If there's one thing I never understood about the "art" of European trash & exploitation film-making, it's the concept of dubbing actors that already speak English. Quite often I stumble upon obscure cult movies with great names in the cast, like Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski, and yet for some incomprehensible reason their lines and dialogs are dubbed by atrociously articulating voices. I don't get it. It's a privilege to work with these actors, as far as I'm concerned, so the absolute last thing you do is alter their voices, right? Here in "Code Name: Wild Gees", the legendary infamous Klaus Kinski talks with the posh and eloquent voice of a seemingly elderly homosexual. The voices of the other international stars Lee Van Cleef and Ernest Borgnine luckily aren't dubbed.
"Code Name: Wild Geese" is a typically early 80's European action movie from the hand of the versatile Italian director Antonio Margheriti. Basically this means it's a nonsensical but tremendously entertaining popcorn flick chock-full of explosions, testosterone-overloaded male characters, car & helicopter crashes and an ultra-thin storyline set somewhere in the jungle of a dubious problematic country. Margheriti shot three movies like this, together with the German producer Erwin C. Dietrich and largely the same casts. I have yet to see "The Commander", but "Commando Leopard" is equally good fun. Lewis Collins stars as the leader of a band of macho mercenaries known as the Wild Geese. They're kind of like The A-Team, except tougher of course and less inventive with artillery and vehicles. The team is hired by government man Ernest Borgnine to destroy an opium plantation in Burma. Commander Wesley takes the assignment rather personally, since his own since died from a drug overdose. Naturally, loads of infiltrations, double-crossing, collateral damage and violent shootouts ensue.
There are plentiful of ridiculously entertaining moments in "Code Name: Wild Geese"; most notably a laughably fake chase sequence in which the cars drive sideways in a tunnel! It's really a stupid sight, especially since the scene ends with homosexually voiced Kinski saying "Isn't that funny?". There are also some very good action sequences and miniature set designs, including a freight train explosion and a helicopter blast. Lee Van Cleef stars as a hired pilot who's initially reluctant to join the battle and Margheriti regular Luciano Pigozzi (the Italian Peter Lorre) plays a priest who provides shelter to the fugitive mercenaries. He also has the, hands down, coolest sequence when his character is found creepily crucified following a retaliation strike by the opium producers. The dialogs are horribly and actually quite redundant, but I guess they needed as much screen time as possible for Ernest Borgnine and Klaus Kinski. Their conversations are truly abominable.
"Code Name: Wild Geese" is a typically early 80's European action movie from the hand of the versatile Italian director Antonio Margheriti. Basically this means it's a nonsensical but tremendously entertaining popcorn flick chock-full of explosions, testosterone-overloaded male characters, car & helicopter crashes and an ultra-thin storyline set somewhere in the jungle of a dubious problematic country. Margheriti shot three movies like this, together with the German producer Erwin C. Dietrich and largely the same casts. I have yet to see "The Commander", but "Commando Leopard" is equally good fun. Lewis Collins stars as the leader of a band of macho mercenaries known as the Wild Geese. They're kind of like The A-Team, except tougher of course and less inventive with artillery and vehicles. The team is hired by government man Ernest Borgnine to destroy an opium plantation in Burma. Commander Wesley takes the assignment rather personally, since his own since died from a drug overdose. Naturally, loads of infiltrations, double-crossing, collateral damage and violent shootouts ensue.
There are plentiful of ridiculously entertaining moments in "Code Name: Wild Geese"; most notably a laughably fake chase sequence in which the cars drive sideways in a tunnel! It's really a stupid sight, especially since the scene ends with homosexually voiced Kinski saying "Isn't that funny?". There are also some very good action sequences and miniature set designs, including a freight train explosion and a helicopter blast. Lee Van Cleef stars as a hired pilot who's initially reluctant to join the battle and Margheriti regular Luciano Pigozzi (the Italian Peter Lorre) plays a priest who provides shelter to the fugitive mercenaries. He also has the, hands down, coolest sequence when his character is found creepily crucified following a retaliation strike by the opium producers. The dialogs are horribly and actually quite redundant, but I guess they needed as much screen time as possible for Ernest Borgnine and Klaus Kinski. Their conversations are truly abominable.