Movies - The Wild Geese

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	Movies - The Wild Geese

The Wild Geese is a 1978 film about a group of mercenaries in Africa. It stars Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Kruger. The film was the result of a long-held ambition of its producer Euan Lloyd to make an all-star adventure film similar to The Guns of Navarone
.

Plot

Allen Faulkner, a British mercenary, is hired by a group of industrialists to infiltrate an African country, Zembala, rescue an imprisoned rebel leader and mount a coup d'etat. He recruits 50 other mercenaries including a pilot, Shaun Fynn, Peter Coetze, and Rafer Janders, who plans the mission. The fictional country Zembala is said to lie on the border with Burundi; Rwanda and Uganda are also mentioned as being close by. They train in Swaziland which is where the plane takes off from.

The group successfully infiltrate Zembala, and rescue the imprisoned politician Julius Limbani. However, the bankers backing the project, lead by Sir Edward Matheson, reach an agreement with the Zembalese government, and betray the mercenaries. The aeroplane due to collect them is recalled and the soldiers are left in hostile territory. The group then fight their way across the country pursued by the Zembalese army. Peter is killed while trying to save Limbani. An Irish missionary alerts them to the presence of an ageing transport plane, a DC3 'Dakota', which the mercenaries commandeer. As the Zembalese armed forces arrive, many of the mercenaries are killed, including Rafer, who, wounded and not able to reach the plane, implores Allen to shoot him, before the aircraft eventually takes off and heads for neutral Rhodesia.

Faulkner then returns to London to exact revenge on Sir Edward Matheson.

Production

The film was based on an unpublished novel titled The Thin White Line by Rhodesian author Daniel Carney. Producer Euan Lloyd contacted American screenwriter Reginald Rose to write a script based on the unpublished manuscript. Rose made several significant changes, including eliminating a romantic sub-plot, and removing the character of Jeremy Chandos (his character is blended into Shaun Fynn's). The sub-plot where Rafer was hunted by the Mafia is also given to Fynn. While in the film Faulkner survived, in the novel he and Sandy Young the RSM were killed by the Simbas, and leaving only Chandos (he's the one who shot Janders in the novel)and Fynn as the surviving officers. In the film, Limbani died of his wound after he and the remaining mercenaries managed to fly, while in the novel he lived untl the plane landed in Rodhesia (though whether or not he lived much longer was left unknown, due to his heart condition). The homosexuality of Witty, the mercenaries' mediacal orderly, was also erased in the film. The film was re-named The Wild Geese and Carney's novel was subsequently published under that title.

United Artists were enthusiastic about the film, but insisted Lloyd give the director's job to Michael Winner. Lloyd refused and instead chose Andrew V. McLaglen, an American who had previously been known mainly for making westerns. The finance for the film was raised partly by pre-selling it to distributors based on the script and the names of the stars who were set to appear. This would later become a more common practice in the film industry, but was unusual at the time.

Casting

Although Lloyd had both Richard Burton and Roger Moore in mind for their respective roles from a relatively early stage, other casting decisions were more difficult. Irish actor Stephen Boyd, a close friend of Lloyd's, was originally set to star as Sandy Young, the Sergeant Major who trains the mercenaries before their mission. However, Boyd died shortly before filming commenced and Jack Watson was chosen as a late replacement. He had previously played a similar role in McLaglen's film The Devil's Brigade
(1968).

Lloyd had offered the part of the banker Matheson to his friend Joseph Cotten. However, scheduling difficulties meant that he also had to be replaced, this time by Stewart Granger. This was Granger's first film part since 1967.

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Movies - The Wild Geese

Plot

Production

Casting

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