The Wild Geese

Africa has been the background setting for many an exciting film. In this story a powerful, but arrogant English lord and wealthy financier, (Stewart Granger) Sir Edward Matherson, hires, a professional Mecernary, Col. Allen Faulkner, (Richard Burton) to fly into Africa and rescue a popular but imprisoned African leader Julius Limbani. (Winston Ntshona) This action will threaten and force a ruthless, but established dictator to sign over his country's lucrative copper mining rights. To help Faulkner with his dangerous task, he calls on close military friends. Lt. Shawn Fynn, (Roger Moore), Capt. Rafer Janders (Richard Harris) Lt. Pieter Coetze, (Hardy Krüger) and Sagarent Major Sandy Young. (Jack Watson). Together, they plan, organize, train and secretly fly into the heart of enemy country. What they don't know is that Sir Edward Matherson will expect the dreaded and merciless "Simbas" to be more efficient than his hired men. Rarely does a dramatic, action packed film contain a simple subliminal message; that men of war can also be men of conscience seeking common bond and family life. A superb vehicle for Richard Burton. ****

Watching The Wild Geese puts me so in mind of those old John Ford cavalry flicks. Not surprising since the Director Andrew McLaglen learned his trade while on the set of those films with his father Victor McLaglen.

A fine cast was assembled here for this film. Richard Burton, Roger Moore, and Richard Harris certainly have all done better stuff, but their skill makes The Wild Geese enjoyable. Of the three, I think Harris comes off the best, his scenes with his young son are very poignant.

Richard Burton is a mercenary who is being offered a contract by gazillionaire industrialist Stewart Granger. Train and equip a group of mercenaries to rescue a Nelson Mandela type African leader who has been deposed in a military coup. Burton does the job, but when the job is finished he and his mercenaries find getting out a whole lot more than the bargained for.

Starting with Where Eagles Dare, Burton was trying the action/adventure genre on for size and he did well with that. He came up way short with Raid on Rommel, but recouped quite a bit with The Wild Geese. It was his only joint film venture with Richard Harris, pairing both the stage and screen King Arthurs from Camelot.

Of course action adventure is old hat for Roger Moore. He was in his prime as James Bond when The Wild Geese was done. But Moore shows he can be quite serious here. None of the tongue in cheek deadpan that characterizes a Bond film.

The scenes dealing with the recruiting a training of the mercenaries come straight out of John Ford. So are the various types among the soldiers.

I liked Kenneth Griffith's portrayal of the openly gay medic with the group. Yes he's certainly stereotypical, but the point is he's accepted by the men who really don't care about his sexual orientation when in a fight. Secondly he turns out to be quite the John Wayne type hero in the end.

The Wild Geese turned out to be very popular, Burton was going to do a sequel Wild Geese II when he died in 1983. Might have been interesting had he done it since it would have paired with Laurence Olivier in that one.

The Wild Geese is an action/adventure film to be sure, but it's also about loyalty, tradition, and camaraderie. These men may fight for a good paycheck, but they are fanatically loyal to the unit created and to each other.

If that ain't John Ford.............................

The Wild Geese surprised me in the theater back in the late 1970's. As a former U.S. Army Airborne Ranger and Vietnam vet, I had mixed feelings about it. But I keep watching it every couple of years and it has become one of my favorite films.

Yes, it's a fanciful story, romanticizing the boring, grubby, dangerous lives of the very few mercenary soldiers in the world. But its daring small-unit tactics are actually pretty good, and they do illustrate the chaos and devastation a well trained special ops force can cause in an enemy's rear area. It also illustrates the ease with which such a small unit can be wiped out if the enemy can locate it and bring real forces to bear against it.

And, interestingly, it shows very clearly the effectiveness of even a single small, armed airplane against an infantry unit unequipped with anti-aircraft capability. So whoever wrote and advised on this film had some genuine experience. There are many examples of true combat reality in various parts of the film.

However, there are also some of the usual war-movie-making gaffes and there were some really silly, amateurish attempts at special effects in the theatrical release, most of which have been edited out in the cable movie versions. So it's still a mixed bag but overall very effective.

The other aspects of this film are universally wonderful. It has a plausible enough story line once you've decided to accept the premise, and from there it progresses nicely indeed. Several of the subplots are intense and very moving, some are a little comical and some are downright funny. Burton's last line to Emile, "Let's talk about your father." is as fine a line as can be written.

The depth of the cast is remarkable: dozens of very good actors, some speaking only one or two lines, but so well delivered! (There are also some awkward lines that just don't work at all. As I said, this film is a mixed bag.) Even in the small rolls, Jock, Tosh, Esposito, the village priest, Jesse and others, the quality just shines.

The movie doesn't shy away from the unglamorous, gut-wrenching realities of the consequences of mercenary operations, either. There are some very troubling scenes about the responsibilities of leadership in such a unit.

There is not another movie like The Wild Geese.

I couldn't end without saying this one last thing. The theme song "The Wild Geese," sung by Joan Armatrading is simply marvelous. It is worth the price of admission, and is played in its entirety during the closing credits. I recommend that you close your eyes and just listen.

Marvellously macho, a men on a mission movie proudly proclaiming that the old adage is indeed true, there is life in the old dog(s) yet. A notable cast of British and Irish thespians were rounded up and unleashed into a plot that required a band of mercenaries sent to extract an African President from some prison in the darkest part of Africa. The formula is tried and tested, the leader is a man made of stern stuff but carrying emotional baggage, his band of men assembled are a mixture of ex soldiers who have either fell on hard times or just haven't been able to let go of the army life that they feel was their calling in life. The latter of which causes great consternation amongst spouses and immediate family members.

Director Andrew V. McLaglen lets it unfold in steady and unfussy time, structuring it in three stages. Stage one is getting to know the principal players, their fears, pet peeves and psychological make up, stage 2 is the re-training programme, where the good old boys wait to see who keels over from a heart attack first, then stage 3 is the mission, where blood will be shed, bodies will fall, treachery and racism are big irritants, and of course big sacrifices will have to be made during a whirl of explosions and politico pummelling. The screenplay, much like the actors playing the key roles, is very self aware to not take itself too seriously, it's also very funny at times, there is some absolute cracker-jack slices of dialogue here.

The PC brigade and political historians beat themselves around their heads trying to flatten the appeal of The Wild Geese, it didn't work. Most action movie fans understood fully just what was going on, and it's the reason why today it still holds up as a perennial favourite on the British TV schedules. Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore, Hardy Kruger, Jack Watson, Kenneth Griffith, Ronald Fraser and Percy Herbert, I salute you all. 8/10

Imagine a film with three major stars put together with a good script and some fine action and what do you get: The Wild Geese. With the unlikely combination of Richard Burton, Richard Harris & Roger Moore plus a well-written script coupled with spectacular action sequences this is a rip-roaring action / adventure and a top-notch film.

The three main leads are the main attraction of this film. It's hard to believe that actors of the caliber of Burton, Harris and Moore would either have chemistry or even be in the same film together. But put the three of them together as mercenaries and you get a truly explosive combination of three terrific actors. None of them fail in their roles and they actually share quite a bit of chemistry between them especially in the final scene between Burton and Harris.

The rest of the cast is not a let down either. Harvey Kruger does well in his role as the mercenary Pieter Coetze as do Kenneth Griffith, John Kani and Jack Watson among the other members of the Wild Geese. Frank Finlay, Winston Ntshona and Stewart Granger all make welcomed appearances in the film in their supporting roles.

The film's script is a well-written action film with political overtones. While the politics of the film are dated now, the message for the times is still evident in the film. Outside of the political overtones the dialouge of the film is well-written and in some scenes is even touching especially in the final scene.

The action in the film is another highlight. The air drop into Africa, various raids by the Wild Geese and the final battle at the airstrip complement the story and never overwhelm the story and plot. Thanks to some good editing by editor John Glen (who had edited three Bond films and would go on to direct five more Bond films)the action is never dull and keeps the pace constant.

With a top-notch leading cast, a good supporting cast, a good script and spectacular action sequences, The Wild Geese is one of the better action films you can see. Despite being somewhat dated the film still packs quite a punch and could easily go up against any recent action film. A must see for action film fans.