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Shown in UK as part of best sellers series along with Captains and the Kings. Couldn't wait for each new part of the mini series still remember it after 27 years so it must have been good. Why doesn't someone show this series again?

Once An Eagle is one of my all time favorite movies/mini-series. First rate cast, story,(great adaptation from the novel) and long enough to make sense. I would dearly love to see this mini again, I hope someone knows if it is available on VHS or DVD.

Like other reviewers, I watched this miniseries way back when. I may have been older than most of the other reviewers at the time because I was less impressed. I do remember, though, that Sam Elliott was well chosen for the role of Damon; it's a shame that his performance isn't mentioned in either IMDb's Elliott biography or the quotation from Maltin.

As miniseries go, "Once an Eagle" is a decent one, especially for its time, with competent actors, exotic locales, and the nearly unique-for-TV depiction of the 1918 A.E.F. on color film, but if you're looking for more than soap opera characters in G.I. dress, you may want to try elsewhere. Sam is the upright, stoic hero and Courtney is the cowardly, sleazy villain (you can tell by their names before the story begins). The series tracks their often intersecting and conflicting Regular Army careers over half a century, right into the Vietnam War. During most of that period, and unlike the majority of his fellow field-grade officers, Sam knows how history is going to turn out. Sam always does what's right, Courtney only what advances his career. And advance it he does. Never mind that he's transparently loathsome.

The entire production has that TV "feel"--bright colors, blow-dried hair, familiar attitudes, overwrought confrontations, action carefully paced to lead up to the frequent commercial breaks. Today's viewers especially may be annoyed by such factors.

Of course, we've seen the characters a thousand times before, and viewers never get tired of 'em. That's entertainment. But Winds of War is arguably the better series. You'll learn more about history, and if you're like me, you'll find the characters to be a little more interesting. The same goes for the novels the shows are based on. Each to his own!

sam elliott in the best role of his entire career. awesome supporting cast including amy irving, glenn ford, ralph bellamy. terrific adaptation of anton myror's classic book required at west point. also required reading at most war colleges. almost every exising vote a perfect ten. why would one person throw the lowest score, a one, just to skew a masterpiece? ranks up there with roots as one of the greatest miniseries of all time.

This miniseries is the mystery of the ages. It rightfully enjoys one of the highest ratings--if not the very highest reviewer rating on record--of any product on film, yet for some inexplicable reason nobody has managed to release it commercially for a quarter century. Does anyone know why? A new generation of viewers never have seen this masterpiece, and to compare it to inferior products as The Winds of War led by the ever sleepy Robert Mitchum is like making an analogy of Lawrence of Arabia to Ishtar.

The cast was incredibly deep for television and included early roles for such actors as Melanie Griffith and Amy Irving and late ones for the likes of Ralph Bellamy and Glenn Ford. And at center stage was the steady work of Sam Elliott, who seemed tailor made for his interpretation of Anton Myror's straight arrow soldier Sam Damon. Truly, it ranks with his John Buford character in Gettysburg as among his best roles.

If anyone knows any way to locate a dub of even a part of this epic please email me. I have been trying to use it for a course on leadership that I teach at a California university. This drama, for our purposes, ranks above such acclaimed films as Hoosiers, Twelve O'Clock High, and Wall Street for lessons to be learned. A must see for anybody who can--and the number seems to be near zero today. What a tragedy.

This series was really great. The cast was wonderful and acting superb! I'm surprised it hasn't already been released! I agree with the comment made by the other fan that this mini-series is better than the "Winds of War." It is better!!

This was filmed back in the '70s when the T.V. mini-series first came about and is one of the reasons that mini-series are still popular. To the "powers that be"----please release this to DVD so that those of us who have seen this series can be entertained again. Those who have yet to see it have a nice surprise awaiting them!! Thanks!

This is a stunning movie. I saw it when I was very young, with my Father. Sam Damon represented to me what it meant to be a man. Sam Elliot's performance is understated and nuanced, and is remarkable for its restraint... what he Doesn't say is shown in his eyes, and smoking under the surface. He is a man of few words but very powerful obligations which people can either understand or not, he doesn't care. He is not driven by what others think, but by what he knows is right.

I spoke to a gentleman a few years back who said there were political reasons why this series would "never" be released. Having seen it again recently, I think I understand why it won't be released at least for a few years. I would NOT call the movie anti-war, but I would call it anti-stupidity. I would say it stands for war as a last resort, showing the loss and reality of war, and how even when a cause is just, stupid men are put in positions of authority sometimes, and lo and behold, give stupid orders for good men to follow and be killed. Regardless of, and sometimes ignorant of, the big picture and rationale behind the war.

Good men understand their cause, and fight for that cause together. Through a common purpose they find strength and camaraderie. Weak men use the war to justify their own petty purposes, regardless of their attained rank, and sometimes this puts their men in direct contradiction to the more noble and publicy marketed reasons for the conflict. Good men must sometimes follow weak men and stupid orders, if they are to be considered good soldiers. That's a tough position to be in... and it kind of flies in the face of what the military pushes... you must follow orders or you risk your life, and the lives of everybody in your company. Where would the military be if people were allowed to question orders, or question the character and motivations of the people giving those orders? Yet, where would the world be if we all blindly followed leadership despite what we knew was right or wrong?

This contradiction is what this miniseries meant to me, then, as a 12 year old, and again to me today as I write this. From what I understand, the rights to this are still owned by a major network who is being told not to release it. I don't know if that is true or not... it might be just a fancy and/or self-serving lie. But the more I think about it, the more I realize it just might be true. If it is true, it's a damn shame. If it's not true, then, I tell you one thing:

It's pretty bizarre that given the quality of the mini-series, and the star power of some fine actors in their prime, that this has never been released, isn't it?

Quite possibly my favorite movie/mini-series. I can remember watching it in the dorm room at the University of Michigan my Freshman year. Later, after I had enlisted in the Army and been accepted to West Point, I purchased the book and read it several times. Later the book became required reading at the Military Academy (though I'm not sure to what effect). The Point wanted its cadets to become more like the character of Sam Damon and less like Cortney Masengale. I do wish that ABC (or NBC, I can't remember the network) would bring the series back or offer it in a DVD set for those of us who are rabid fans. The entire series was well filmed, well acted, and the interpretation of the novel was very accurate. It was sort of a shame that they couldn't finish the mini-series the same way the book ended, but that would have taken another couple of weeks and Vietnam was still a raw nerve.

I note that the book this was based on was republished a couple of years back to "rave" reviews. I reread it and it was as good as I remembered it.

The series, which, due to the type of work I was doing at the time, I only saw parts of, was also marvelous. Of course, I have to admit, I've seen very few movies with Sam Elliot that I didn't like.

A synopsis of the plot traces the lives of two Army officers; one (Elliot) an enlisted Medal of Honor winner in World War I who was given a battlefield commission and the other a rich West Point graduate staff officer who never heard a shot fired in anger; as their careers and lives moved forward through World War II and beyond.

I see that practically every other miserable excuse for a mini-series has been released on video or DVD, I would say it is long past time that this quality piece of work received its due.

-The Horatio Hornblower of War (mini-series) Movies. Up thru the ranks. Gosh, it's been so long ago it's hard to remember many details but I loved it then (a few years after returning from Viet Nam) and have tried to find a way to purchase it since the invention of VCR's.

I sure wish they would re-release it. Hello to all the War Movie buffs. If there are any war movies I don't own it's because they are not for sale!

I saw the TV mini-series and read the book several years later. The mini-series does an excellent job of following the book. Both are excellent. As far as purchasing this TV mini-series on DVD or Tape goes, Universal Pictures (NBC Now) owns it and they apparently do not have any plans to re-release it. Which is too bad because my wife and I are both big fans of Sam Elliot and this would be a must-buy for our DVD collection. Oh well......

One of the things that the book and TV mini-series covers in great detail is the every day life of a career military person and what it actually entails to have to deal with some of the idiots that make life miserable for honest hard working military people. Also during the historical period covered in this mini-series the U.S. Military was in a downward spiral right after WWI. So no funds were available to maintain the military facilities or provide opportunities for advancement in rank or cost of living raises like we have days.

So for a person to try and make a career out the military, they had really had to be committed to it.

Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf reviewed the book, Once an Eagle, on the NBC Today Show (7/4/00), and I had to research this film after not having seen it for over twenty years. It left that powerful an impression, a story of two career officers spanning almost four decades, and how their choices affected their careers and the lives of those around them. Can't say anymore other than Sam Elliot's character left a lasting impression concerning life choices, and how those principles are still so important in our lives today...

Anyway, I have been unable to find a copy of the mini-series, so if anyone out there can provide any advice on how to obtain a copy, please e-mail me. It would be great to see it again sometime. Thanks...

This was an outstanding mini-series with a great cast. To the best of my knowledge, it's never been aired again. Sam Elliot's star was on the rise and this was his best work to date. I wish that it were available or would be reshown. I've waited 25 years, it's time.

I first saw this while stationed in the Philippines in 1977, but missed a couple of episodes. In about 1981, I was able to see it again and made a VCR copy (Alas, commercials included). I have just about worn it out over the years. In my opinion, only one miniseries is better, that being "Lonesome Dove". I wish that someone would reshow it or somebody would make a DVD.

I can only agree. This is the best mini-series ever made. I saw it in 1976 from Swedish Television. I have not seen it since then, but I remember it very well. Unfortunately it was shown just before I got a video recorder. If you get a chance to see it, don't miss it.

An excellent mini series. Wish it was available on VHS or DVD, would love to own a copy. Maybe we will get lucky and they will air it again one day so we can make a copy of it. One of Sam Elliott's best pictures ever. Rates up the next to the Sackett's which is another personal favorite.

Sam Elliot and Cliff Potts give a pair of outstanding performances in this TV mini-series Once An Eagle. Well at least one of them is an eagle, the other is a turkey in eagle feathers.

The story begins during World War I when enlisted man Sam Elliot receives a battlefield commission and decides to stay in the army as a career. During the war he and West Point graduate Cliff Potts keep running up against each other.

Ever since West Point was founded in the Jefferson administration those who graduated from that school always had a leg up in terms of career advancement over even other military schools let alone against people like Elliot who rose from the ranks. But if you're a guy who saw no combat in World War I and was strictly a staff officer your best option is intra-service politics at which Potts is a master. He rises ahead of Elliot in the Twenties and Thirties and has a couple of grades above him while Elliot trained troops to do the fighting.

If I was in the military I sure would like to have someone like Sam Elliot leading me. This was probably one of his best roles in his long career. He's not without flaws, but he's the one I would like to share a foxhole with if I was so unfortunate ever to have to be in one.

Potts is his polar opposite he's a scheming creep who cares nothing, but for his own advancement. Fortunately West Point doesn't turn out people like him as a rule. He even married the daughter of a US Senator to advance his career. And Amy Irving as his wife is terrific as a tragically unhappy woman. Their marriage has issues.

Elliot in turn married the daughter of his commander Glenn Ford played by Darleen Carr who turns in a fine performance of her own. She's not an army brat by any means, in fact Elliot's dedication to his career separates the two of them from each other and their son Andrew Stevens.

This is a fine mini-series showing a realistic portrayal of the professional army and the men who serve and the women who wait with anxiety and trepidation. As good as the principal players are, the one who really got to me in this series was Kario Salem who played a young man of racially mixed heritage who can't find peace anywhere he goes. He will break your heart I guarantee.

A really fine mini-series with some stand out acting.

As mid-70s military oriented mini series' go this one is okay, but it does not do the book justice. The book, by Anton Myrer, is a sweeping epic that follows Sam Damon from his late high school years where, failing to get an appointment to West Point, he enlists in the peacetime Army, much to the chagrin of his uncle whose tales of the Spanish American war had inspired him to seek a military career; "Boy, you don't join the Army in peacetime!". The book ends at the beginning of the Vietnam era, before the USA has become involved in it, but Courtney Massengale is more than eager for the conflict to escalate and Sam Damon, well, I don't want to drop any spoilers about the book (read it!) If I'm not mistaken, the book is still required reading at West Point; if you can find a copy I urge you to read it. I forst encountered it as Reader's Digest condensed book in the late 60s-early 70s and loved it so much that the first time I saw a copy for sale I bought it. For what it what it is, the mini series is okay, as okay as any 1976 mini series can be. The Banzia attack was a bit disappointing, especially the Japanese jibber-jabber and for the most part it seems as if it was made on are a very tight budget. The casting was great; lots of BIG names and names that would be big in the future (Melanie Griffith). The opening sequences were a little disorienting, mostly from the inclusion of Indy-style race cars that the Unsers would have been driving as well as 70s-80s model Formula One cars. What's up with that? The formatting of the discs was a rather "unusual" but, it was likely one of the first mini series' of its type to be put on a DVD. Personally I would recommend The Winds of War and War and Remembrance over Once An Eagle. I enjoyed the mini series for what it was. but the ending with Sam walking away from a screeching Massengale was pretty lame, especially if you know that the story still has another 20-years to go

I am working to bring Once An Eagle, the absolutely outstanding television miniseries, to the market after a 30+ year absence. Please visit my website www.once-an-eagle.com and leave your email message at "give us the miniseries" in the right-hand column. It will be consolidated and sent to NBC Universal as I am in touch with the appropriate executives. You will find plenty of other interesting information as well on the novel on which the miniseries was based, on the author Anton Myrer and much more. You can also see what numerous other miniseries fans have had to say. Site also includes the most comprehensive "Film Credits" on the internet and a reverse script of the miniseries. Let's make release of the miniseries a reality! NEW: go to www.youtube.com/onceaneagleguy to see miniseries excerpts.

This series or movie stands right up there with Transylvania 6 5000 as a real stinker. Direction, screen play and sets have to be the worst I have seen in 65 years of watching movies. The story line wanders with no believability between scenes or chapters. The actors alternate between warm and fuzzy feeling too unhappy hateful with little rime or reason. The battle scenes where made with no eye to realism in anyway as presented, WW1 trench warfare scenes are very difficult to duplicate and this program represents the worst efforts ever made.

Sam Elliot is a one dimensional actor who excels as the angry cowboy and to play the part of a warm lover is way over his ability. Cliff Potts certainly played the evil, selfish, woman abusing scoundrel to the hilt, to bad the story line was so bad. Glenn Ford was Glenn Ford as usual. Clu Gulager was his usual uninspiring method acting self which would have been OK for one or two scenes but even then he has to be taken with a grain or two of salt.

I have for several years kicked me for not having a VCR in the late 1970's when I was stationed at the Military Academy and the Mini-series "Once An Eagle" first was on TV. The comments about the story and the actors who played the parts were pretty much true to life. The Massengales of the world said the book and now the TV series are not correct, that the director used his actors to show his political views. The Sam Damon's, said that the mini-series was true to life and True Soldiers really did take care of their men. I have recently been able to view the series again , and it reminds me of the men I served with and the true soldiers our country was very fortunate to have. The book is now being used as a text at the U S Army War College and at West Point. The U S Army College has a new version out with forwards from active and retired officers. Sam Damon as written in the book and to some extent in the TV series should be a guide to young and old officers a like. Take care of your soldiers and they will take care of you.

I agree with Airborne Mike, when he said " I used to be troubled by the movie and book having different endings, not anymore. They are best viewed as ALTERNATIVE ENDINGS, a positive or a negative one. The people who adapted the best-selling book to TV did an excellent job of understanding the book's true meaning---which is to fight evil when you see it immediately!---regardless of the cost".

To those of you that have been lucky enough to record the series and still have a copy, I salute you. You have a piece of history the movie world has not seen fit to rebroadcast or release on VHS/DVD for the rest of us. I rank it up there with Sam Elliott's best work. Maybe he or his agent (The William Morris Agency) will be able to get Universal to re-release it to the Sam Elliott and good film fans every where.

Smiling Jack (U S Army Retired)