kreisbanaan
Given the actors, the era, and the previous reviews, I would have expected this to be even worse than the average Chuck Norris movie from the same period. I was pleasantly surprised to be entertained by a movie that's obviously a step above the average Chuck Norris movie from the era. Although it can't hold a candle to , for example, Predator or Platoon, from the same period, the acting is actually pretty decent, the script is definitely not too bad, and the characters come across as real human beings. For a bunch of B-actors, a low budget movie, and obviously a lack of some decent camera equipment, I think they've made the best with what they could do. two major minuses:
One: the music is kinda campy & cheesy and continuously detracts from the visible effort the actors put into to it. It might have been in vogue when Madonna made 'Vogue' but it's sooooo dated now. Think a drunk Vangelis on a Monday morning and you're halfway.Two: The movie obviously suffers from not having proper camera equipment and not being able to make 'expensive' shots. Nowadays you can make a better movie with a cheap 200 $ drone camera..but of course they didnt have that back then. Although they DID have helicopters in the movie, they just never bothered to use them for any good looking shots. Cinematography: 3 out of 10.But I think the acting is a LOT better then I had expected, and it's a shame this movie is relegated to obscurity because of it's flaws.
bkoganbing
A lot of the plot from the original Wild Geese movie is brought into Cod Name: Wild Geese. Like the original crew that Richard Burton put together they are
betrayed by those they are working for. Like that film accounts are settled in a
way Don Corleone would have approved.British action star Lewis Collins puts together the team this time and among
others the indispensable Lee Van Cleef is one of them. He's indispensible because he's piloting the helicopter taking the team in. Their mission is to
destroy a plant processing opium and Ernest Borgnine of the Drug Enforcement Agency is there, most unofficially. The plant they are destroying is in the heart of Southeast Asia ruled by a Fu Manchu type military dictator without Fu's style. A bit of the Bridge On The
River Kwai is thrown in as an opium train is destroyed also.Lots of action, but also lots of silliness. A priest who runs a mission hospital
helps some of the wounded Geese and gets crucified literally for his help. That was really laying it on a bit thick.Action fans should like it, but the film hasn't the flair of the original.
Comeuppance Reviews
"This is a corporation. Their business is war. For them, the jungle and the city are the same." You know, it's funny. You'd think a movie with a legendary cast filled with personal favorites (Borgnine, Van Cleef, Farmer and Kinski), produced by a legendary German producer (Erwin C. Dietrich), and helmed by legendary Italian director Antonio Margheriti, and filmed in very scenic locations, the results would be, well... legendary.Sadly, that is not the case. It's not that Codename: Wildgeese is bad, but it doesn't live up to the promise of its cast and crew.Kind of going along in the vein of The Dogs of War (1980), The Dirty Dozen (1967), the original Inglorious Bastards (1978), and the Eye of the Eagle series (the first one in 1986 and the other two both 1989), and, in true Italian exploitation fashion, basically fashioning an unrelated variant on The Wild Geese (1978) Codename is about a group of men, led by Wesley (Lewis Collins) who invade the "Golden Triangle" (the border of Burma, Laos and Thailand, apparently), to destroy the opium factories of a Burmese warlord. They are hired by DEA agent Fletcher (Borgnine) and his associate Charlton (Kinski) for the crazy, more-impossible-than-impossible mission that you'd have to be downright insane to even consider considering.It certainly seems dangerous, as the next hour or so consists of people shooting machine guns, guys in brown uniforms falling off guard towers, all manner of blow-ups, including many exploding huts, and Mimsy Farmer shows up as the token woman and also the token reporter that got trapped by the evildoers who put her in a cage. After a few more blow-ups and maybe a double-cross or two, the movie ends.The problem is, there is little-to-no character development. Even with a vast array of tools at your disposal to involve viewers in your movie, if you don't know who the characters are, or anything about them, the moviegoer begins to lose interest because you don't really care about their fate. So, I would say "Codename: Wildgeese" falls prey to "Lone Tiger syndrome", that is, just because you have a great cast doesn't mean your movie is going to be good. That being said, there are some cool aspects, such as a helicopter with a flamethrower attached to it, and some of Margheriti's classic miniature work, best exemplified in an early chase sequence when Collins' car is speeding through a tunnel, and then he cuts the wheel to the right and, shockingly, drives along the side wall of the tunnel! It's moments like this when Codename comes alive but they are few and far between.As an avid Italian horror movie fan, I'm much more familiar with Margheriti's Castle of Blood (1964), Cannibal Apocalypse (1980), which does have some action/war elements, The Long Hair of Death (1964), The Virgin of Nuremberg (1963), Seven Dead in the Cat's Eye (1973), Web of the Spider (1971), also with Kinski, and, while not technically a horror movie, the ultimate classic Yor: Hunter from the Future (1983) (a must see). Of his 80's action output that I have seen, it seems the finest is The Last Hunter (1980)...so see that if you want entertaining Margheriti action at its best.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
sangue
i don't know, this movie isn't that great, but it's quite entertaining in it's own dumb way, and boasts an excellent cast,( Lee Van Cleef, Klaus Kinski, Ernest Borgnine, Mimsy Farmer.) David Warbeck wannabe Lewis Collins stars as a tough commando sent to the golden triangle to wipe out an opium ring. he inlists the help of a war pilot (Van Cleef) and they venture into the jungle and blow lots of stuff up. the plot doesn't make much sense, and the direction isn't nearly as stylish as earlier Margheriti action flicks like The Last Hunter, but it does have lots of patented Margheriti explosions and some good action scenes, as well as the aforementioned cast. there's also a scene where freaky little Luciano Pigozzi gets crucified in his own church
