The Wild Geese, 1978.
Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
Starring Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, Stewart Granger, Hardy Krüger, Frank Finlay, Barry Foster, Patrick Allen, Rosalind Lloyd, Valerie Leon, Winston Ntshona, Jack Watson, and Kenneth Griffith.
SYNOPSIS:
A squad of aging soldiers take on a mission to rescue a deposed African president held captive by a ruthless dictator, but not all is as it seems.
“The don’t make them like this anymore” is a phrase that often gets bandied around about many movies, and usually by those of us who are old enough to appreciate the era in which said movies were originally doing the rounds, and 1978s The Wild Geese is a prime example of a movie that is very much stuck in the year it came out.
But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because entertainment is the name of the game as a group of aging special forces soldiers come together for one more (last?) mission, and with a cast headed up by legendary hellraisers Richard Burton and Richard Harris, plus Roger Moore – who was in his peak 007 pomp at the time – then you know you are in for a good time, political correctness be damned.
Burton plays Colonel Allen Faulkner, a long-in-the-tooth former British soldier-turned-mercenary, who is hired by merchant banker Sir Edward Matherson (Stewart Granger) to rescue Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona), the deposed president of a southern African nation who is due to be executed by dictator General Ndofa. Faulkner does not like Matherson and the feeling is mutual, but he accepts the job and starts to recruit his team, beginning with Captain Rafer Janders (Harris) and pilot/smuggler Shawn Fynn (Moore). The rest of the squad are made up by former colleagues and acquaintances, including tough Sergeant Major Sandy Young (Jack Watson) and camp (in both senses of the word) medic Arthur Witty (Kenneth Griffith).
After the inevitable ‘too old for this’ training the job is brought forward, meaning that single parent Janders is unable to take his young son on holiday as promised, and the boys are off to perform what should be a routine mission and be home in time for tea and crumpets. Naturally, money changes hands and the plan changes as the slimy Matherson reveals his true colours, making Faulkner all the more determined to get back to Blighty.
There is a line after Matherson offers Faulkner a drink and he takes a large glug before demanding another where the grizzled soldier says “I’m dry when I work”, and you get the feeling throughout this movie that the same could not be said for at least two of the leads, best exemplified when Faulkner and Janders sit down together with a large glass of wine each to plan how they are going to breach the quarters where the African president is being held. There is a brief bit of banter between the two as they chug the wine, alluding to the fact it is cheap and tastes disgusting, and it feels like the two actors having a normal (for them) conversation while the director just left the camera rolling, which sets the tone for what follows. Richard Burton was not in the best of health during filming, mainly down to his notorious appetite for alcohol, but it doesn’t really show, and if anything his rough-around-the-edges swagger helping to make Faulkner a more rounded and believable character.
But The Wild Geese is a movie you watch because its stars are such characters in their own right, and seeing old-school actors giving it another shot at glory whilst clearly knowing they aren’t in peak condition is part of the joy. With the exception of possibly Roger Moore – who was 51 at the time of filming but was still in some sort of decent shape thanks to playing James Bond (although being a 51-year-old action movie star in 1978 was very different to being a 51 year-old action movie actor in 2025 – just look at Christian Bale or Michael Shannon and compare) – the cast all look like they had seen better days, with most of the stunts obviously performed by stuntmen, but this is not The Expendables (well, not quite) where everyone still wants to oil up and show off their muscles; these guys are made of grit and steel, and it is all in the performances.
So much so that the movie knows how to play on the heartstrings, with one crucial scene showing that these aren’t just soldiers as part of a machine but human beings, and when director Andrew V. McLaglen wants to pull some emotion from the audience he does so with a combination of action, editing and getting the best from his actors. Yes, grown men will cry, but seeing Roger Moore flying a plane with the scene of carnage unfolding behind him and not being able to do anything about it is a lesson in tough love that your average romantic drama just can’t compete with.
However, the big elephant in the room is the fact that this is very much an action movie from the 1970s, pulling no punches in its use of colourful language and stereotypes, where morality is black-and-white with little-to-no nuance and where men were men doing manly things to stop other manly men doing their manly man things. Of course, when viewed through a modern lens none of it sits well with contemporary social or political ideals but, as the first line of this review states, they don’t make them like this anymore, so what you gonna do?
This presentation of The Wild Geese comes in a 3-disc box set featuring a 4K UHD, standard Blu-ray and a CD of the soundtrack, so you can put on your camouflage gear and parade around to the pumping sounds of Joan Armatrading performing the title song, should you so desire. The 4K UHD picture quality is excellent, showing off some lovely detail in the gaudy 1970s home decor but also bringing out the reds and greens of the soldier’s uniforms to nice effect without being too bright or startling. Grain level is nice and consistent too, with very little – if any – fluctuation and skin tones all look natural (except Richard Burton’s glorious tan, which was probably to hide a multitude of drink-related sins).
This being a super-deluxe set, there are are also several interviews with crew members, actor Paul Spurrier (who played Janders’ young son Emile), an audio commentary with action movie experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, and another with assembly editor John Grover and film academic Calum Waddell, who offers up a more socio-political take, plus a documentary about producer Euan Lloyd. There are also archival extras, including an audio commentary by Euan Lloyd, actor Roger Moore and second unit director John Glen (who also directed Moore in several Bond movies), trailers and newsreel footage, and if that wasn’t enough there are art cards and a huge 316-page hardback book covering the making of the movie. If that sounds a little pricey, there are standard 4K and Blu-ray editions that contain all the special features without the book, art cards and slipcase, but the deluxe set is limited edition so get in quick.
Overall, The Wild Geese is a hugely entertaining ensemble piece from a bygone era that, if taken in the spirit it was intended, still manages to deliver the goods in a reassuringly old-fashioned way. Yes, it is a product of the 1970s and it should be viewed as such, but for sheer adrenaline, action and violence with a sly, British sense of humour, this is terrific fun so steeped in stale cigar smoke and cheap booze you can almost smell it through the TV screen, and what a glorious stench it is.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★/ Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
