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.
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.