Hamburger Hill / The Eagle Has Landed

Product Description

HAMBURGER HILL: Vietnam, 1969. Hill 937. 10 days. 70% casualties. Those are the facts - this is the story.

The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all up hill...up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. HAMBURGER HILL tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. Dodge the gunfire. Get caught behind enemy lines. Go into battle beside the brave young men who fought and died. Feel their desperation and futility. This happened. HAMBURGER HILL - war at its worst, men at their best.

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED: In November 1943, Heinrich Himmler (Donald Pleasance) received a simple message, "The Eagle Has Landed." It meant that a crack force of German paratroopers were safely in England, poised and ready to kidnap the Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill. The force is under the command of Colonel Kurt Steiner (Michael Caine). All goes smoothly as the German force, disguised in Polish uniforms, is accepted by the villagers. But one of the men is killed while rescuing a little girl, and his German uniform is discovered. The entire village has to be taken hostage and hidden in the town church.

Agents and counteragents work desperately to keep the scheme alive. Steiner himself takes a dangerous gamble. He overpowers an American ranger, commandeers his jeep and uniform and drives to the mansion where Churchill is relaxing.

The action and suspense are nonstop in this World War II thriller which also stars Treat Williams, Larry Hagman, Anthony Quayle and Jean Marsh.

Amazon.com

Hamburger Hill
Because it was released less than a year after Oliver Stone's Platoon and within months of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, this exceptionally well-made film about one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War was largely overshadowed and overlooked. It's a pity, because in some respects this is the best of the Vietnam films of the late 1980s, at least in terms of the everyday authenticity it depicts. Stripped clean of dramatically extraneous narrative, the movie opts instead for a straightforward approach to its day-by-day account of one of the war's costliest victories--a deadly siege on Hill 937 in the Ashau Valley, where soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division engaged the enemy over the course of eleven brutal assaults between May 10th and 20th, 1969. The film specifically follows the 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, a mixture of "new guys" and battle-weary "short-timers" who fought against terrifying odds and suffered a 70% casualty rate. From first scene to last, Hamburger Hill traces the rise and fall of their battle experience, from the horror of firefights to the camaraderie of men who've faced death and survived. Racial tensions flare and subside, trusts are established, and courage emerges from unexpected places. Through it all, writer Jim Carabatsos and director John Irvin maintain a purity of focus that pays tribute to the soldier's life without promoting false patriotism or gung-ho theatrics. In addition, the film features a cast full of talented and well-known actors in the early stages of their careers, including Dylan McDermott (from the TV series The Practice) and Don Cheadle, before gaining fame in Devil in a Blue Dress and Boogie Nights. --Jeff Shannon

The Eagle Has Landed
This 1976 adventure story set in World War II concerns a Nazi plot to kidnap Churchill from his retreat--or murder him if need be. The large, great cast and a director, John Sturges, who's been down this road of ensemble action before (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape) make this project exciting if not as memorable as Sturges's more famous works. The weak ending doesn't help. --Tom Keogh