The outrageously ridiculous, instinctively reactionary Wild Geese take arthritic flight once again in this re-release of the 1978 action adventure from director Andrew McLaglen, featuring the by-then-rather-superannuated stars Richard Harris, Richard Burton and mid-Bond Roger Moore. All of these senior gentlemen are in military berets, some smoking rakish cigars – but looking as if they are wearing gentlemen’s support girdles under their camo to keep them upright, and giving the impression they would be happier taking a long lunch at Langan’s Brasserie in London’s West End.
There’s an outrageous “parachute training” sequence in which we are expected to believe that Roger Moore has jumped from a height, hit the ground and then got up. Never was a stunt double more obviously needed, with Rodge raising a wry eyebrow of complaint afterwards as the drill sergeant yells at him: “You are jumping from an aeroplane not a whorehouse window!”
