an unconventional WWII picture. It doesn't feature the typical major battles or stereotypical characters and situations of most war flicks. Both Caine and Sutherland shine in their roles, especially Caine as the fearless Steiner. Many memorable moments abound.The film runs 131 minutes but feels shorter.GRADE: B+