The Wild Geese (1978)

The Wild Geese is a 1978 British war action film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, and starring Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Krüger as a British mercenary unit in Sub-Saharan Africa. The screenplay by Reginald Rose was based on Daniel Carney's then-unpublished novel The Thin White Line. Carney's novel was subsequently published under the film's title to coincide with its release.

The film was the result of a long-held ambition of producer Euan Lloyd to make an all-star adventure film in the vein of The Guns of Navarone or Where Eagles Dare. The title is named after the Wild Goose flag and shoulder patch used by Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare's Five Commando, ANC, which in turn was inspired by the Flight of the Wild Geese. The novel and film was based upon rumours and speculation following the 1968 landing of a mysterious aeroplane in Rhodesia that was said to have been loaded with mercenaries and "an African president" believed to have been a dying Moïse Tshombe. Hoare was the film’s technical advisor, and real members of Five Commando appear in the film.

The film had a Royal premiere in London on July 6, 1978, and was released in the United Kingdom on September 17 by Rank Film Distributors. The Wild Geese received mixed reviews from critics, and was a commercial success. A sequel, Wild Geese II, was released in 1985.