User Reviews

THE WILD GEESE is a legendary film for Britons of a certain age . Richard Burton and an overacting Richard Harris lead a bunch of mercenaries in to the African veldt killing lots of bad guys . It maybe doesn't have the high brow pretensions of something like ZULU but as a tough action adventure movie it makes you proud to be British . One can understand why film producers would want to do a sequel and certainly an audience would queue at a cinema to see noble clichéd good Africans being saved from cruel commie bad black Africans . The problem with this sequel is ...

1 ) It doesn't feature any characters or actors from the original film

2 ) It doesn't feature any battle scenes set in the African continent

3 )Even as a film in its own right it fails to stand on its own legs

The plot featuring a plan to abduct Rudolph Hess from Spandau Prison is ludicrous and despite the low brow nature of the original when it came to geo-politics at least there was an element of credibility to the proceedings even if it was to just set up the story . Here in the sequel the storyline tries to deceive the audience that it's thriller of great complexity involving twists and turns , double crosses and triple crosses involving nations states , double agents , criminal gangs and terrorist organizations . After a short while you'll be confused as to what it all means but the good news is that you'll have stopped caring at this point . And on the topic of geo-politics this is a British film which means the American anti-hero hates the IRA for some reason which is not something you could say about the average American in the early 1980s. In fact if it was an entirely American production the IRA would be the good guys

So in summary this is a film that cheats the audience in to thinking they're watching a film that's a sequel to a well regarded action adventure . It's not bad per se but it is rather uninvolving and most of the entertainment value comes from watching actors talk in very stupid accents

A very disappointing ending, I kept waiting for the reason WHY the people involved wished to "rescue" Hess! but this was never revealed, what a waste of good actors in my opinion. The ending was a bit rushed with no real conclusion. A pointless remake with the original far superior. OK acting with some good action but with no story as such. Nothing to really hold you except that you kept wondering why they wanted to "rescue" him and that by the end of the film you are still kept wondering. Actors were trying to make a story from the film but to no avail. Some good dialogue and reasonable tension makes it just about watchable.

I have long been interested in the then divided Germany and particularly the ravaged Eastern sector of Berlin which retained to a degree damaged the last war.

Wild Geese 2 is a film that isn't that easy to find and unlike the original film hasn't been subject of a free giveaway DVD with Sunday newspapers.

This is a fair story, about the plan to abduct Rudolf Hess from Spandau prison in Berlin, where he was held as a prisoner after the Nuremburg trials in 1946. Its a good pot-boiler premise of a thriller and was set to star Sir Richard Burton, unfortunately he died before filming commenced.

Edward Fox stepped into the role Burton would have taken and he does a great job in that part.

The Hammer films actress Ingrid Pitt makes a brief appearance in the film - she escaped from the East Berlin sector by swimming the River Spree in 1962 after the wall had gone up and was picked up by a patrol of American soldiers.

Ingrid Pitt did a few film appearances in Berlin, a situation she wasn't easy with having had to escape from the city in 1962, her filming was done before the wall came down in 1989

It was a shame that Ingrid Pitt didn't feature more in the film, when you look at Who dares wins from the same year (1982), she put in a good performance as Helga, a big wheel in the People's Lobby movement in that film.

Had Ingrid Pitt's character been used to exert influence over Barbra Carrera's character for instance, it might have given the film a more dynamic effect and put Ingrid Pitt higher up the credits too, she was sadly underused in this film.

Wild Geese 2 is much like Where Eagles dare in a general sense, it is laced with danger and double cross throughout and up to the end there is no certainty that the mission objective will be successful.

A good film overall, but I think more could have been made of some of the character's performances, especially Laurence Olivier, he only appears mainly towards the end, they could have wrought more out of his back story in the script I think.

Perhaps the screenplay was cut short, for instance, how Scot Glenn's character manages to become equipped for the job, how Edward Fox's character does too, more detail in the film would have been worthwhile.

Overall a watchable film.

The Wild Geese is one of the better action films out there with its combination of a top-notch leading cast, a good supporting cast, a good script and spectacular action sequences. Its sequel in name only, Wild Geese II lacks many of those elements. As a sequel to the original film it is a bit of a let down and otherwise its a typical action film.

The original film had the wonderful combination of Richard Burton, Roger Moore, and Richard Harris. Now Burton was set to return for this film before his untimely death. His replacement in this film is Edward Fox who plays his younger brother Alex. Fox is the real lifeblood of this film. He has a wonderful sense of humor in his character and he is believable as the brother to the Burton character. Fox, however, doesn't show up as much as his co-stars and that is a real shame.

Why is it a shame? Because while Scott Glenn and Barbara Carrera are good actors, they lack chemistry. Glenn is not a leading man and it takes considerable effort to watch him throughout the entire film when he spends whole scenes by himself. While Carrera starts off being an intelligent and self-sufficient character, she ends up turning into a full-out damsel in distress by the time the film is over with. While this can't be entirely blamed on her, Carrera does little to improve upon the material.

The supporting cast is mixed. Kenneth Haigh is rather convincing as Colonel Reed-Henry as is Robert Webber as TV network owner Robert McCann. John Terry lacks much acting chops as Michael Lukas. But the real star of the supporting cast is the cameo (for lack of better description) by Laurence Olivier as Rudolf Hess. Olivier appearance is brief, during the finale of the film, but his scenes with Fox, Glenn, and Carrera makes the two hour running length of the film seem worthwhile.

When compared to the script and action sequences of the original film, this film is definitely lacking. Despite having been written by the same screenwriter, the films plot lacks both the punch and realism of the original. One might find that because of the change in locations from Africa to Cold War Berlin but the film still lacks realism. Not to mention that thee is really a lack of action in this film. Whiel the first film was not exactly loaded with action either, at least it had a huge set-up for an even bigger pay off at the end. this film has a massive set up and virtually no pay off. There is no large rescue action set-piece. Instead we are given a very bad looking car wreck followed by an improbable escape from East to West.

So despite having an excellent Edward Fox and Laurence Olivier, Wild Geese II lacks in everything that the first film had. the film becomes a cardboard action / espionage film that lacks both intelligence and realism. It is a sequel in name only and if you love the original, you might want to stay away from this film. You are likely to be disappointed.

This movie is the saddest failure in film history. You have to know that legendary film producer Euan Lloyd accepted to make the film in despite of the fact that insurances refused to cover Richard Burton. It was an ultimate proof of courage and loyalty to a friend, sadly rewarded by a tragedy : Richard Burton died one day before shooting. Burton, before dying, was very enthusiastic about the filming of "Wild Geese II. Something he would have never been if it was to act in an illogical story where he's not the leader anymore (the final movie). Actress Ingrid Pitt is also very clear : it was supposed to be the new big production starring Richard Burton. So it's ridiculous to imagine that Burton would have played the role played by his substitute Edward Fox (who plays his brother in the film) : it's true in only a few scenes. Most of Richard Burton's dialogs are in fact delivered by Scott Glenn, who plays the leading mercenary in the final version. The sniper is definitively NOT a role invented for Burton to take in account the fact that he had difficulties to walk (he had a surgery on his spine at the beginning of 1984) : it was in the book ! But reliable sources effectively claim that Burton would have been the sniper. But if Burton plays the role of Edward Fox, he's not the leader anymore and the story is ridiculous (like in the shot movie). So : where is the truth ? In fact Burton would have been the sniper in the first part of the movie. If you re-watch the film, you can see Edward Fox limping like Burton would have done it because of his surgery : Faulkner meets the Lukas' at EBC in London, the second interview between Glenn and the Lukas was in fact the continuation of Faulkner's: Burton's Faulkner would have accepted the mission of course and then hired immediately Haddad in London to help him. They exchange in London the funny dialogs about Faulkner's leg that you hear in the final movie when they come back to Berlin, after that they fly together to Berlin. All this is not in the book and was found out to let Glenn handle the action scenes (with still Burton as the logical leader of the mission). So in the script, in Berlin, Glenn jogs around the Spandau Prison under Faulkner's protection (hidden as a sniper somewhere in a building). Faulkner reports to Kathy at the stadium, then again Scott Glenn-Haddad visits the barracks for a closer observation of Spandau. When he leaves, some people try to kidnap him. In the final film he's kidnapped, but here Faulkner (still the sniper) shoots to save him, Haddad manages to escape but Faulkner not (because of his leg) and is quickly found, taken, violently interrogated and left for dead on the highway. You understand also that if Faulkner doesn't meet Reed-Henry at the hospital, it complicates unnecessarily the story. Unnecessarily because Burton could have played these scenes without a problem (except his limping, he was at his peak) and it's the leader of the mission who has to talk to the key characters who could help to organize the escape. Faulkner would have then re-met Kathy and explained to her that he has to be forgotten a little after these assassination attempt that he survived and goes to Bavaria before he meets again with Haddad in Munich. From there, the 3 of them (Faulkner, Kathy, Haddad) go back to Berlin. Faulkner is for one last time the sniper in the Turkish alley : he asks Haddad to lead Stroebling's men to that place and the final shooting is in the movie. From that very moment : if you let Faulkner keeping on being the sniper, the colonel Faulkner isn't the leader anymore and lets Glenn handling the dialog scenes. A nonsense that you can experience in the final version : Glenn delivers very poorly his dialogs and makes the movie look like a slow TV-movie, Burton would have set all these scenes under high tension. Again : re-watch those scenes, all of them are decisive and superbly written for an actor like Burton. On the contrary, Glenn would have attacked alone the warehouse towards the end, while Burton would have taken the lead on the accident's site. In fact, from the moment they return to Berlin, Glenn would have played almost exactly (except in the Turkish alley and in Austria at the end)the role of Edward Fox (who just took Burton's clothes and nothing else). That second part of the movie would have been very close to the novel. Of course : many scenes would have been far more spectacular. The helicopters that you see on the poster drawn for the movie starring Burton are absent from the final film but would have appeared towards the end : before the attempt to free Hess, there was supposed to be a massive operation of the British army (a simulated reaction to a Russian invasion, a training, but at a large scale in the conditions of reality, where the army has to evacuate British families from Berlin and so on...). It was Reed-Henry's idea to help the mercenaries to take advantage of that confusion during their own rescue operation. All this disappeared. But you could find many other examples like that by reading the book. Carney's novel is a masterpiece wonderfully respected by Reginald Rose. I really hope that this review helped you to imagine the pure masterpiece Euan Lloyd was about to deliver along with Richard Burton, Reginald Rose and Roy Budd (his music for that film is one of the most powerful themes ever composed in cinema history).

A group of mercenaries is hired to rescue someone from a prison, and before that they are "trained" by a british sergeant major. Well, boh films share the same plot so i is more a copy than a sequel. But vorse.

I missed the action of the 1st movie, this one is a bit slow for me. The cast is nice, with edwad fox being th best thing in the film. And why is barbara carrera holding a gun in the poster if she is not one of the mercs ???

But the worst thing here is about sir laurence olivier. For his part hey could have cast any german or british eldery sparing the great actor of this role - small and weak. Shame...

WILD GEESE II is a stand-alone sequel to the Richard Burton film; none of the cast return and the story is quite different here with different characters in a different situation. This is a men-on-a-mission film in which some mercenaries are tasked with springing notorious Nazi Rudolph Hess from a Russian-run prison in West Berlin, a task which is every bit as tense and difficult as it sounds.

This is a largely criticised movie that suffers from having an overlong running time; around the middle part of the production the pacing really flags and half an hour could easily have been cut out to give it more pace and momentum. Saying that, the pacing problems are really the only problem the film has, as otherwise it's a solid thriller with interesting cast members and well-directed action from old-timer Peter Hunt.

The story and execution reminded me of RONIN a little, although the Frankenheimer film is by far the better of the two. Scott Glenn makes for a taciturn hero although Barbara Carrera is a weak spot as the female of the piece, reduced to a screaming damsel-in-distress by the end. The best role goes to Edward Fox, riffing on his old DAY OF THE JACKAL character. Laurence Olivier's cameo as Rudolph Hess is a memorable one even if he gets little screen time, while Derek Thompson is also fine as a slimy IRA man. The supporting actors are all effective too. Once the pacing picks up, WILD GEESE II remains entertaining through to the end, and the action is stark and realistic; I liked it.

The original Wild Geese was a cinematic classic. This was rather unfortunately named Wild Geese II - that was its first mistake. The original had an all star cast, part II had only a few. However, if you view this film without trying to make comparisons to the original, you end up with a thoroughly good romp through the very pretty city of Berlin. Scott Glen is excellent as the mercenary who has a price on his head, Edward Fox is also good though he has done better. The main plot is to get Hess out of Spandau prison. Everything appears to be going well. In a well executed plan all seems to go well until the end ..... watch and see !!!