The Wild Geese

• Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
• June 28, 1978 (South Africa) / July 6, 1978 (Royal Film Performance) / September 17, 1978 (UK)
• Based on the 1978 novel The Thin White Line / The Wild Geese by Daniel Carney

A British bank hires a former British Army colonel-turned-mercenary to parachute into Africa with his team and rescue a deposed president of an African nation.

I have a soft spot for the aging guys that can still kick butt genre. That is perhaps the main reason The Wild Geese tempted me. That and the likes of Richard Burton, Sir Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Krüger all in one place sounded like a probable entertainment win to me.

Its story is a mix of unfinished business and older men proving to the world they still have something worth giving. Some have even lost that feeling that makes life worth living. They find themselves going through the motions with no real emotion or feeling. They make attempts at change or move on but cannot.

Our movie starts slowly but not boring. It takes its time introducing the characters and building them up to justify why they would risk so much. Andrew V. McLaglen was a serviceable director. Never one of the greats but he had his fair share of career high points. Sometimes he could get a bit ham-fisted in setting things up, lacking even the subtlety of even a football cleat to the groin.

I bring this up because one of the deaths in this film is telegraphed from the second the character shows up in the story. It was an expected cliché result of his dialogue and story so obvious Stevie Wonder said “I can see where this is going.” I won’t ruin who it is, but you know who it will be given the time they take on certain things and certain bits of dialogue. It’s not foreshadowing. It’s telling the audience.

African politics get a heavy-handed discussion mostly because it is an important part of the story. The same goes for race relations largely through the dialogue and actions between Lt. Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Krüger) and President Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona) who is the individual the mercenaries are hired to free so the bank can get access to his country’s copper. I found these decades old conversations still rather timely to a large extent. It is amazing how little changes no matter how much time passes.

Harris and Burton were never acting slouches with Harris despite his build being a convincing military man. Moore was deeply engaged in his most famous role elsewhere and comes off like James Bond taking a side gig while playing Lt. Shawn Fynn. Flynn is even a bit of a womanizer.

If anything the lot of them come off as gentlemen soldiers. Most have a moral code with Col. Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton) being among the loosest there being willing to fight for anybody that pays yet even he feels a need to get Limbani back to his country not just for revenge.

Joining them are a small group of minor characters. They promised something interesting but never got to develop. Regimental Sergeant Major Sandy Young (Jack Watson) in particular was excited to no longer have to tend to roses for a little bit, was a loyal friend and soldier, but never moved into much else. Then there was the clearly homosexual Medic Arthur Witty (Kenneth Griffith) whose two major contributions were providing cover fire and being present for a gay joke involving hemorrhoids.

Action scenes, something McLaglen was very capable of directing, were good but the film really worked when Faulkner, Fynn, and Capt. Rafer Janders (Richard Harris) were interacting and trying to figure out what to do. The trio knew how to sell their lines. The acting in these moments was quite engaging adding weight to what was an adventure film.

I enjoyed myself and I would watch it again. It is just missing a little bit of magic or some special thing that pulls it all together. Focus on the action while they are in uniform and leave most of the depth for down times. Use those moments to add to the story rather than just lament or engage in armchair philosophy.

I would label The Wild Geese a bit of a guilty pleasure. Not a terrible movie, but it’s not quite of the caliber that you might want with the talent cast. Good but not great.