The Wild Geese | | Cast : | Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, Hardy Krüger, Stewart Granger | | Director : | Andrew V. McLaglen | | Studio : | Goldhil Home Media I | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | November 11, 1978 | | DVD Released Date : | September 27, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | One of the Quintessential Guy Movies | Content
 | This 1978 film about a group of British mercenaries in Africa is still one of my favorites. It has a great (and admittedly aging)cast that includes Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore, and Hardy Krueger. At times it stretches credibility to believe that these guys still have it, but this is such an enjoyable adventure movie that you don't care. This may well be one of the quintessential guy movies of all time. Somehow it brings out the big boy in all of us. Who doesn't, somewhere deep down in their soul, long to take off, leave everything behind, and take off on a dangerous adventure with a bunch of really cool people as your traveling companions? Perhaps that's something that's been lost in the modern world, but you can recapture it in this movie. The opening song by Joan Armatrading is great, and Andrew V. McLaglen (Victor's son) does a competent job of directing. I can't wait for this to come out on DVD! |
| Rating | | | Date | March 27, 2005 | | Summary | Tremendous (though not perfect) film on a neglected subject | Content
| I have to give this movie 5 stars, simply because serious mercenary movies are so rare. I know you can rent the straight-to-video dreck, but it's all just cheap, cheezy junk. There's also Dark of the Sun (just so-so) and The Dogs of War (better, but to me, rather lacking in action). The Wild Geese isn't without faults, but it's still just great.
I remember reading critiques of The Wild Geese in Soldier of Fortune magazine when the movie first came out, supposedly by those who had actually "been there". Their criticisms were in some cases valid, and are echoed in some reviews here: gasoline explosions, stuntmen blown sky-high by grenades, etc. But stil. . .still. . it's a great adventure movie! I particularly like how some shots give you a birdseye view of the battlefield in the bush; you can actually see how the fighting is taking shape. This sort of eye to detail is very rare in filmed fighting.
NOTE: There are DVDs available on eBay that are Region 1. I think they may be Region 1 copies of the Region 2 release, but that's only a guess. So far I've refrained, because one, I don't want to support pirating of any kind, and two, I'm afraid the quality will be cruddy.
But in truth, I'm weakening. Reading the reviews here have reminded me of how great an action movie this is. Has anyone else got one of the eBay discs?
UPDATE: I succumbed! I bought a DVD off eBay. Will submit a further update when I receive and watch it. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 09, 2005 | | Summary | The Wild Geese | Content
| I have VHS tape and watch it frequently while serving in the Army.My Black friends did mention about white men killing lot of Black poeple , I didn't have time to explain to them that General Androfa soldiers kill more Black people in one day than all the S.Africa defense force kill in a year.I told them to hang around and watch Zulu and Zulu Dawn with me.I mean how about White men kill lot of Vietnamese , Chinese or Japanese if people got offense with all this films I will end up watching Donald Duck tape everyday. This film is anti war film at its best it show the suffering ,senselessness , the cruelity and depravities of war it didn't glorifield mercenary or war. However, for gun people this film have a lot of goodies to please , First the FAL rifle aka SLR were primarily use on both side and this film is about only one that show FAL being use in combat ,lot of submachine gun of the 70's like UZI, Czeh VZ24, Madsen. No one hip shooting in this film and those who did were killed pretty quick .It gave a brief few glimpse of British military ,the tactic ,and tradition, genuine British accent and sacrasm .This is fast pace ,never dull moment film and it is a breath of fresh air from Rambo, Platoon , Saving Pvt Ryan, and other Vietnam war flick . I will be waiting for DVD release because my VHS tape is pretty old . |
| Rating | | | Date | February 20, 2005 | | Summary | when do we get the DVD in North America???? | Content
| This is an excellent film, and I will be in line to buy it when it is released to DVD, which has been available in Region 2 encoding (Europe, Japan, South Africa and the Middle East including Egypt) since may 2004.
My question is when do we get our DVD, and who do I have to complain to? in order to get it.
|
| Rating | | | Date | January 15, 2005 | | Summary | Great movie, great song, great singer... | Content
| Joan (Love and Affection) Armatrading's stunning theme song was the perfect way to end a near-perfect movie. The divine songstress from St. Kitts was the perfect choice to deliver an emotive performance of a song that fully captures the heart of the movie.
The stellar cast could not be better, right down to every level of the superb supporting cast, and the entire story is chillingly believable.
I felt that the camp combat medic was a tip of the hat to the many courageous gay and lesbian service members who have served in silence in every war there has ever been. In 2000, the UK joined Australia and about 22 other countries in allowing openly gay and lesbian service members. Sadly, the US still only has the 'Don't ask don't tell' policy.
Great action sequences, sets and equipment, and any movie that has Richard Burton, Roger Moore and Richard Harris up front simply has to be worth watching, and The Wild Geese genuinely delivers on the promise presented by such a strong piece of casting.
The production and direction were also top notch, and the movie certainly holds your attention all the way through.
Faults? Only one I can think of... How did those 'Yahoos' make the final cut? |
|
