When the benevolent President of an ambiguous African nation is kidnapped, a British financier puts together a team of ageing, mostly white and British, mercenaries to free him – on the reasoning that restoring President Limbani would offer him favourable terms on the country’s valuable copper deposits. From this admittedly morally thorny premise comes a straightforwardly old-fashioned adventure picture of the type that proliferated in the 60s, 70s and 80s, films like The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, or North Sea Hijack, with moderate budgets, large-scale assault finales, and one or more gentlemanly British stars such as Roger Moore, Richard Burton, David Niven, Sean Connery or Michael Caine. In this particular case we’re offered the first two of those stars, along with Richard Harris – the three Rs. Burton and Harris, both hardened drunks by this point, were actually dry during the making of the film – Roger Moore, less so – and each seem to have found something they recognised in themselves in their tough old bastard characters, for both give performances much classier than the rather basic script calls for. This makes what is otherwise standard, if well-executed, action fare more worth a revisit than might otherwise have been the case.
There are three commentaries available on the first disc, along with a trailer, with the other features appearing on the Blu-Ray second disc. The first commentary features film historian Mike Leeder and filmmaker Arne Venema; the two are billed simply as action movie enthusiasts, and enthusiastic they certainly are. The experience is akin to listening to a podcast, or, if you prefer, to watching the film with a friend – or two – who is perhaps rather too big a fan of it. For the film’s two hour-plus runtime they tell various yarns about the making of the film as well as from their own lives. For the next commentary, the film’s assembly editor John Grover is brought out to be interviewed by academic/historian Calum Waddell. This commentary quickly becomes excruciating, illustrating a problem with the demand for special features like these on films as old as this. Grover is 87 and has no particular reason to recall The Wild Geese in any detail; it was just one of many jobs he took, nearly fifty years ago, and so we end up, more often than not, with Waddell telling Grover about the film and not vice versa. The best commentary of the three is an archival one, featuring Roger Moore, producer Euan Lloyd, and second unit director (and frequent Moore collaborator) John Glen, moderated by Jonathan Sothcott.
Moving over to the Blu-Ray disc, there are interviews with those key personnel that are still both alive and available: “Jesse, Take Point!” with actor John Kani; “Wild Child” with actor Paul Spurrer; “Wild Goose Chase” with 2nd unit director John Glen; “Flight of Fancy” with sound editor Colin Miller. Filmed in 2012 are a pair of interviews: the unimaginatively-titled “The Wild Geese Director” with Andrew V. McLaglen; and the most interesting of these, “The Mercenary”, with the film’s military advisor – also described as the world’s most famous mercenary – Mike Hoare, then 92, who answers his questions remotely. From 2004 is a longer – 37m – documentary, “The Last of the Gentleman Producers”, covering the whole career of Euan Lloyd, including interviews with key collaborators and the man himself. Also included are a featurette, “Stars’ War: The Flight of The Wild Geese”, along with newsreel footage of the film’s premiere, and of course a trailer.
Overall, the film’s African landscapes and some impressive photography – witness dozens paratroopers tumbling out of the back of a plane by early dawn light – benefit more than might be expected from the 4K treatment, and a solid set of extras make this worth investing in for action/adventure fans, but it never transcends its genre trappings – not that there’s anything wrong with that.