Review of The Wild Geese (1978) by Ola G — 13 Mar 2012

Colonel Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton), a British mercenary and former army officer, is offered a mission by the rich and ruthless merchant banker Sir Edward Matherson (Stewart Granger). The latter proposes an operation to rescue Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona), imprisoned former leader of a central African country, who is due to be killed by the military dictator who overthrew him. Limbani, whose people believe he is already dead, is being held in a remote prison, guarded by ferocious African troops known as the "Simbas", under General Ndofa. Faulkner provisionally accepts the assignment and sets about recruiting his officers, all of whom have worked with him on previous African operations. His closest men consists of: Shawn Fynn (Roger Moore) an Anglo-Irish pilot, working as a currency smuggler, but when he realises that he is actually running drugs, he kills the mafia drug dealer by making him eat his own tainted drugs and consequently has a death contract placed on his head. South African Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Kruger), a former officer in the South African Army Special Forces turned mercenary, who only wants to return to his homeland and buy a farm, but can barely afford to pay his rent in London. Rafer Janders (Richard Harris), a former military officer turned mercenary, who is a highly skilled mission planner. He initially refuses the job, as he is making some money as an art dealer and is planning a Christmas vacation with his son, Emile. But Faulkner persuades Janders to join the mission as the tactician and planner because Janders admires President Julius Limbani.

I remember seeing "The Wild Geese" in the early 80s during the VHS boom, and loving it. You can not really fail with such a lineup consisting of Moore, Burton, Harris and Kruger and with a script that allows the characters to be introduced properly. Reseeing it 2012 gave me the same thrill as back in the 80s, but with the exception that this time around I was able to grasp the political point of views in the story, something you kind of did not get as a12-13 year old. I reckon though it is worth noticing that they did shoot the movie in South Africa during the Apartheid regime, and at the same time having a script that takes more or less a political stance against apartheid. Not sure how they were thinking there. It contains as well of realistic action sequences in a mix with a touch of humour, a great title song "Flight of the Wild Geese" by Joan Armatrading and a cool title design made by the great Maurice Binder. "The Wild Geese" is amongst the big 70s war/military/political movies with a great cast and I can highly recommend it. Good one.