The Eagle Has Landed

John Sturges directed this taut adaptation of Jack Higgins' suspense novel about an attempted kidnapping of Winston Churchill by the German high command during World War II. When it is discovered that in November 1943 Winston Churchill is scheduled to spend a weekend in a country home in Norfolk, the Germans plan to kidnap him. Heinrich Himmler ( Donald Pleasence ), under orders from Hitler, assigns Nazi colonel Max Radl ( Robert Duvall ) the chore of sneaking the English-hating Irishman Liam Devlin ( Donald Sutherland ) into the British countryside and arranging for a 16-man task force to be parachuted into the English country town of Sudley Constable, under the auspices of Colonel Kurt Steiner ( Michael Caine ). The efficient planning works too well, and before long their exactingly perfect timetable begins to come apart. — Paul Brenner