The Wild Geese (1978)

A British multinational seeks to overthrow a vicious dictator in central Africa. It hires a band of (largely aged) mercenaries in London and sends them in to save the virtuous but ... See full summary »

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writers:

Reginald Rose (screenplay), Daniel Carney (novel)

Stars:

Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Burton	...	Col. Allen Faulkner
Roger Moore	...	Lt. Shawn Fynn
Richard Harris	...	Capt. Rafer Janders
Hardy Krüger	...	Lt. Pieter Coetzee (as Hardy Kruger)
Stewart Granger	...	Matherson / Sir Edward Matherson
Winston Ntshona	...	President Limbani
John Kani	...	Sgt. Blake Jesse
Jack Watson	...	R.S.M. Sandy Young
Frank Finlay	...	Fr. Geoghagen - The Priest
Kenneth Griffith	...	Arthur Witty
Barry Foster	...	Thomas Balfour
Ronald Fraser	...	Jock McTaggart
Ian Yule	...	Tosh Donaldson
Patrick Allen	...	Rushton
Rosalind Lloyd	...	Heather

Storyline

A British multinational seeks to overthrow a vicious dictator in central Africa. It hires a band of (largely aged) mercenaries in London and sends them in to save the virtuous but imprisoned opposition leader who is also critically ill and due for execution. Just when the team has performed a perfect rescue, the multinational does a deal with the vicious dictator leaving the mercenary band to escape under their own steam and exact revenge.

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Plot Keywords:

mercenary | rescue | revenge | old friend | africa | 

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Taglines:

The Dogs of War. The Best D*** Mercenaries in the Business!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK Switzerland

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agries hines

Filming Locations:

Tshipise, Northern Transvaal, South Africa

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 4,765,658 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Richmond Film Productions (West), Victory Films, Varius Entertainment Trading A.G.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (London premiere print) Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the last movie released by Allied Artists.

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Goofs

During the mercenaries flight, Coetzee removes the dismantled crossbow from it's leather case and starts to assemble it. After his parachute-landing, however, he is seen carrying the leather-case containing his dissembled crossbow: Meaning the assembly-scene was overlooked in the final edit of the movie.

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Quotes

Faulkner: What do I call you? SIR Edward?
Sir Edward Matherson: You do.

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Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Rafer's theme"
by Aleksandr Borodin (as A. Borodin)
Arr. Roy Budd (as Budd)

User Reviews

Awesome Mercinary Adventure Film

I discovered this film when I was like 14 because I was obsessed with the Bond movies, after watching "The Wild Geese" I developed another obsession. No film is for everyone, but this one has a lot to love, especially for fans of the genre and the cast.

Richard Burton plays Allen Faulkner, an aged British mercenary hired by a multinational company to lead a team into Africa and rescue the president of a war-torn nation to serve their purposes. It sounds like simple action fluff. It isn't. All the men Faulkner brings along, many of whom are members of his old crew, have families they might not see again. The biggest focus of these is Richard Harris (in a great performance) as Capt. Janders who is the single parent to his son Amiel. There's also the complications that ensue when their mission changes purposes midway through. Most importantly is that this film is scripted by Reginald Rose, who gave us "Twelve Angry Men".

Also featured are Roger Moore and Hardy Kruger. Moore is the one I watched the film for, and gives a typical Moore performance. Krugar, however, is given the more interesting character. Like the rest, he's an aging mercenary, unlike the rest he's South African and prejudiced against black people. The man they rescue, Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona) is black and Kruger's character must either save a man he sees as less than human or come to grips with his racism.

Andrew V. McLaglen is not what I'd call a great director, but he does fine here. He keeps a good pace that balances the action and drama. A few of his decisions are a might distracting, but I think this is more a reflection of mainstream cinema at the time than one filmmaker's failings. This movie is still a gift to adventure fans and it asks the right questions.

The sequel, made after Burton's death, is a different thing altogether. If ever you see "The Wild Geese 2", don't expect what you got here.