I don't know what was wrong with composer Roy Budd. The Wild Geese was a dramatic war movie, but Budd produced a comedic score for most of the movie. It was very distracting, not to mention misleading.Stewart Granger orders Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, and Hardy Kruger to rescue a captured African king from a South African coupe, or something to that effect. In any case, the slightly older men aren't shown to be in their primes anymore, and when they gather additional troops, it doesn't really seem likely they'll succeed. This isn't comical; there's a sense of dread lurking overhead.The ending is terribly sad, but since it's a war movie, tragedy should be expected. The racial argument between Hardy Kruger and Winston Ntshona was very fascinating, and that portion of the plot elevated the movie from just a war movie to an interesting drama. I also found it amusing that Burton and Harris were supposed to be best friends, since Burton originated the King Arthur role in Broadway's Camelot, and Harris took over for the film version a few years later. All in all, it's a pretty good war movie, but it's not my absolute favorite. Give it a try and see what you think!

(68%) Before the days of the Expendables movies came this all-star action adventure featuring a cast on the more ripe end of the life line. This really is a red blooded slice of beef of a film meaning there's tons of action that doesn't shy away from the blood and guts of combat and there's a great feel of one of those old war comic books about it. Despite the really strong cast this is a film you watch more the action than the performances and the fact that it tells its simple plot so effectively. Without doubt this is one of the better men on a mission movies and well worth tracking down for all true action film fans.

1960-1970ies were probably the decades when great and heroic war films were made which are enjoyable today as well: all in color, with stunts and technology up-to-date, topics understood by younger generations as the activities take place in 20th century, i.e not so long ago. The Wild Geese has great actors like Burton, Harris and Moore, and there are several scenes found politically incorrect nowadays. The military hierarchy is present, but without redundant patriotism, and all soldiers know their own values and skills well.Landscape scenes are beautiful and genuine, as they were filmed on the spot in Africa, although followed by some criticism as South-Africa had apartheid regime then.Recommended to those fond of watching both the planning and fulfillment phase of a military operation. And there are not only bad guys / less known actors who get killed...

I saw The Wild Geese as I do like Richard Harris and Roger Moore and while he is not a favourite Richard Burton has also given some good performances. The Wild Geese does have an interesting cast, and while they do all give good enough performances, Harris in particular(Stewart Granger I personally found rather bland), all have been better and all have been in much better movies.A major problem was my difficulty in connecting with the characters, some of them are not well developed much and it doesn't help that the script doesn't do much to make them more engrossing.To me, the most interesting character was the one played by Hardy Kruger. The story also didn't grab me, the last third was pretty exciting but the first part takes too long to set up and some of the middle does drag.The script does have some good lines and interplay when the political overtones don't set in that is. The film is to put it kindly a dog's dinner of politics- the liberalism for example is very woolly- and rhetoric and it is even more disappointing that the politics are dated.I am not saying that the director is not talented, it's just that like the pace the direction feels rather stodgy particularly in the middle. The drama has some poignancy but there are too many times where it all feels rather dull, while the action is well assorted but generally uncompelling.Are there any redeeming qualities? Yes. The most obvious one is the cast, the three leads look as though they are enjoying themselves, Hardy Kruger does alright as the film's most interesting character and it was nice to see British stalwarts such as Jack Watson, Ronald Fraser and Kenneth Griffith participating. The Wild Geese looks good, with nice cinematography and scenery, and the score at least gives the film some excitement.All in all, not a terrible film but although I feel I need to re-watch it I am afraid I didn't find it particularly good either despite the cast. 5/10 Bethany Cox