The Wild Geese (released by Optimum) is based on previously unpublished novel, The Thin White Line by Daniel Carney, about a group of mercenaries sent on a mission to free an overthrown African President. Regarded as one of the most gritty and accurate portrayals of mercenary and special op work ever seen on film, it's best remembered for bringing together the 1970s A-list trio of English hams, Richard Burton, Roger Moore and Richard Harris.

Richard Burton plays hard-drinking, money-driven Colonel Allen Faulkner who is hired by Stewart Granger's ruthlessly superior merchant banker to rescue former leader Limbani of the small, fictional African country of Zembala from the new dictator in command's ferocious 'Simba' troops. Faulkner recruits fifty other mercenaries, a combination of old Dads Army-esque friends and new battle-hungry acquaintances, including smooth, womaniser Shaun Fynn (Roger Moore) and old, war-weary drinking buddy Rafer Jandis (Richard Harris).  The group successfully infiltrate the prison and rescue Limbani when their meticulously daft plan goes off without a hitch. However, back in the UK, the backers of the project reach an agreement with the Zembalese government and betray the mercenaries, leaving them without a means of escape deep inside hostile territory.

The film clunks a bit in the initial London scenes, with very British duels of wits in  amusingly dated settings, but improves as soon as the mercenaries reach Africa for their gruelling training (accompanied by ironically happy music); the shot of the men jumping out of the plane to parachute to the African planes is beautifully filmed. Burton's cynical, greedy Colonel is not particularly likeable, yet he throws himself into the character with gusto and his performance effortlessly dominates the film. Harris balances Burton's immorality with his portrayal of a disillusioned man trying to move on and forget his violent past, and, despite being polar opposites, the pair are accomplished enough actors to make us believe their characters' unlikely friendship. Moore takes a break from Bond to play Flynn and he definitely brings elements of 007 to the pilot lothario, who manages to juggle no less than twenty-one ladies whilst simultaneously evading a homicidal gangster; however, this performance is harder and grittier. Moore celebrated his 50th birthday on the Wild Geese set – as a veteran himself, he helped teach some of the others the military look by instructing them how to salute and march. The men in this film are not Hollywood heroes, they are grizzled, battle-weary and inherently British; apparently the leads spent most of the time whilst filming inebriated, in order to cope with the African heat.

To a modern audience, the dialogue is sometimes shockingly politically incorrect in the way it deals with race and sexuality (women are also portrayed as one-dimensionally uninteresting). However, the relationship between Limbani and a racist South-African recruit is significant, developing from initial animosity to one of understanding and acceptance. The portrayal of a mercenary mission is far less romanticised than in most modern Hollywood action movies and focuses on the balance between the respective values of money and friendship; starry-eyed young men should be made to watch The Wild Geese before considering a 'glamorous' career as a special-op.

Words > Anna Dobbie