A Gathering of Eagles

A Gathering of Eagles is a 1963 SuperScope Eastmancolor film directed by Delbert Mann about the U.S. Air Force during the Cold War and the pressures of command. The plot is patterned after the World War II film Twelve O'Clock High (1949), which producer-screenwriter Sy Bartlett also wrote, with elements mirroring Above and Beyond (1952) and Toward the Unknown (1956), written by his collaborator, Beirne Lay Jr.. Rock Hudson plays United States Air Force colonel Jim Caldwell, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-52 wing commander who must prepare his unit to pass a grueling operational readiness inspection. The film also stars Rod Taylor, Mary Peach, Barry Sullivan, Kevin McCarthy, Henry Silva, Robert Lansing, Leif Erickson and Richard Anderson.