Arcobaleno selvaggio

Code Name Wild Geese is one of those many movies that bases the plot around mercenary action in a jungle; actually, to be fair, given that every cheapo movie seems to have done that in the past few years, at least this was one of the first. (Is ANYONE really interested in mercenary-in-a-jungle movies?) Most of the action is perfunctory, predictable stuff. Lee Van Cleefe is wasted (as usual) in this; Lewis Collins does his hard man routine.

This movie wouldn't really be worth commenting on except for the chase scene. It's absolutely hillarious! Collins' character revs his car up in a tunnel when he realizes he's blocked in, and drives sideways, YES SIDEWAYS, along the wall of the tunnel! How does he do this? Well, aside from the fact that this is physically impossible, of course he doesn't... we're treated to a exquisitely appalling display of movie miniatures, intercut with grim expressions on Collin's face. It's priceless and worth the cost of a rental alone.

Italian director Antonio Margheriti serves up another entertaining action flick. The film has a great international cast, great music, great action and some great model effects. Seek this one out and enjoy, if only someone would release a widescreen version in it's correct ratio of 2.35:1. Quentin Tarantino you did it for THE BEYOND now how about for this. I recommend the following titles if you liked this THE LAST HUNTER, TORNADO, COMMANDO LEOPARD, THE COMMANDER and COBRA MISSION.

Antonio Margheriti (that's the linguine Anthony Dawson) directs this in-name only second sequel to "The Wild Geese", with ex-Professionals' Lewis Collins as the indomitable Commander Robin Wesley (a very masculine sounding name befitting the tough guy profile), and his band of rag-tag mercenaries as they venture into the jungles of Borneo or thereabouts for a supposedly benign mission to bust an opium operation. But the evil, double crossing Charleton (crazy-eyed Kinski) is playing both sides, and the group find themselves taking refuge in a mission with language assistance from expatriate American (Farmer) as they search for an escape route.

Glorious colour tones, stylish costumes and jazzy synthesisers give this jungle war opus the Armani makeover that was en vogue at the time. Collins' suave sophistication and stiff upper lip as he delivers painfully awkward dialogue is so artificial, it's cringe worthy. Ernest Borgnine looks sedated in his brief cameo, while Kinski, conversely, is so over the top, he's hilarious. Only Van Cleef offers some restraint, but he's a passenger. The set designers, special effects crew and pyrotechnic personnel showed flair with their multitude of explosions, and the bodies blown apart in gory detail give it that Euro-trash touch you've come to expect.

But while the action sequences are fluent and well constructed, and the general gist of the film is easy to follow, there's still an awful lot of stilted dialogue and overly intense acting. Perhaps as a box set with its younger siblings, this could be a cool if somewhat hokey trilogy. Nice try, but in spite of Collins' penchant for smoking stogies, no cigar.

My review was written in September 1986 after a Times Square screening.

"Codename: Wildgeese" is a routine commando action film boasting an interesting (though poorly used) cast of international talent. Pic was shot in the Far East in Spring 1984 with working titles such as "Wild Geese Five and "Wild Rainbow", followed shortly by an uppercase British production "Wild Geese II", which ironically did not receive as wide a domestic release (via major label Universal last year) as this New World product.

Lewis Collins (who toplined "Who Dares Wins" for the "Wild Geese" and "Wild Geese II" producer Euan Lloyd) stars as Capt. Wesley, a mercenary who brings his international team to carry out a daring raid against drug depots in Thailand. Very predictably, the businessmen who are working with his boss, drug enforcement official Fletcher (Ernest Borgnine), turn out to be the bad guys.

Trekking through the jungle and endless machine gun battles are just the excuse for prolific Italian director Antonio Margheriti to display his usual topnotch explosions, bot full scale amd miniatures. For gung ho action and interesting storylines, he did a far better job recently with "The Last Hunter" (1980) and "Tornado" (1983).

Inadequate post-synching of dialog hurts the picture, with Klaus Kinski not even showing up to loop his own lines (he is given an inappropriate British voicing). Collins fits the part as a cool commando, but has grumpy acting looks as if he's just received a call from UA telling the James Bond role went to Timothy Dalton, so he's stuck in this Continental B-pic. Mimsy Farmer is properly shrill as a freed prisoner who's been forcibly turned into a drug addict, while Lee Van Cleef and Ernest Borgnine lend their formidable personalities to nothing roles. Margheriti's favorite actor, Alan Collins (real name: Luciano Pigozzi) shows up uncredited as a Swiss priest who is literally crucified by the baddies.

Margheriti has since completed a followup film "Commando Leopard", starring Lewis Collins and Kinski.

i don't know, this movie isn't that great, but it's quite entertaining in it's own dumb way, and boasts an excellent cast,( Lee Van Cleef, Klaus Kinski, Ernest Borgnine, Mimsy Farmer.) David Warbeck wannabe Lewis Collins stars as a tough commando sent to the golden triangle to wipe out an opium ring. he inlists the help of a war pilot (Van Cleef) and they venture into the jungle and blow lots of stuff up. the plot doesn't make much sense, and the direction isn't nearly as stylish as earlier Margheriti action flicks like The Last Hunter, but it does have lots of patented Margheriti explosions and some good action scenes, as well as the aforementioned cast. there's also a scene where freaky little Luciano Pigozzi gets crucified in his own church