The wild geese are coming
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The wild geese are coming |
| Original title | The Wild Geese |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1978 |
| length | 134 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Andrew V. McLaglen |
| script | Reginald Rose |
| production |
Euan Lloyd , Erwin C. Dietrich |
| music | Roy Budd , Joan Armatrading |
| camera | Jack Hildyard |
| cut | John Glen |
| occupation | |
| |
The wild geese are coming (Original title: The Wild Geese ) is a British film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen from 1978 based on the novel The Thin White Line by Daniel Carney . The theme song Flight of the Wild Geese was written and sung by Joan Armatrading .
action
On behalf of the British banker Matherson, a force of fifty mercenaries is assembled to free the fallen and captured Prime Minister Limbani in the (fictional) African Zembala (with the official language Swahili , recognizable by the inscriptions in the military camp). It is hoped that this will enable the large deposits of copper to be exploited. Older Colonel Allen Faulkner leads the operation with the help of some battle-hardened old friends, including Shawn and Rafer, who has a young son. A few days of military training takes place before they are deployed.
The mercenary army jumped early at night from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules over the target area in Zembala. One part frees Limbani in a commando operation , the other part conquers a nearby airport, where the Lockheed is supposed to pick them up for the return flight after the action. During the liberation of Limbani, sleeping Zembali soldiers are killed by the mercenaries with poison gas . The planned departure fails because their client Matherson is no longer interested in the exemption, because he has signed a contract with the current government on the prospecting rights for the copper deposits, which also saves the success fee and therefore orders the plane sent back for the return journey.
Those left in the lurch now try to escape their persecutors on their own. They are being pursued by the Zembalese elite troop, the Simbas . On their flight to a safe neighboring country, they are attacked by an airplane and lose some men and some of their hijacked vehicles when a napalm bomb is dropped . They split up and struggled through the bush separately for a while. Finally, they find a field airport near a small village on which an old, but still airworthy Douglas DC-3 is parked. With the last of their strength, the remaining mercenaries manage to take off the plane with the injured Limbani; the majority of them have been killed before. Faulkner has to shoot his friend Rafer from the plane on the tarmac to save him from being tortured by the rushing Simbas.
During the flight to Rhodesia they almost ran out of fuel. At the last second they get a landing permit for Salisbury with the help of their prominent passenger, but Limbani dies of his injuries before landing on the plane.
At the end of the film, Faulkner enters Matherson's house in London and confronts him. Matherson's offer to spare him in exchange for a ransom payment, he accepts and shoots him after he has taken the money. Then he takes care of the son of his friend Rafer.
background
Of the star crew that producer Euan Lloyd had in mind, he only had to do without Burt Lancaster , who demanded major changes to the script. The engagement of director Andrew V. McLaglen, who was on the black list of United Artists , Lloyd's usual distribution partner in the USA, proved to be momentous. For the co-producer Erwin C. Dietrich, who was won over by his colleague Edi Stöckl, it meant entering into unknown territory. He had no influence on the shooting, but the German title Die Wildgänseommen comes from him . Mike Hoare acted as a technical advisor. His life was the model for Richard Burton's role.
Most of the recordings were made in South Africa from September 1977. The unexpected benevolence of the South African regime as well as the less transparent investment business of the South African donors aroused criticism. The film was partly controversial because of the apartheid policy in South Africa (location of extensive outdoor shots) and a ruthless approach by the film heroes (use of gas). The actor Hardy Krüger later distanced himself from his involvement due to the change in focus when editing the film, away from the actual political-social conflict and towards a representation dominated by action scenes - especially in the final phase.
The trailer from 1977 advertised with the statement: "50 steely mercenaries, they fly like birds, they fight like jackals - killing is their business."
Historical background
The Irish were called wild geese who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. Fought in European armies in the 18th century. Many young Irish had to leave the island after losing the fight against the Orange King and his Jacobites . The most successful wild goose was Peter Graf von Lacy . Colonel Mike Hoare , the film's military technical advisor, acted as a British officer as the godfather, because his mercenary troops in the Congo (5 Commando) were at least ideally based on the historical wild geese .
The content of the film is the liberation of a state president from political imprisonment. The direct reference can be made to the Congo , where both Patrice Lumumba and Moise Tschombé were kidnapped in the 1960s and died in the hands of their political opponents. One can assume that the film describes a fictional rescue operation to save Tshombe, and there was after his kidnapping and imprisonment in Algeria , at least rumored also endeavors to carry out just such a coup with paid mercenaries. A photo of Chombé can be seen in the opening credits of the film, and the hijacking of the plane with President Limbani on board shown in the flashback is a clear allusion to the fate of Chombé.
According to the film's special edition DVD (under Making of ), an old Douglas DC-3 Dakota is said to have landed in Rhodesia in 1968 . According to rumors, a black president and numerous dead and injured mercenaries were on board. Although it was in the African press the following day, the story was never confirmed.
Simba means lion in the Swahili language .
success
The film had great success at the international box office and developed into a crowd-puller with 3.69 million admissions. In Switzerland there were 263,013 admissions up to 1978 and 333,358 admissions up to 1980 with second evaluations and re-performances. Since the co-producer Dietrich had also secured the marketing on Super-8, video and on television, the wild geese became his greatest commercial success ever.
The film was also successful in the UK and other countries, but not in the important US business. After the distribution deal with United Artists fell through, Lloyd signed a contract with the distributor Allied Artists. Shortly after the film opened, Allied Artists went bankrupt, leaving The Wild Geese largely unknown in the United States.
Sequels
In 1985 a sequel was made under the title Wildgänse 2 ; Directed by Peter R. Hunt . Originally Richard Burton was supposed to play the leading role of Allen Faulkner again in the second part. However, Burton died shortly before filming began, so the role was temporarily replaced with Edward Fox . Even Roger Moore was offered to take up its role again, but he was "not particularly keen on it" and refused. Also starring were Scott Glenn , Barbara Carrera and Laurence Olivier as Rudolf Hess to see.
Nine years after the first part (1986) another sequel was filmed with The Return of the Wild Geese , which, however, has no connection with the first part. The film belongs to the series of mercenary films produced by Erwin C. Dietrich , the co-producer of the original ( secret code: Wild geese , Leopard command , Der Commander ).
Reviews
"The adventure film pays homage to a questionable cult of masculinity and gives away an important political topic in favor of superficial entertainment."
"[...] for friends of the genre. Rating: 1½ stars - moderate. "
“Andrew V. McLaglen is shooting a mercenary spectacle with star actors on dubious content. The story, which is all about action and violence, […] unrestrainedly pays homage to the ideal of masculinity of the brutal daredevil, who proves himself in the fight man against man, sets camaraderie above everything and knows no mercy from the enemy. McLaughlin does not even shy away from racial discrimination. "
" The Wild Geese Come is an adventure film with a military cut that hardly questions the morale of the mercenary command, on the other hand does not omit racist tones [...] The film, which looks like a funny old man's adventure and is staged with English understatement, can still be an exciting thriller, but one of his Opportunities remain to entertain with a guard of seasoned British actors. "
“ The wild geese come from Andrew VMc-Laglen is not a cute animal film from the Disney production, but a speculative mercenary spectacle [...]. The script […] is a bad mixture of current action and rude racism, even if pseudo-conciliatory sermons are used every now and then - which only takes the cynicism to extremes. In the series of bad McLaglen films ( The Last of the Tough Men, 1976) The Wild Geese is the lowest point so far. "
Awards
The film received the golden screen in 1980 .
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Allen Faulkner | Richard Burton | Horst Schön |
| Shawn Fynn | Roger Moore | Niels Clausnitzer |
| Rafer Janders | Richard Harris | Michael Chevalier |
| Pieter Coetzee | Hardy Kruger | Hardy Kruger |
| Sir Edward Matherson | Stewart Granger | Klaus Miedel |
| Arthur Witty | Kenneth Griffith | Klaus Kindler |
| Thomas Balfour | Barry Foster | Rolf Schult |
| Rushton | Patrick Allen | Wolfgang Pampel |
| Julius Limbani | Winston Ntshona | Christian Brückner |
| RSM Sandy Young | Jack Watson | Benno Hoffmann |
literature
- Daniel Carney : The wild geese are coming. Novel 12th edition. Heyne, Munich 1989, 252 pages, ISBN 3-453-00917-7
- Benedikt Eppenberger, Daniel Stapfer: Girls, Machos and Monets - The incredible story of the Swiss cinema entrepreneur Erwin C. Dietrich . Verlag Scharfe Stiefel, Zurich 2006, ISBN 3-033-00960-3 .
Web links
- The Wild Geese in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Wild Geese at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Theme song The Flight of the Wild Geese sung by Joan Armatrading on youtube.com
- Film review in Die Zeit from October 13, 1978
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alan Kolpon: 'Wild geese' fails to get off in Beaver County Times, November 21, 1978
- ↑ Torsten Thomas, Gerhard Wiechmann: Modern Landsknechte or Military Specialists? The "rebirth" of mercenaries in the 20th century in the Congo, 1960-1967 . In: Stig Förster, Christian Jansen, Günther Kronenbitter (eds.): Return of the Condottieri? War and military between state monopoly and privatization; From antiquity to the present . Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76754-7 , p. 282, footnote 61
- ^ Roger Moore : The Autobiography: My Name Is Bond ... James Bond IP Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-931624-62-0 , p. 266
- ↑ The wild geese are coming. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz : Lexicon "Films on TV" . Extended new edition. Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 931.
- ↑ German synchronous files