The Eagle Has Landed (film)
| The Eagle Has Landed | |
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| Directed by | John Sturges |
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| Screenplay by | Tom Mankiewicz |
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The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins |
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| Narrated by | Patrick Allen |
| Music by | Lalo Schifrin |
| Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond |
| Edited by | Anne V. Coates |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000,000 |
The Eagle Has Landed is a 1976 British film directed by John Sturges and starring Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall.
Based on the novel The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins, the film is about a fictional German plot to kidnap Winston Churchill during the height of the Second World War. The Eagle Has Landed was Sturges' final film, and received positive reviews and was successful upon its release.
The film begins with captured Second World War film footage of the rescue from Italy of Mussolini by German paratroopers. Inspired by the rescue of Hitler's ally Benito Mussolini by Otto Skorzeny, a similar idea is considered by Hitler, with the support of Himmler (Donald Pleasence). Admiral Canaris (Anthony Quayle), head of the Abwehr (German military intelligence), is ordered to make a feasibility study of the seemingly impossible task of capturing the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and bringing him to Germany.
Canaris considers the idea a joke, but realises that although Hitler will soon forget the matter, Himmler will not. Fearing Himmler may try to discredit him, Canaris orders one of his officers, Oberst Radl (Robert Duvall) to undertake the study, despite feeling that it is a waste of time.
An Unteroffizier on Radl's staff, Karl, finds that one of their spies, code named Starling, has provided tantalising intelligence: Winston Churchill is to visit an airfield near the (fictitious) village of Studley Constable in Norfolk, where Joanna Grey (Jean Marsh), a German sleeper agent lives. Radl comes up with a scheme that could work, called 'Eagle', where the kidnapping will proceed with German troops leading the action. He also is convinced that 'synchronicity' is behind it all, where actions and conditions merge at the proper moment, at the proper time.
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