The Wild Geese
Added 8/13/2009
The Wild Geese is an exciting movie where the end is not revealed until the last scene. The cast was outstanding from Richard Burton to Roger Moore. Fifty crack mercenaries, a bit passed there prime but willing to go in harms way one more time for the gold and the challenge. Stewart Granger in a cameo role plays a surprising villain. Sinister greed raises its ugly head! But in the end good triumphs over evil at the cost of some good men! It is worth a see and in many ways reflects a modern film entitled "Shooter." Two great action adventure films that will have you talking after all is said and done! A Night in the Tropics
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
A vintage corker
Added 6/18/2009
The first thing I did when I got ahold of this 'special edition' DVD was watch the Movietone News footage of the original London premiere. Has-been British movie stars in 1970s fashions meeting the Duchess of Kent in a benefit for the "Stars Organisation for Spastics" or "SOS". Hilarious! But then I watched the film again ... and talk about improving with age! When I first saw this movie in the cinemas as a high school student back in 1978, it just seemed stodgy and unbelievable. Richard Burton looked stiff and out-of-it; Richard Harris was in this syrupy relationship with his tousled-haired son; and all that racial harmony stuff just seemed ridiculous. But thirty years later, Burton suddenly seems spot-on as an alcholic, nearly has-been mercenary; Harris' performance seems like the emotional heart of the picture; and the talk of harmony (between white and black Africans but also between blacks themselves) suddenly seems prescient in light of subsequent history. I guess that Wild Geese is an old movie for old men. As the accompanying documentary features make clear, it was a producer's film, not a director's film. There's no auteurism in evidence, no visual style. Just a solid story played out by a cast of old pros. Even the somewhat awkward action sequences now ring true, like just the sort of small-scale chaos a handful of grizzled mercenaries might be able to drum up in the bush. I didn't buy it then, but I do now.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
A still ongoing part of post colonial African history
Added 4/5/2009
The Wild Geese is a good movie in the style of Dogs of War, Tears of the Sun and many of Freddy Forsyth's novels. It paints a pretty fair picture of many of the growing pains of post colonial black africa wrapped up in the guise of a shoot 'em up war movie. The cast is superb and the story line while a little predictable and formulaic still makes a good pic to watch on a rainy afternoon.
The understory is still going on. Just look to Sierra Leone, Rwanda and a number of other countries in sub-sahara Africa and you'll see what I mean. For a movie as old as it is, it still tells a timely tale.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Burton at his best
Added 3/22/2009
Burton displays all of his greatness in this movie!The only thing it lacks,even as a cameo appearance would be Elizabeth.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
The Wild Geese
Added 3/19/2009
A classic 70's Mercenary film with a great cast!. The cast includes Richard Burton, Roger Moore & Richard Harris.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
The Wild Geese
Added 8/13/2009
The Wild Geese is an exciting movie where the end is not revealed until the last scene. The cast was outstanding from Richard Burton to Roger Moore. Fifty crack mercenaries, a bit passed there prime but willing to go in harms way one more time for the gold and the challenge. Stewart Granger in a cameo role plays a surprising villain. Sinister greed raises its ugly head! But in the end good triumphs over evil at the cost of some good men! It is worth a see and in many ways reflects a modern film entitled "Shooter." Two great action adventure films that will have you talking after all is said and done! A Night in the Tropics
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
A vintage corker
Added 6/18/2009
The first thing I did when I got ahold of this 'special edition' DVD was watch the Movietone News footage of the original London premiere. Has-been British movie stars in 1970s fashions meeting the Duchess of Kent in a benefit for the "Stars Organisation for Spastics" or "SOS". Hilarious! But then I watched the film again ... and talk about improving with age! When I first saw this movie in the cinemas as a high school student back in 1978, it just seemed stodgy and unbelievable. Richard Burton looked stiff and out-of-it; Richard Harris was in this syrupy relationship with his tousled-haired son; and all that racial harmony stuff just seemed ridiculous. But thirty years later, Burton suddenly seems spot-on as an alcholic, nearly has-been mercenary; Harris' performance seems like the emotional heart of the picture; and the talk of harmony (between white and black Africans but also between blacks themselves) suddenly seems prescient in light of subsequent history. I guess that Wild Geese is an old movie for old men. As the accompanying documentary features make clear, it was a producer's film, not a director's film. There's no auteurism in evidence, no visual style. Just a solid story played out by a cast of old pros. Even the somewhat awkward action sequences now ring true, like just the sort of small-scale chaos a handful of grizzled mercenaries might be able to drum up in the bush. I didn't buy it then, but I do now.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
A still ongoing part of post colonial African history
Added 4/5/2009
The Wild Geese is a good movie in the style of Dogs of War, Tears of the Sun and many of Freddy Forsyth's novels. It paints a pretty fair picture of many of the growing pains of post colonial black africa wrapped up in the guise of a shoot 'em up war movie. The cast is superb and the story line while a little predictable and formulaic still makes a good pic to watch on a rainy afternoon.
The understory is still going on. Just look to Sierra Leone, Rwanda and a number of other countries in sub-sahara Africa and you'll see what I mean. For a movie as old as it is, it still tells a timely tale.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
