Review of The Wild Geese (1978) by Van R — 23 Jul 2010

Treacherous corporate big wig Sir Charles Matherson (silver-haired.

Stewart Granger of "The Prisoner of Zenda") hires an aging but elite.

Mercenary, Colonel Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton of "Raid on Rommel"),.

To snatch an ailing African leader, Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona of.

"The Dogs of War") from under the nose of a ruthless dictator who has him under lock and key at Zembala Prison in the middle of nowhere. Faulkner enlists the aid of two indispensable individuals, mastermind combat strategist Rafer Janders (Richard Harris of "Unforgiven") and veteran pilot Shawn Fynn (Roger Moore of "Live and Let Die") to help ramrod the mission. They also hire Lieutenant Pieter Coetze (Hardy Kruger of "Hatari") because he knows South Africa like the back of his hand, and he can wield a cross-bow with unerring accuracy. Faulkner rounds up 50 soldiers-of-fortune for the mission. The recruitment scenes are some of the best, especially when Faulkner visits his old drill sergeant, RSM Sandy Young (Jack Watson of "The Devil's Brigade"), who has settled down to a mundane life of "whipping the rose bushes into shape" for his wife. Young relishes the the process of whipping men into shape and he is prepared to execute them on the spot if they refuse to follow his orders. In an example of diversity, the medic, Medical Orderly Arthur Witty (Kenneth Griffith of "The Lion in Winter") that Faulkner and company hire is an openly gay character. Not only is Witty treated as an equal, but he also has a terrific death scene where he mows down several South African soldiers.

Happily, "Shenandoah" director Andrew V. McLaglen and "12 Angry Men".

Scenarist Reginald Rose never give our heroes a break. The best action.

Movies make their heroes earn their heroism and have them endure a.

Baptism by fire. Our heroes are alerted to attack the barracks ahead of.

Schedule on Christmas day. The attack goes off without a hitch.

Nevertheless, it is the kind of mission that would raise the hackles on.

A staunch moralist's back. Our heroes skewer three tower guards with.

Cross-bow arrows with cyanide-tipped quarrels containing a fast-acting poison to keep them for alerting their fellow soldiers. Afterward, our heroes don gas masks and slip into the barracks and murder the soldiers one-by-one as they are.

Sleeping with cyanide gas. Mind you, these mercenaries don't play.

Around at soldier boy heroics. You get a taste of this kind of extreme.

Behavior before the mission is launched when Roger Moore's character.

Shawn Fynn perforates a mafia bodyguard in the head with a bullet. It.

Seems that they had given him narcotics laced with strychnine and he.

Saw a junkie suffer a horrible death. How often do you see the former.

James Bond doing something this heinous? Anyway, after they rescue.

Limbani, our heroes radio their transport plane to pick them up.

Meanwhile, the double-crossing Sir Charles has cut another deal with.

The South Africans to get a copper concession, and he orders the.

Transport plane to fly off without the mercenaries. Our heroes have to.

Lam out in trucks with Limbani. The first thing that goes wrong for.

Them occurs at a bridge over a dried up river bed. One of their trucks.

Stalls out about the same time that a twin-engine aircraft swoops in.

And strafed them. Faulkner has his men evacuate, but some don't make it.

Out before the plane drops a napalm bomb that turns everything into a.

Blazing inferno. Later, they have to shoot their way through scores of.

African soldiers to find an old Dakota and fly it off. During all this.

Shooting and killing, more than half of Faulkner's men die. Faulkner is.

Especially saddened and outraged when he has to execute his old friend.

Rafer to keep him from falling into enemy hands.

Unquestionably, "The Wild Geese" ranks as the best African-themed.

Mercenary melodrama that you will ever see. The closest movie to it is.

The Rod Taylor & Jim Brown mercenary movie "Dark of the Sun" (1968).

Mind you, if you're looking for a lightweight, inspirational actioneer,.

Skip this bullet-riddled affair. One of the high points comes when our.

Parachute-clad heroes dive plunge from a transport plane en masse. This.

Is the real thing when these guys topple out of the plane, and McLaglen.

Has some cool point-of-view shots of the mercenaries falling through.

The skies. After they capture at the base, everything goes south for.

Our heroes and they are forced to improvise under pressure. If you like.

Your action movies with a heart and a mind, "The Wild Geese" qualifies.

As the kind of tour-de-force thriller that you will want to take a.

Gander at!