Film Review: The Wild Geese (1978)

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The phrase 'war film' is usually associated with films dealing with both World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War or some other 20th‑century conflict which spurred public imagination in most Western countries. There are very few films that deal with conflicts in Sub‑Saharan Africa, despite that area of the world having had its share of wars – sometimes even more brutal and bloody than the examples mentioned above. There are even fewer films that feature that description while aspiring to be treated as genre classics. The Wild Geese, a 1977 British production directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, is one such rarity.

The film is based on the novel by Daniel Carney, inspired by rumours about events that allegedly happened in the late 1960s in the Congo. The protagonist, played by Richard Burton, is Colonel Allan Faulkner, a former British Army officer and veteran mercenary. The plot begins in London when he is hired by Sir Edward Matherson (played by Stewart Granger), a rich banker whose partners are interested in copper deposits in an unnamed African country ruled by General Ndofa, a bloodthirsty dictator supported by the Communist Eastern Bloc after deposing the democratically elected President Julius Nimbani (played by Winston Ntshona). Faulkner is tasked with rescuing Nimbani from the prison guarded by Ndofa’s troops, thus starting the coup that would bring back a government more in line with Matherson and his partners’ interests. Faulkner carefully selects a team of fifty friends, former associates and new recruits and, despite some of them being affected by advanced age, quickly drills them into a formidable fighting force. Faulkner and his men are parachuted behind the border, after which everything appears to go according to plan – the prison is attacked and Nimbani is liberated. A problem for Faulkner and his men arises when Matherson reaches a deal with Ndofa about mining rights, after which Nimbani and the mercenaries become expendable. Faulkner and his men are now left deep inside enemy territory, surrounded by thousands of troops determined to kill them and almost without hope of reaching safety behind the border.

The Wild Geese was made on location in South Africa during apartheid, and that created certain PR problems for the producers. Some of them were addressed by Reginald Rose’s script in the characters played by black South African actors. One is a member of Faulkner’s mercenary team, played by John Kani (these days best known as King T’Chaka in the MCU films); the other is Nimbani, played by Winston Ntshona (who would later play a similar character in The Dogs of War). Nimbani is portrayed as a saintly statesman, whose wise words are so powerful that they make the white South African mercenary Coetze (played by Hardy Krüger) see the error of his ways and quickly abandon decades of racial prejudice. It is somewhat ironic that the character of Nimbani in many ways resembles the real‑life figure of Nelson Mandela, who was still incarcerated at Robben Island during the time of production.

Thankfully, the complicated politics of the African continent in the 1970s didn’t hold interest for the producers nor for the audience. What people wanted to see in The Wild Geese and what, for the most part, was delivered was old‑fashioned, no‑nonsense action adventure. Like all good action films, it starts relatively slowly, allowing the audience to become acquainted with the relatively large number of characters and later care about their respective fates when the actual action starts. The Wild Geese is helped by an excellent cast made up of top British and Irish actors; they include Roger Moore, then at the top of his James Bond fame, who, apart from the delightfully trashy scene at the beginning (in which he takes care of a despicable drug dealer), confidently plays second fiddle to both Burton and Richard Harris in the role of Faulkner’s right‑hand man. Burton and Harris, both known for serious drinking problems before this film, were actually ‘dry’ and professional during the production, but they nevertheless put their alcoholic past to good use, playing characters who were, just like themselves, looking more aged than they actually were.

Andrew V. McLaglen, an American director best known for westerns, does a very good job, helped by a more than decent budget and excellent pyrotechnics and stunt work, resulting in many exciting but believable combat scenes. Despite an overly melodramatic finale and an unintentionally cheesy opening song, The Wild Geese deserves a recommendation for classic action film fans.

RATING: 7/10 (++)