Code Name: Wild Geese

This action-packed picture concerns upon a troop of commandos-for-hire(Lewis Collins, Manfred Lehmann)is assigned by a businessman as financial backers and the Drug Enforcement Administration DEA(in charge of a histrionic Ernest Borgnine) to obliterate Golden Triangle between Laos , Cambodia and Thailand. The commando is led by captain Wesley, a tough, two-fisted mercenary . He contacts an inmate, expert on helicopters(Lee Van Cleef in similar role to Snake-Kurt Russell in rescue in N.Y). The adventure starts when the veteran band of mercenaries land deep inside the jungle to destroy opium traffic and smuggling commanded by General Khan. Another mercenary( Klaus Kinski)as back-up , in case they run into problems. They help out the jungle's inhabitants along with a kidnapped reporter(Mimsy Farmer). The mission meets an unexpected turns and twists when they're betrayed. Meanwhile they find a Catholic priest(Alan Collins or Luciano Pigozzi ,the Italian Peter Lorre)ruling a mission in middle of jungle. The jungle countrymen are submitted to drug-lords and the Reds Jemeres .

This fast-paced film packs adventures, large-scale blow-up,routine plot, and lots of action for the most part. Cheesy scenes about a car races throughout a tunnel under construction with embarrassing scale models such the director previously made in his film ¨Car crash(1980)¨, but contains a better scenario on the bridge explosions and over the burning installations with helicopter scenes. Cinematography is quite nicely , capturing the atmosphere of everywhere, from Hong Kong's skyscrapers to a Thailand jungle pretty cool, furthermore some stirring images filmed with camera above the shoulder. Lousy musical score by means of synthesizer by Nemec and isn't composed by Ennio Morricone. The film is produced in middling budget by Erwin C Dietrich , habitual director and producer of soft-cores and Jesus Franco's usual financier.

The film was made in the wake of ¨Wild Geese¨(Andrew McLagen with Burton, Moore and Richard Harris) and Wild Geese II(Peter Hunt with Scott Glenn, Edward Fox, Barbara Carrera)which depended in their all star cast. And belongs a trilogy directed by Anthony M Dawson(Margheriti) formed by ¨Commando Leopard(1985)¨ and ¨Der Commander(1988)¨ repeating similar actors, Collins, Kinski, and Manfred Lemann, technicians and screenwriter, Tito Carpi.These jungle-setting exploitation films from the 80s will like to action lovers and euro-trash enthusiastic.

This was the first of a German-produced war trilogy by leading Italian "Euro-Cult" exponent Margheriti; I actually watched the follow-ups (COMMANDO LEOPARD [1985] and THE COMMANDER [1988]) prior to it but, as often happens, the original is still the best (if still not saying very much in this case). To begin with, it has the best cast: Lewis Collins (star of all three films), Lee Van Cleef and Klaus Kinski (who also turn up in the third and second entry respectively, the latter in a different role since he dies here), Ernest Borgnine, Mimsy Farmer and even that "Euro-Cult" stalwart noted for his resemblance to Peter Lorre i.e. Luciano Pigozzi aka Alan Collins, albeit uncredited (he did similar duties, again playing someone else, in one of the sequels). The title would seem to aspire towards a cut-rate version of THE WILD GEESE (1978), itself followed by an inferior (and entirely unrelated) second helping a year after this one; anyway, the war we are dealing with here is not strategic but moral – since the mission involves annihilating an opium compound deep into the jungles of the Far East (thankfully, we are spared the sight of slithering reptiles which is usually obligatory with this type of setting, and one of the sequels did in fact have such a scene). Collins is the tough leader of a crack squad who typically rubs his men the wrong way but eventually earns their respect; the aging Cleef is a helicopter pilot(!) who took the job in exchange for a prison sentence hanging over his head (besides, he can handle himself on a battlefield); Kinski and Borgnine are, ostensibly, the men who oversee the plan and put it in motion respectively…but the former, along with Collins' own superior, are revealed to have ulterior motives (incidentally, the hero's own son had lost his life to drugs); Farmer and Pigozzi, then, are people the team meets on the way – she is a journalist captured and rendered a junkie by the native militia later freed by Collins, and he a priest who also administers medicine to the wounded but winds up literally crucified for his beliefs. The film emerges to be undeniably proficient in the action sequences (especially the scene in which Kinski perishes via flame thrower in a large fuel depository – a set which would actually be re-used in its immediate follow-up!) but is otherwise fairly routine, indeed clichéd; mind you, it offers mild entertainment while it is on (particularly the verbal sparring between Kinski and Borgnine) but is in no way memorable and certainly far below the work Margheriti could turn out in his heyday (though he had always been somewhat erratic).

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.

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

Italian director Antonio Margheriti serves up another entertaining action flick. The film has a great international cast, great music, great action and some great model effects. Seek this one out and enjoy, if only someone would release a widescreen version in it's correct ratio of 2.35:1. Quentin Tarantino you did it for THE BEYOND now how about for this. I recommend the following titles if you liked this THE LAST HUNTER, TORNADO, COMMANDO LEOPARD, THE COMMANDER and COBRA MISSION.