‘Awesome’ war film with cast of Hollywood icons streaming on BBC iPlayer now | Films | Entertainment

A wartime drama hailed by cinema fans as ‘powerful’ and ‘wonderful’ can now be streamed on BBC iPlayer.

The Eagle Had Landed stars Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Donald Sutherland and Jean Marsh, and has won over film enthusiasts across the board.

Based on Jack Higgins’ 1975 novel of the same title, the film follows German intelligence officer Max Radl in 1943 as he hatches an audacious scheme to kidnap Winston Churchill whilst he visits a sleepy English village.

Colonel Kurt Steiner leads a team of disguised paratroopers, aided by Irish agent Liam Devlin.

The mission, which begins according to plan, falls apart when a soldier’s cover is inadvertently blown during a rescue bid, alerting American forces.

Despite its 1977 release failing to win over critics or earn any Academy Award recognition, the film has undoubtedly captured audience affection, with fans continuing to praise it.

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes many positive reviews, all helping the film achieve its 71 per cent rating.

One fan said: “Its a brilliant lazy afternoon war film packed with actors you recognise and a wonderful performance from Larry Hagman.”

Another added: “Watched the film for the first time recently. It was better than I thought. Great cast and moves quickly.”

A third viewer said: “This is as much a thriller as a ‘war movie’. It has great characters, a wonderful soundtrack and has an authentic vibe throughout. Suspect negative reviews are from gamers. This film requires thought and attention to fully enjoy. The book is Higgins best and is a really enjoyable read.

“A powerful beginning, great build-up, an interesting side-story to keep us interested and great finishing action sequences make for a World War II movie that is well worth seeing,” a fourth viewer wrote.

A fifth viewer remasaidked: “A neat little WWII spy thriller. Caine and Duvall are great, and Pleasence and Sutherland ham it up in an agreeable fashion.

“It’s not attempting to reinvent the genre, but it goes about its business with confidence (the steady hand of veteran director Sturges is felt in this regard), and it’s unique in that it presents the story (fairly exclusively) from the point-of-view of the ‘enemy.'”.

Another fan lauded the impressive cast, saying: “Michael Caine and Robert Duvall are two of my favorite actors of all time and yet somehow, Donald Sutherland totally steals the show. Awesome story out of the WW2 era. Not your typical boring war movie either.

“Well made little war film based on the novel by Jack Higgins. Last film directed by Sturges is not as good as “The Great Escape” or “Magnificant Seven” but its not bad. Duval, Sutherland, Caine and Wiliams all do well whilst Hagman acts like he’s in a different movie entirely,” noted another reviewer. Another simply stated: “One of the best action war movies.”

The Eagle Has Landed is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer.