Once An Eagle (1976)

Spanning two world wars (WWI, WWII) and the lives of two very different career soldiers: an honorable and decent soldier (Sam Elliott) who rises successfully in rank and command and a ruthless and ambitious soldier (Cliff Potts), who will let nothing get in the way of his rise to the top of the military chain. Based on the 1968 war novel by Anton Myrer and directed by E.W. Swackhamer and Richard Michaels. Even at 7 1/2 hours, the  film can't do justice to the massive (it's over 1,300 pages) novel which is greatly admired in the military community. The novel's first section and its last section are eliminated. What remains is an examination of integrity and morality versus blind ambition at the expense of ethical standards in the military. The film (done in the mini series format for television) is surprisingly far from jingoistic and its characters frequently question the purpose of wars. While framed by WWI and WWII, the middle section spends a great deal of time on the personal lives of the two protagonists which allows several actresses to shine, notably Amy Irving as Potts' disgruntled wife, Juliet Mills as an Australian war widow and Lynda Day George (used as more than eye candy) as an Army wife in her best performance. There's an excellent score by Dana Kaproff. The huge cast includes Glenn Ford, Melanie Griffith, Ralph Bellamy, Kim Hunter, David Wayne, Phyllis Thaxter, James Shigeta, Barry Sullivan, James Cromwell, Forrest Tucker, John Saxon, Dane Clark, Albert Salmi, David Wayne, Andrew Duggan, Kent Smith, Clu Gulager, Harriet Nelson, Andrew Stevens, Anthony Zerbe, Darleen Carr, William Windom, Ben Piazza, Carmen Argenziano, Jane Merrow and Robert Hogan.