The Wild Geese (1978)

The Wild Geese (1978) (DVD) (*)

~~$26.99~~ $23.98

Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital Stereo )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
133 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Commentary
Documentary
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1978 and produced in:
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )

Directed By:
Andrew V. McLaglen

Written By:
Daniel Carney
Reginald Rose

Actors:
Richard Burton ..... Col. Allen Faulkner
Roger Moore ..... Lt. Shawn Fynn
Richard Harris ..... Capt. Rafer Janders
Hardy Krüger ..... Lt. Pieter Coetze
Stewart Granger ..... Sir Edward Matherson
Winston Ntshona ..... Julius Limbani
John Kani ..... Sgt. Jesse Blake
Jack Watson ..... RSM Sandy Young
Frank Finlay ..... Fr. Geoghagen, the Priest
Kenneth Griffith ..... Medical Orderly Arthur Witty
Barry Foster ..... Thomas Balfour
Ronald Fraser ..... Sgt. Jock McTaggart
Ian Yule ..... Sgt. Tosh Donaldson
Patrick Allen ..... Rushton
Rosalind Lloyd ..... Heather

Synopsis:

The veteran mercenary Colonel Allen Faulkner travels to London invited by the British millionaire Sir Edward Matherson to rescue the African President Julius Limbani that had been abducted in a coup d'état by the dictator Colonel Mboya. Sir Edward has interest in the copper mines and intends to negotiate with Limbani. Col. Faulkner hires his friends Captain Rafer Janders and Lieutenant Shawn Fynn and the trio select their old friends to form the rescue team. They plan the whole operation and succeed in their mission; however, Sir Edward deals with the dictator and double-crosses the group of mercenaries, leaving them in Rhodesia. The mercenaries have to fight against Colonel Mboya's troops to survive and Col. Faulkner promises to revenge his deceased friends.

A British multinational seeks to overthrow a vicious dictator in central Africa. It hires a band of (largely aged) mercenaries in London and sends them in to save the virtuous but imprisoned opposition leader who is also critically ill and due for execution. Just when the team has performed a perfect rescue, the multinational does a deal with the vicious dictator leaving the mercenary band to escape under their own steam and exact revenge.

The plot of this of this adaptation of the Daniel Carney's novel, sprinkled throughout a series of extended Sam Peckinpah-inspired action sequences, deals with a collection of mercenary toughguys -- Colonel Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton), Lieutenant Shawn Fynn (Roger Moore), Rafer Janders (Richard Harris), Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Kruger) -- who are hired to parachute into the African bush country and abscond with deposed African president Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona) and reinstall him as a reigning monarch of an African country, to satisfy British mercantile interests. The action sequences were successful enough to spawn a sequel -- appropriately titled Wild Geese II.

This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 15 October, 2011.