The Wild Geese

This war action movie from 1978 turned out to be a cinematic crowd-pleaser upon its initial release, with an all-star cast featuring Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore, Hardy Krüger and Stewart Granger to name but a few. Now, THE WILD GEESE - based on a then-unpublished novel called ‘The Thin White Line’ - has just been released as the Ultimate Collector’s 3-disc Edition Boxset, gloriously restored in 4K UHD/BD plus a CD of the soundtrack and more Bonus material than a goose has feathers. Well, almost…

The gripping and explosive plot concerns a motley crew of ageing mercenaries who are hired by a filthy rich London banker to free a righteous and imprisoned African president, leader of a fictional southern African nation, from the clutches of an unscrupulous dictator. Sounds straightforward enough though or course, nothing goes according to plan…

When ex-British Army officer turned mercenary Colonel Faulkner (Richard Burton) is approached by banker Sir Edward Matherson (Stewart Granger) to meet up, it doesn’t take long before Matherson lets the cat out of the bag: he wants Faulkner to recruit a considerable number of other mercenaries from his circle of friends and former colleagues, in order to rescue the noble yet deposed leader of a southern African nation. The imprisoned leader’s name is Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona) who is held captive in a remote prison and is marked for execution by dastardly dictator General Ndofa. What’s more, the seemingly impenetrable prison is heavily guarded by so-called ‘Simbas’ - Ndofa’s troops. Of course, a generous amount of cash lie in store for Faulkner and his men upon completing the mission successfully.

Money makes the world go ‘round or so the saying goes, and Faulkner would be a fool to turn down such an opportunity, dangerous as it may seem. Over the next few weeks, Faulkner gets cracking on assembling his crew. First up is Captain Janders (Richard Harris), an expert tactician and single father to his young son Emile (Paul Spurrier), following the death of Janders wife from cancer. Other recruits are Lt. Fynn (Roger Moore), a pilot-turned smuggler whom Faulkner and Janders have to lure from his hideout after Fynn took revenge on two heroin-dealers who had set him up. As a result, he’s now chased by an American mafia boss. The sequence in which Faulkner and Janders track down the beleaguered Flynn is a little adventure film in itself! Other recruits are Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Krüger), who openly confesses that he’s in it purely for the money, hoping to buying a house and farmland with it, Sergeant Major Young (Jack Watson), Sergeant Blake (John Kani) and Sergeant Jock McTaggart (Ronald Fraser), who may as well been called Haggis McTaggart, if only to make a further mockery of apparently stereotypical Scottish names!

In the end, the number of mercenaries clocks in at a proud 50 and the lads are ruthlessly put through their paces in a Swaziland ‘boot camp’ under Major Young. Confident that more time is given for training, Faulkner is anything but pleased when informed that the rescue mission is to go ahead the following day, with the mercenaries parachuting into Zembala on Christmas Day! Not wasting any time, the split group successfully rescue the imprisoned Julius Limbani, although he unfortunately gets wounded during the rescue mission. Waiting at a nearby airfield for the plane that is supposed to take them out of Zembala danger zone, the mercenaries, carrying the ailing Limbani on a stretcher, are shocked and confused when the chartered plane takes off without them which, as it turns out, wasn’t their designated plane to begin with. Faulkner learns that the plane which was supposed to fly the mercenaries to safety had been cancelled by banker Matherson who, as it gradually emerges, had secured copper mining assets from General Ndofa in exchange for Limbani. The swine! Soon, things take a massive tumble for the worse, with our brave men stranded in hostile surroundings and mercilessly pursued by the ‘Simbas’. As a deadly game for survival begins it becomes clear that not all of the fifty men will get out of this alive…

The focus is firmly on action as opposed to going too deep into the individual characters though it has to be said that Richard Burton gets to deliver the wittiest lines. With regards to his facial expressions (or lack of, rather), Roger Moore isn’t much different from his portrayal as James Bond while the rest of the cast are reliable in their talents.

Bonus Material is too manifold to list it in detail, with plenty of interviews, audio commentaries, 6 original UK lobby card repros, a 316 page full-colour book and CD.