Review of The Wild Geese (1978) by Edward C — 16 Apr 2013

Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen (Chisum (1970), North Sea Hijack (1979) and The Sea Wolves (1980)) and based on Daniel Carney's book of the same name, which had been unpublished until producer Euan Lloyd (Paper Tiger (1975) and Who Dares Wins (1982)) saw potential for a film and put everything he had into this film adaptation.

It's a very good action adventure, and you could say it was The Expendables of the 1970's. British Mercenary Colonel Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton) is in London to meet rich merchant banker Sir Edward Matherson (Stewart Granger), who asks if he can get a team together to free African president Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona) from a remote prison.

Faulkner forms a team of soldiers he's worked with before, including pilot Shawn Fynn (Roger Moore), tactician Rafer Janders (Richard Harris), South African soldier Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Krüger) and retired Sergeant Major Sandy Young (Jack Watson).

The team head off to Africa, and easily find Limbani, but it's all too easy, and the team find themselves being double crossed by Matherson, but they need to get to safety. It's a suspenseful film with some good action set pieces and a good ensemble of old thespians kicking ass in the African sun.

It's dated a bit, but that's to be expected from films of this era, and you won't get actors like this now doing these sort of films.