It has been described as the best – and the last- great British action movie, but THE WILD GEESE has cemented its’ place in cinema history as a truly independent affair, made at a time when the likes of JAWS and STAR WARS were dominating the box-office both domestically and internationally.
Producer Euan Lloyd, who had worked with the likes of Alan Ladd Jr. in a career that took him from the world of cinema exhibition itself, told of the process of getting the film going in a DVD commentary which he recorded with Roger Moore, who had appeared in three Bond films by then, LIVE AND LET DIE (1973), THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974) and THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) and John Glen.
Lloyd spoke of using credit cards and other financial means to get backing for the film, which at one point had Burt Lancaster in consideration for the lead role of Colonel Alan Faulkner, which ultimately went to Richard Burton.
Glen was a Second Unit Director and Editor on the film, and held him in good stead for when he the James Bond films FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981), OCTOPUSSY (1983), A VIEW TO A KILL (1985), THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1987) and LICENCE TO KILL (1989), working with Moore and then Timothy Dalton.
Screenwriter Reginald Rose (TWELVE ANGRY MEN) became the choice for scriptwriter, adapted from a then-recent published novel by Daniel Carney called THE WILD GEESE.
Shot in South Africa and London, THE WILD GEESE is an action adventure in which Faulkner (Burton) is given a contract by merchant banker Sir Edward Matherson (Stewart Granger) to rescue a captured African leader, Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona) from the clutches of a tyrannical General.
He looks around for various old acquaintances to help, starting with Rafer Janders (Richard Harris) a seemingly-retired military planner who lives as a single parent in Hampstead with son Emile (Paul Spurrier, who now works as a film-maker in Asia). In the meantime, Shawn Fynn (Roger Moore) goes from job to job, but his current contract causes him to kill a mobster’s son when he learns he has become a heroin trafficker. Hiding in a casino, thanks to current squeeze Heather Courtenay (the producer’s real-life daughter Rosalind Lloyd), Faulkner and Janders rescue him.
They recruit a number of renegades, among them Jesse Blake (John Kani) and camp medical orderly Arthur Witty (Kenneth Griffith) and are put about their paces at a pre-mission boot camp by over-profane Drill Sergeant Sandy Young (Jack Watson). Another officer, Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Kruger) joins the band, needing no convincing when Fynn finds him about to be kicked out of his flat in London, as broke as anything. The offer of £30,000 tax free is also enticing for him.
The mission seems to go according to plan, but when Matherson makes a deal with the General holding Limbani, the ‘Wild Geese’ find themselves stranded in Africa when their plane abandons them as they are about to board at the airport. The fight back begins….
Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen (son of Victor, who fought John Wayne in the classic John Ford film THE QUIET MAN (1952), THE WILD GEESE is a marvellously staged action film, the likes of which have not been seen since its’ production or release.
Made at a time when apartheid was still very strong – and there appeared to be a lot of objections to the film’s production – THE WILD GEESE is a stand-out film, thanks to a positive message about what the future could hold for the continent, which was going through a lot of upheaval a number of years after post-British rule.
It pulls no punches with the violence and there are some terrific sequences, from the rescue of Limbani, right through to the intense climax on an airstrip.
The quartet of leads are excellent in the film and it was noted that both Burton and Harris agreed to stay teetotal to honour insurers on the film.
The film also had a World Premiere in London. Footage from the premiere can be seen in this vintage Movietone clip