Wildgänse II

Yes, Richard Burton died before filming this (he's only seen in the pre-title sequence that is footage from the first Wild Geese film---and really of no consequence to the sequel's story). Perhaps Burton saw the script for this mess and realized there was no reason to go on living. There is certainly no reason to go on watching this thing, that's for sure. It's all about some muddled kidnapping of Rudolf Hess from Spandau prison. Seems the British, the Germans, the Soviets and the scriptwriter all want to have a hand in either killing or keeping Hess alive. When we finally get a look at Hess, after 90+ minutes of tedious intrigue, it turns out that that the kidnappers have goofed and grabbed Sir Laurence Olivier instead---and not the good Olivier, but the decrepit 'Jazz Singer' version. Sir Larry, that sly ol' dog, thinks he can fool us with a Hess-like unibrow and that 'Marathon Man' German accent, but we're not buying it. The kidnappers aren't either and dump Sir Larry/Hess at the French Embassy in Berlin. The real Hess died in 1987 (hung himself in his cell, perhaps after viewing this film) and Olivier followed in 1989. Time passages.....

Oh, there is something of interest in this film, at least for fanciers of woodworking. That would be Scott Glenn's performance. There is a point in the film where he appears badly injured but I'm thinking it's a cover-up for an obvious case of attack by termites. At one risible point, the benumbed Glenn re-tells his sorrowful back-story of family slaughter to Carrera with the closing line: "Death ate its way into me." That's code for termites. Or perhaps Novocaine ate its way into him. Glenn had already tried out his zombie-style "acting" before in 'The Keep', but this is the topper: you'll be hard-pressed to find a more appallingly flat performance recorded on film. At least Edward Fox (doing his 'Day of The Jackal' thing) is lively. Otherwise you get Robert Webber literally phoning in his performance, all two minutes of it, and Patrick Stewart doing a small bit (complete with bad accent) as a Soviet military man, and Stratford Johns practically faxing Sydney Greenstreet from the dead as a chuckling, gargantuan wheeler-dealer. Paul Antrim gets the Sergeant Major Harry Andrews part, and Derek Thompson gets the nonsensical IRA soldier gig. For some reason Thompson's character, in his attempts to sneak away to report to his superiors, feels the need to keep spiking Fox's character with LSD. Guess the IRA frowns on complicated solutions... like using sleeping pills. And there's also the main caper requiring our heroes to impersonate British soldiers, but Glenn can't even manage the slightest accent. Somehow the real British soldiers guarding Hess, when confronted by the very out-of-place Glenn shouting at them with his harsh American accent, do his bidding without question. Well, at least there is a bright side: there hasn't been a Wild Geese III. Yet.

I saw this film just once in the mid eighties immediately after it's release. For anyone mildly interested in the historical events of the 'cold war' era, it is an excellent example(without giving away any of the plot) of how the East and West used Hess as a pawn. Olivier as always, does a truly remarkable job portraying the latter day Hess. I could not imagine any other actor being able to portray him so convincingly, and with the usual attention Olivier paid to his visual appearance, he gives a first class performance which has remained in my memory some 17 years on. It left such a good impression on me that I have spent the last 15 years scanning the TV film pages for it - to no avail. Scott Glenn too returns a creditable performance, and Edward Fox steps into the shoes of Richard Burton quite seamlessly. Good story line for anyone with even a scant knowledge of modern history, and well directed. This film has never seemed to make it to the TV screens and I cannot understand why. Nor have I seen a video available in the UK. It is an excellent film, but probably not of much interest to the younger viewer who has no interest in the era and the history

So Wild Geese II, Nearly every review I have ever come across regarding this film has been very negative and to be honest from reading a lot of them I don't even think many had watched the movie to begin with...

The original Wild Geese - these days a Sunday afternoon guilty pleasure classic that when looked at objectively is actually a fairly routine action film with a join the dots script and pedestrian direction. What makes that film work I suspect for most people is the actual African location photography and seeing a lot of mainly washed-up actors hamming it up ridiculously to pay their bar tabs.

Wild Geese II is very different from that movie, new cast, mainly new crew and made nearly ten years later - Wild Geese II is more of a spy thriller than action film. It offers a much more intelligent script, Great location work in Cold War era Berlin and some genuine storyline surprises. One aspect of the film that I think it really shares with the original is that any of the main characters can get killed at any time although it is a bit more edgy this time around.

Another aspect - in this case bad unfortunately is seeing another washed-up actor hamming for the alcohol bills, Edward Fox in this case who is just plain awful here taking over from what would have been Richard Burton's role. He plays second fiddle here to Scott Glenn - at the time flavor of the month upcoming star to appeal to the American market. Glenn although usually good in other movies is positively catatonic here. The interesting thing is that bad as the two leads are they do not bring the film down as the rest of the cast is filled out with mainly good supporting actors - the standouts being Barbara Carerra in a pretty thankless role as the love interest, an actor who plays an IRA gunman and another actor who plays a British Sergeant-Major. Also Peter Hunt the director deserves credit for keeping the fairly convoluted story moving along at a brisk pace.

So overall not as dated as the original but still dated, better story and better direction but with a bad rep - I think this is an unusual case of a sequel surpassing the original but audiences seem unwilling to give it a chance probably because the first just wasn't that good to begin with.

If you're expecting lots of action and gunplay, don't bother; you'll surely be disappointed. The movie focuses more on intrigue and endless spy games. The complicated story maintains interest throughout, but ultimately it's all for naught. Still, there is a sly performance by Edward Fox to be enjoyed (if you can stand his deliberately curious accent!) (**)

I have just seen this film, and l thought it was quite good, not up to the original but the story line was good, the acting was good, in fact it was a good film with a fantastic idea.

Olivier and Fox add to the cast with Olivier doing his best to convey a hard part...

I have read in books that this film was a "bomb" and a lot of folk don`t like it, but why has every film got to have a message, why can't people just see a film for what is should be a bit of fun, l give this film

8/10