The Wild Geese (1978) Allied Artists/Action-Adventure RT: 134 minutes Rated R (strong violence, language, drugs) Director: Andrew V. McLaglen Screenplay: Reginald Rose Music: Roy Budd Cinematography: Jack Hildyard Release date: November 11, 1978 (US) Cast: Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore, Hardy Kruger, Stewart Granger, Winston Ntshona, John Kani, Jack Watson, Frank Finlay, Kenneth Griffith, Barry Foster, Ronald Fraser, Ian Yule, Patrick Allen, Rosalind Lloyd, David Ladd, Paul Spurrier, Jeff Corey, Brook Williams, Percy Herbert, Glyn Baker, Sydney Chama, Ken Gampu, Jane Hylton. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
Who remembers when they made movies for men? I’m talking about violent action movies with predominantly male casts. I’m talking about movies like The Guns of Navarone, The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, The Devil’s Brigade, Where Eagles Dare and The Wild Bunch to name just a few. The Wild Geese would also be on that list. It’s every bit a guy’s movie as Steel Magnolias is a chick flick.
It stars Richard Burton (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold) as Faulkner, a mercenary-for-hire summoned to London by merchant banker Sir Edward Matheson (Granger, King Solomon’s Mines) for a meeting. He wants to hire Faulkner to lead an operation into Africa to rescue imprisoned President Limbani (Ntshona, The Dogs of War) from execution at a remote facility and bring him to safety. The plan is to overthrow the current government and return the former leader to power. Faulkner accepts the job on the condition he gets to choose his own men starting with longtime associates Shawn Flynn (Moore, The Spy Who Loved Me) and Rafer Janders (Harris, The Molly Maguires).
Flynn, a former RAF pilot capable of flying ANY type of plan, has a price on his head for killing the nephew of a powerful mob boss. In exchange for his services, Matheson arranges to have the hit called off (at the last minute). Janders, a skilled tactician familiar with the territory, initially declines the offer. He’s retired and just wants to spend time with his young son. Of course, Faulkner talks him into it. They recruit 50 soldiers including retired (but still tough as nails) Sgt. Major Sandy Young (Watson, The Devil’s Brigade) and former South African Special Forces soldier Pieter Coetzee (Kruger, The Flight of the Phoenix).
After a period of intensive training under Young, an unexpected development causes Matheson to move up the date of the operation. With only a day’s notice, the men parachute into Zembala to carry out their mission. Naturally, they get screwed over by their employer and are forced to make their own way to safety through hostile territory. Don’t tell me you didn’t expect that. Everybody knows rich British bankers can’t be trusted.
Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen (The Devil’s Brigade), The Wild Geese is a solid B-level actioner that doesn’t overwhelm the viewer with a lot of noise and frenetic action scenes rendered incomprehensible by wild overediting. There’s a lot to be said for action movies made before the rise of CGI. There’s something inherently thrilling about stunts performed without the aid of green screen and gun battles that look believable. I feel the same about narratives that take the time to introduce characters and set up the plot before getting into the action. It wasn’t always about instant gratification. That’s not to say The Wild Geese moves slowly. It doesn’t. It just doesn’t move at the breakneck speed modern audiences have grown accustomed to.
It helps that The Wild Geese has a great cast. Let’s be clear about one thing. It’s not the type of movie where you praise the performances of the actors. We’re not talking Shakespeare here. What’s needed is a bunch of actors that come off as believable tough guys. Burton, Moore and Harris fit the bill perfectly. One of them plays James Bond, for Pete’s sake! They’re good in The Wild Geese. I’d also like to commend Kruger for adding dimension to his character with his pro-apartheid views. He’s a racist forced to carry a wounded Limbani across rough African terrain. They have a few discussions that cause him to rethink his views. Granger is also good as the two-faced Sir Edward.
Although The Wild Geese touches on the volatile political and social climates in Africa at the time, McLaglen wisely chooses to focus on the action instead. There’s plenty of it. Fists, bullets and hand grenades fly. Stuff gets blown up. Characters good and bad die without the shedding of a single tear by others. Remember, this is a man’s movie and manly men don’t cry. The only females in sight are a few minor characters who have nothing to do with the plot. There are no goopy romantic scenes or tearful goodbyes. The only real drama derives from the relationship between Janders and his son Emile (Spurrier), a boarding school lad looking forward to a Christmas break ski trip with Dad. That is, until duty calls.
One thing I find really interesting about The Wild Geese is how it doesn’t exalt or vilify mercenaries. For Faulkner and the others, it’s a job for which they get paid handsomely. It doesn’t make them bad people. Flynn, for example, appears to have a strong moral code. He has a good reason for killing the young mobster, a drug dealer who makes the fatal mistake of deceiving Flynn into delivering heroin to a dying young addict. The Wild Geese doesn’t get into the psychology behind the profession. For that, you need to check out The Dogs of War.
I think The Wild Geese is a good movie. It’s not great or outstanding. Its biggest problem is shallow characterizations of the supporting players like the black guy and gay guy that join Faulkner’s army. I’d have liked to know a bit more about them. It doesn’t ruin the movie though. It’s enjoyable on the level of a Saturday night action flick with the guys. It’s a shame they don’t make them like this anymore.
TRIVIA TIDBIT: There’s a sequel, 1985’s Wild Geese II, I’m planning to review soon. There’s also a cheap, low-budget Italian-made movie called Code Name: Wild Geese that has nothing to do with either movie. I reviewed it last year. Feel free to look it up on the website.
