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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Good Movies  |  The Wild Geese (1978) « previous next »
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Author Topic: The Wild Geese (1978)  (Read 4496 times)
lester1/2jr
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« on: March 17, 2008, 09:55:06 AM »

    This was a looong movie  and it doesn't always move particularly quickly, but I ended up liking it alot.  I don't usually like war movies, but this one had character development beyond,  you know "we came here to do a job " and blah blah blah like "do you miss your family?"  "sure I do but ...we came to do a job.."  . 


The characters  are much older than usual and there are a few black and even a gay character that don't get killed off right away!   This would be a great movie to show in a nursing home.  The old duffers would I'm sure enjoy these 50 something merceneries getting together to do some important mission.  The writing is very good, there are funny british quips about things and interesting and realistic scenererios and not too much grandstanding and monologing.  All it needs is Hannibal from the A Team going "I love it when a plan comes together", though  Roger Moore,  Richard burton and co have probably done more Shakespeare than most of the A Teamers.

It was controversial because it was filmed in south africa, but the apartheid issue is raised in the film in some depth and honesty so I don't know.  Definately not a reason to avoid seeing it if it sounds interesting to you.

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Trevor
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« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2008, 10:24:15 AM »

 Smile At last! I was wondering when this film was going to be reviewed.  Smile

We have this in our archive on 16mm, believe it or not and the DVD has just been released locally.

I have a rather personal attachment to this film: my folks and I were on holiday in South Africa in 1977 at a mineral bath resort named Tchipise, which is in the north of South Africa. After staying there about three days, we found a note under our door asking us to come to the manager's office. It turned out all the residents had been given the same notice. The manager asked us to kindly pack up and leave as the place had been booked out for three months due to filming there but that we (all of us) would be refunded our money in full. So thanks to Messrs Moore, Kruger, Harris and Burton we were able to head further South and spend a welcome holiday with my mom's family.  TeddyR

Controversial that it was filmed here in South Africa?

No, sir. It was a pioneering film. The producer Euan Lloyd had informed the SA government (no film commissions here back then) that there would be no apartheid on set, all races would live, eat, work and do everything together or no film. They agreed to this. This set the tone for all foreign films made here up until 1994.

Apartheid: So distanced was this film and its' makers from apartheid that the film was released to multiracial audiences uncut and for the first time ever, sounded the death knell for separate audiences in South Africa cinemas. So, this is a historic film in many ways.

The character of Pieter Coetzee as played by the great German actor Hardy Kruger is portrayed as an out and out racist, until he comes to realize that the man he is trying to save and that he is carrying around on his back, is worth saving and that he is a honourable man. He in fact dies saving this man that he had previously dismissed as being less than himself. In the book by Daniel Carney, Pieter is a Rhodesian (as I am) and in the film he is a South African.

An excerpt from my book Riding The High Wind:


THE WILD GEESE* (1978)         ANDREW V. McLAGLEN

Based on the novel of the same name by Rhodesian author Daniel Carney, this was a breakthrough production in many respects, i.e. it was the most expensive movie made to date, it was the very first non-segregated production made in South Africa and it was also the first film released locally to both black and white audiences at the same time.

Thus, despite the liberal usage of the so called ‘k’ word (courtesy actor Hardy Kruger’s character of Peter Coetzee), it was a pioneering film in many ways. A band of mercenaries is sent into Africa to rescue a Nelson Mandela-like leader from the clutches of his worst enemy and while they are about their business in the bush, behind the scenes machinations doom them and their efforts.

A first rate action thriller, written by Reginald Rose, with effective music by Roy Budd, editing by future ‘James Bond’ director John Glen and cinematography by Jack Hildyard, B.S.C. Starring Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore, Hardy Kruger, Stewart Granger, Barry Foster, Ian Yule and Kenneth Griffith, plus a supporting cast of excellent South African players including John Kani, Winston Ntshona and Ken Gampu.


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I know I can make it on my own if I try, but I'm searching for the Great Heart
To stand me by, underneath the African sky
A Great Heart to stand me by.
lester1/2jr
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« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2008, 10:40:42 AM »

Trevor-  bro i understand your attachment to the film and it is a good movie, but the apartheid issue was controversial at the time and still is for some.   anyway, I noted that it SHOULDN'T disuade people from seeing it.
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Neville
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« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2008, 04:38:53 PM »

I tend to feel all the same about the action films Andrew McLaglen directed around the 70s (the likes of "The wild geese", "The sea wolves" or "The devil's brigade"). They're all pretty dire. Professionally filmed, yes, with good aging actors, but not very exciting.

But they're all fun to watch. The writing itself is funny, packed with over-the-top machismo and rusty stereotypes, and there's the occasional humour, that tends to come with as much sublety as an elephant in a porcelain shop.

I'd say "The wild geese" and "The sea wolves" are the best of the bunch, old-fashioned but fun actioners. They're pretty spectacular, and while almost anything works the way you expect from the opening credits you end up asking yourself why they don't do them like this anymore.
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lester1/2jr
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« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2008, 05:11:09 PM »

at one point roger moore goes " wild goose to iron man wild goose to iron man,  that 's like sticking your finger up the tin mans rectum"  or something it was funny
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Neville
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« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2008, 05:16:26 PM »

Can't remember that, but I remember stuff during the training that wouldn't be out of place on a Benny Hill show. Oh, and let's not forget that gay doctor.
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Trevor
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« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2008, 03:03:12 AM »

Kenneth Griffith who played "Witty" the doctor told me ten years ago when he visited us that he enjoyed playing that character and also said that the 16mm copy we had was the uncensored one, where Witty's final scene is far more full of gore than in the cinema release. He even autographed the poster we have of that film but was a little upset to see that his name was not on it.  TeddyR

Just to reiterate: this film caused the death of cinema apartheid in South Africa as it could only, by order of the producers, be screened to multiracial audiences. A few years down the line, segregation in SA cinemas was a thing of the past.  Cheers
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I know I can make it on my own if I try, but I'm searching for the Great Heart
To stand me by, underneath the African sky
A Great Heart to stand me by.
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