The Eagle Has Landed (1976 John Sturges)

Michael looking rather cool in Nazi regalia (design by Hugo Boss)

Tom Mankiewicz adapted Jack Higgins book. There's rather too many plots going on, for my money, including a pretty unbelievable turn of events between Jenny Agutter (who does some cool bareback riding) and Donald Sutherland, and the Germans are a thoroughly decent lot, saving the life of little girl, freeing hostages etc (not - as Time Out pointed out - the vicar-killing bunch from Went the Day Well?)

Good performances from Michael Caine, Robert Duvall (in eye patch) and Sutherland. With Jean Marsh, Donald Pleasance, Treat Williams, Sven-Bertil Taube, Anthony Quayle, John Standing, Judy Geeson and Larry Hagman.

Efficiently put together by Anthony Richmond and Anne Coates, and uses its Mapledurham location well, but overpadded and not particularly suspenseful. And yet remains watchable despite this through combination of great cast and locations. Interesting score by Lalo Schifrin. One of the producers is David Niven Jr. (also Escape to Athena and several very poorly rated films like Psycho Cop Returns).