MovieChat Forums > The Eagle Has Landed (1976) Discussion > It's a darn good movie

It's a darn good movie

posted 14 years ago by jstang411
7 replies | jump to latest

Simple as that.

Great visuals, great characters, great actors and acting (Hagman excepted) and a great storyline. And the picture is nuanced to a degree they rarely risk today in mainstream movies.

Frankly, I'm amazed at how critical some of the posts are, concentrating and dissecting minor flaws in the film.

Perhaps IMDb makes us so intent on looking sharp in our observations that we sometimes lose track of bigger and more important points -- like how good the movie is.

[–] RustyShackleworth 13 years ago

I've probably have seen this film about dozen time on TV since I was kid in the 80s. But I finally rented the DVD and watched it without commercial breaks for the first time and it holds up really well.

It's not a great film but it is well done and some terrific actors in it.

What evil drives the Car?...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFWea3Eu97E

[–] chrissso 8 years ago

You and I do not define "great" in the same manner. As a matter of fact you have already acknowledged that the film is less than great (Hagman). But here are a few more issues that make this film less than great.

1. Parachuting in broad daylight onto a British beach ... never gonna happen
2. Molly falling in love in 2 days so much that she is willing to kill ... yet they have yet to sleep together.
3. Totally weak battle scenes
4. Devlin pulls that tunnel out of literally nowhere ... how totally convenient
5. The scene where Molly gets shot by Joanna Gray

This is an entertaining film but certainly not great. The acting is decent (except Hagman) but the plot has serious issues. At best a 7.0

[–] Cherubim1 8 years ago

This film was complete garbage.

Contrived, unrealistic, plodding and downright insulting to history and common sense.

Big name actors give hammy and bored performances. Sturges must have been drunk when he made this stinker.

[–] chrissso 8 years ago

I am amazed that Hagman's character remained in the film. It is hard to imagine a production team that could not see that this seriously brought down the film!

[–] franzkabuki 8 years ago

Pretty standard formula at work here - a carefully calculated combination of adventure, action, humor, romance plus some pathos thrown in. Fortunately, it's a fairly well-oiled, well-balanced machinery and has the effortless star power to lift it off the ground despite all the nonsense going on. Quite solid entertainment - as long as you don't think about the plot too much.

"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

[–] brianwhite5 8 years ago

The film is terrible. Sutherland is over the top with his happy go lucky Irish bloke and I find his scenes so annoying never understood how he got such great movie roles. I think Caine knew during filming that this flick was crap and so gives a very underwelming performance. I was only kept interested by Jenny Agutter.
If I want to watch a WW2 fantasy adventure I'll stick to the brilliant 'Where Eagles Dare' or 'The Guns of Navarone'.

[–] Jones70 (6195) 2 years ago

I agree.