The Wild Geese

The Wild Geese is a British adventure film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen about a group of mercenaries in Africa. It stars Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Krger. The film was the result of a longheld ambition of its producer Euan Lloyd to make an allstar adventure film similar to The Guns of Navarone or Where Eagles Dare. The same producer and director were later responsible for The Sea Wolves, a more sophisticated film Roger Moore appeared in that, too and Roy Budd, again, wrote the music.

Allen Faulkner Richard Burton, a British mercenary and former army colonel, arrives in London to meet the rich and ruthless merchant banker Sir Edward Matheson Stewart Granger. The latter proposes a risky operation to rescue Julius Limbani Winston Ntshona, the imprisoned leader of a Southern African nation who is due to be executed by General Ndofa, the man who deposed him. Limbani is currently being held in a remote prison in Zembala, guarded by a unit of Ndofas personal troops known as the Simbas.Faulkner accepts the assignment and begins recruiting fifty other mercenaries for the job, including officers he had worked with on previous operations Rafer Janders Richard Harris, a skilled military tactician whos made a living as an art dealer, and Shawn Fynn Roger Moore, an expilot who had been working as a currency smuggler for the London mafia. Shawn also brings in penniless Afrikaner Pieter Coetzee Hardy Krger, a former soldier in the South African Defence Force who wishes to return to his homeland and buy a farm. Hired soldiers include sergeants Tosh Donaldson Ian Yule, Jock McTaggart Ronald Fraser, Jesse Blake John Kani, Derek Frice Joe Cole, and a homosexual medic named Arthur Witty Kenneth Griffith. Additional members in the group are Esposito, Glyn Baker, Samuels Brook Williams, Keith Percy Herbert, Alexander Ken Gampu, Newman, George Lane Cooper, Finchley, Ryno Hattingh, Gennaro Graham Clarke, and many others. With the tacit approval of the United Kingdoms government, the hired soldiers are transported to Swaziland to be equipped and physically trained. Before the operation begins, Janders exacts a promise from Faulkner to watch over his only son Emile should he fail to return from Africa. Their celebration of Christmas Day is postponed to the 26th, after their scheduled return, instead of the 25th. ........

Source: Wikipedia