MovieChat Forums > The Wild Geese (1978) Discussion > The first time you saw The Wild Geese...

The first time you saw The Wild Geese...

posted 18 years ago by crawfrordboon
67 replies | jump to latest

Here's the thread for people to tell their own stories of the first time they saw this great film, what you thought, how your opinion changed over the years, when you got the video/DVD, any funny stories about seeing it etc....

For my part, it was about 1999 on a Sunday evening, I was sitting in our family study flicking through the channels on a battered old mid-80s TV set, when I saw some kind of war movie. A load of men wearing green outfits in trucks were tearing through some arid-looking countryside; pretty soon they get attacked on a bridge by a plane. This looks a bit old fashioned, I think, but it looks riveting!

For the next 50 minutes or so I was hooked. Isn't that Roger '007' Moore making a few one-liners here and there? And surely that's Richard Burton, what's he doing looking so out-of-shape in a film like this - and a film with both those guys in, WOW it must be a winner!

I still remember the tragic plane scene, and being shocked when Burton has to shoot one of the others, who he apparently knows (remember I hadn't seen the start of the film where it sets up their friendship or Emile) - at the time I was too young and inexperienced to recognise Richard Harris. The final confrontation scene remained in my memory also.....

(FADE OUT)

Fade back in about four years later, having discovered the joys of being 18 and being able to buy things online not available in shops. I'd found the IMDb entrily by chance, looking for information on the Lee Marvin potboiler 'The Klansman', and decided to see if I'd been dreaming all those years ago - was there really a film with Burton and Moore set in some kind of war? After scrolling through Roger's career profile, I came across The Wild Geese. A funny title, I thought, but it looked very similar to the film I'd seen previously.

I took a chance and ordered a copy on video from an internet site. The first hour went by with not a great deal reminding me of what I'd seen, except the visual style and the presence of Burton and Moore. But then the action kicked in and I was right back in that place, absolutely chuffed and amazed by how good the film was. Since then I have watched the film so often, particularly the Roger Moore - drug dealer scene and the main titles, that the tape got worn out, so I invested in a DVD, which although lacking essential like subtitles and theatrical trailer, has only strenghtened my love of this great film.

Your own stories and memories please....

"He's a bit of a rough diamond but his heart's in the right place."

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[–] moviebuff74 16 years ago

Saw first when it hit the VHS rental amrket back in the early 1980's - watched it to death

Now have it on DVD, watch it to death- the commentary is great too

[–] T-Wicks 18 years ago

"began to irked me as being "Hollywood," as did the "Simba" actors bouncing off a trampoline whenever a grenade was thrown at them"

The special effects are my only beef with the film.....well, that and the god-awful soundtrack....

The Wild Geese shouldve been my favorite movie when I was 10. Unfortunately I didnt get a chance to see it until yesterday. I am now 18.

As a kid I had a near fetish for special forces and commandos, Brits in berets being my favorite. I watched all the black and white World War II movies mentioned above, read books, amassed a fairly impressive toy soldier collection....I was a military history buff in general, but like I said above, I was a sucker for British special forces, especially those in WWII North Africa and from the later half of the 20th Century (Malay (wasnt that the name for present day Malaysia?,) Faulklands(sp?,) SAS anti-terrorist.....)

(At this point I wish to apologize for my comma usage. I know that the above paragraph is horrific.)

As the years passed my enthusiam for military history has slighty waned. I now devour movies and music the way I used to eat up Ospreys (military heads know what Im talking about.) However my interest in movies is quite serious, not simply keeping up with the new releases. One day I came accross The Dogs of War on TV. I'm still not sure whether or not I had seen it before, or if it only felt so familiar as it was tailored to my past passion. Regardless, the subject matter and Christopher Walken made it a must-see for me and lead me to seek out any other mercenary movies which may have been made at that time. The Wild Geese was the clear companion film. Unfortunately my video store didnt have it, and I wound up purchasing tapes of The Wild Geese II and Codename Wild Geese (a nearly unwatchable rip-off) before I came accross a DVD of the real thing yesterday afternoon. I have rambled on enough, but I loved the movies, even if I was 8 years late...

What I typed above ought to be incredibly dull. Yet I was compelled to read all of your stories and possibly mine will be of interest too.

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[–] OC47150 18 years ago

The first time I saw TWG was in the early 80s when NBC showed it as the Sunday night movie. (I hope I'm not showing my age there!) I want to say it was before 1983, when the family got its first VCR. I would've taped it then.

The second time was on the local independent channel (now the Fox affiliate) a couple of years later. I taped it but unfortunately taped over the first hour. After the mistake, it started up with the parachute drop. Still a good place to start!

Never have seen it on TV again. Hadn't seen it in close to 20 years, until I bought the DVD last fall.

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[–] earnshawtony 18 years ago

I saw The Wild Geese on British TV in 1982. It was promoted heavily on the cover of that week's TV Times magazine and carried a feature inside about Roger Moore and his fear of guns. It looked like exactly the kind of war movie I'd been watching since I was a kid, so I resolved to tape it. I wasn't disappointed.

The Wild Geese was only four years old when I saw it, and Burton and Co were still relatively young enough to be believable in terms of the characters that they played. As a 16-year-old I totally bought into the mercenary bit - loyalty, bravery, do anything for hard cash - and I thought the action sequences were outstanding.

So much of it made sense to me, but particularly the character interplay between Burton and Harris, and the relationship between the tough old Boer and the liberal black president. It was so easy at that time to be a casual racist and the message that was being put out through the movie was something I embraced.

I was devastated by the final sequence - the run to the plane, the men being cut down by the Simbas, Sandy's death ("Allennn!") and Faulkner's killing of his best friend. I was astonished and appalled in equal measure. It led to me seeking out as many of Burton's old films as my local video store had in stock and, over the course of a holiday from school, I must have watched the lot. I also read anything I could lay my hands on on Burton. The Wild Geese turned me on to so many things: Burton, classic films, theatre, you name it. And I still consider Burton to be among the best there has ever been.

I never tire of watching TWG. I can quote reams of it from memory (mainly when I've had a few beers to annoy my mates) and I would absolutely, positively love to write a book about the making of the film. Since 2002 I've interviewed most of the surviving cast and crew. If anyone wants to pick up a book on the film, I'm your man.

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[–] dave_show 18 years ago

I was watching a programme about roger moore and there was a scene with him shooting an uzi with a cigar in his mouth it looked good so i asked my dad what movie that was and he said the wild geese. It came on carlton cinema a few days later and i was hooked ever since!!

Doyle:Come on in darling the doors open

Bodie:Anything you say sweetheart:)

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[–] ivankafka 15 years ago

I saw The Wild Geese on British TV in 1982.

Same here earnshawtony. Been hooked on the film ever since, I was 11/12 at the time, and is still my (joint) favourite film today. Watched it about 35 times over 26 years!

PS. I'm one of those that thinks the music was excellent, both the main score by Joan Armatrading and the incidental stuff.

[–] Prannock 8 years ago

T-Wicks, 10 years on, I hope you have grown up just a little. I have nothing against your commas, but your fan-boy war-love is a bit dodgy, Mind you, I love a good war film, but this one is pretty naff. Usual format: boot camp, establish the identities of the guys who are going to get shot later in the movie... but with a disturbingly-angled view on mercenaries, where we are supposed to feel sad when someone who gets paid to kill just anyone and is above the law bites the bullet.

Be seeing you

Pran

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[–] vogeleyfamily 18 years ago

Saw it at the commercial airport at Rhein-Main when it first came out. It was showing in English. I had dropped someone off at the airport (I was in the U.S. Army) and saw the movie advertised at the airport theater so I went it to see it. I was transfixed by it. I got the VHS when it came out. Even my wife enjoyed it but said the ending was too sad for her.

[–] gkmgeo 18 years ago

Great thread here! I was all of 9 years old with my 2 older brothers in NY when we snuck into the theater because as the door was open we all saw the Concorde coming in to land & so into that theater we went & I remember being SHOCKED at the death of Witty by machete & the soldiers pirouetting thru the air with each grenade blast!!
EXCELLENT film for such a young impressionable mind!!!!!
I believe even today the job of Movie Theater usher is not 1 that enforces little kids from sneaking into Rated R films ;)

[–] Stein-e 18 years ago

I saw it earlier this year the first time I saw it I tough wath a load of crap but when I watched it again two or three months later I loved it 8/10

[–] walrus75 18 years ago

The first time I saw it was when I was very young, maybe 7 or 8 years old. I probably didn't understand it too much but it had a big impact on me. I remember my friends and I playing the next day in the scholl playground. Teesville Infants school was transformed to the plains of Africa. I vividly remember girls pretending to be nurses and tended the wounded.
I saw it properly when I was about 12, i loved it. I must have have watched it over and over for weeks.
It's an absolute classic. I've heard rumours of a remake, I hope not.
What did people think of Wild Geese 2?

[–] whatswiththeduck 18 years ago

Wild Geese 2? In short: I wish it had been called something else, because it wasn't worth the title.

[–] whatswiththeduck 18 years ago

The first I saw "The Wild Geese", it was with my dad on network TV. It was all cut up and he was trying to explain where and what had been cut and how great it was when it wasn't cut. It was very confusing and all I kept thinking was: "Why is James Bond acting like such scumbag?" Thankfully, this was back when HBO didn't run "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" every hour on the hour and it played one night at two in the morning. We stayed up to watch it and it remains one of the best action/war films I've ever seen. Amazing film and I hope to god they never remake it.

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[–] blur81 18 years ago

The first time I saw the Wild Geese was probably some time in the early nineties. I was at my aunt and uncle's house and my older cousin had rented this movie and it always stuck out in my mind, Roger Moore, the Mafia ambush, the rescue etc. I had forgotten about the movie until years later maybe 1997 or 98 when I was watching tv and saw that The Wild Geese was going to be the late movie one night.Excited I taped the the movie but because of the damn commercials, the movie was cut off and at a critical point, right when Witty is about to open fire on the Simbas before his death. Pissed to the extreme, I spent a good 3 years searching for a VHS copy, spent a good deal of money and finally got the dvd and regret not taking it with me from New York to South Korea which is where I live and work now. Its great to see such love for this film which prior to its DVD release, was extremely difficult to find, therefore it was unknown to many people. Keep up the posts cheers Eric

[–] danicky 16 years ago

The first time was in 1979 on 16mm film. We were in Blackpool for a film convention and the hotel we were staying in screened it the evening prior to the convention.
I bought a 50 minute 8mm version the next day, cleverly edited to include all the action and enough plot for it to make sense.

Now have it on dvd also, watch it via digital projection.
BTW, for 20 years, I lived in the village where Richard Burton was born.

[–] m-t1 18 years ago

Looking back, watching these types of films was probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of my childhood. I think I first saw The Wild Geese when I was about 5 or 6. This would have been in the very early '80s. 'Gold', "Where Eagles Dare', 'North Sea Hijack', "Cassandra Crosing", 'The 39 Steps' etc - were the best fun to watch.

I think they gave me the wrong impression about life though, I thought action and adventure would be around every corner.

Every now and again they are fun to re-watch, for nostalgia mainly. I just wish that a few new films would come out in the same mould - "boy's own" action adventure without any CGI etc.

I want to stick-up for Budd's soundtrack too. I think it's great - in fact I bought it on CD. (yes, I am that sad.)

And I've just bought an XJ-S,I'm a bit worried that I might have been a bit too influenced by Roger Moore's character in this film. I haven't put a black vinyl-roof on mine yet though, yuck - Roger what were you thinking of!!!!!!

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