Best merc movies?

I had an inkling to watch The Wild Geese again earlier today...watched about 1/2 of it before having to attend to other matters...one of Roger Moore's finest non-Bond moments as Shawn Finn. If you don't have the dvd or blu-ray, the whole movie is also on youtube, split into 15 minute and 9 minute parts.

Incidentally, it's amazing Moore was not condemned as Bond after The Wild Geese opened. It was filmed in South Africa during the apartheid era and when it opened in 1978, there were anti-apartheid protests. Heard Michael Caine rejected being cast because of the apartheid issue in South Africa.

Anyway, what else are good merc movie? Will look at The Dogs of War next, followed by The Dirty Dozen.

It's a shame that movies like Killer Elite underperform (it was actually quite good) when compared to slapdash bullshit like The Expendables...even though they had a common denominator (Jason Statham).

Mercenary?

Have you seen THE PROFESSIONALS from 1966?

Not familiar with that one, will put it on my list and ask around if anyone has it :D

Mercenaries (1968) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062863/

The Wild Geese (1978) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078492/

The Sea Wolves (1980) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081470/

North Sea Hijack (1979) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081809/

To name a few.

A forgotten one is THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE, overshadowed by the success of THE DIRTY DOZEN. Boasts a fun score from Alex North.



Although it's set 500 years ago in the Thirty Years' War, THE LAST VALLEY's worth a watch. Nice 70 mm widescreen cinematography, one of Michael Caine's rare attempts at an accent, and one of my favourite John Barry scores.





Available to watch in 10 parts on Youtube, though not in the best quality.

I thought this thread was supposed to be about mercenary movies.

The Devil's Brigade, The Dirty Dozen, The Sea Wolves and ffolkes (aka North Sea Hijack) were about mercenaries?

Granted, the Dozen were in it for pardons, but the Devil's Brigade were regular army (a mix of American and Canadian troops), The Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse was conducted by retired volunteers, and Rufus Exaclibur ffolkes' outfit was a professional antiterrorism unit (for hire, admittedly, but I didn't hear Moore say - as Richard Burton's Allen Faulkner did - that they'd work for just anybody).

Depends on your definition of mercenary, I suppose.

Anyway, back to the point:

There isn't a better film about mercenaries than The Wild Geese. There's the Dogs of War, as Mrs. A.S. mentions, and White Tux's The Professionals, plus the Magnificent Seven (and Kirosawa's original Seven Samurai - featuring that sword-wielding ninja from YOLT), but none better.

That said, worth checking out are Codename: Wildgeese (Lewic Collins), Dark of the Sun (Rod Taylor) and (stretching the definition again to include volunteers) Uncommon Valour (Gene Hackman).

The Wild Geese 2 (Scott Glenn) definitely doesn't make the cut, not even with Edward Fox as Allen Faulkner's brother Alex. What a sad waste of time that turned out to be (even Connery couldn't have saved it, if he'd agreed to take Burton's role).

Rambo, Braddock and the boys don't count - they were all one-man war machines - action franchise heroes, not soldiers of fortune with questionable morals and ethics. (This is all IMCO, of course.)

On a similar but almost unrelated note I'd like to ask who out there has seen that episode of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (an admittedly inferior series) wherein Caine is kidnapped and his son assembles a 'dragon's wing' to affect his rescue? Playing old soldiers recruited to the cause are Patrick Macnee as 'Steadman,' Ian Ogilvy as "Sterling' and Robert Vaughn as 'Riker' (what, no George Lazenby?). Not a great show, but a great one-time cast.

BTW, does anyone else think that the theme from The Last Valley sounds like 'Space Laser Battle'? Barry composed it, so I suppose he could adapt it for a Bond movie if he liked.

AMC Hornet wrote:

I thought this thread was supposed to be about mercenary movies.

The Devil's Brigade, The Dirty Dozen, The Sea Wolves and ffolkes (aka North Sea Hijack) were about mercenaries?

Fair enough, but THE LAST VALLEY still counts.

I'll take your word for it, Sharkster, as I found the first scene so grim I couldn't watch the rest.

As for filming the Wild Geese in South Africa during the apartheid era, if you listen to Sir Roger's wonderful commentary track he mentions that Winston Ntshona and John Kani were put up in the same luxury hotel as the rest of the cast. That was progress at the time, especially since the story they were filming was about the need to end apartheid and for black and white Africans to put past differences behind them and work towards ensuring a mutual future.

The Dogs of War lives on my vid shelf right next to TWG. Not only is that also a cool merc flick (with Christpoher Walken) but it's also one of Frederick Forsythe's typical step-by-step tutorials on how to go about something - in this case toppling a tinpot African dictator.

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/


Ronin (1998)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122690/


Flesh+Blood (1985)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089153/


and 2 with that old chap, Sir Sean:


The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073341/


Cuba (1979)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079013/

I considered mentioning Battle Beyond the Stars, but as it was a tongue-in-cheek attempt by Roger Corman to siphon off some Star Wars revenue I left it out.

True, The Man Who Would Be King starts out to be about two soldiers of fortune, but it becomes so much more epic than that once they reach Sikandergul. Still a favorite, though.

Wot I like are films of rescue and escape, involving a team whose members you come to care about (before they start getting picked off), which is why I included Uncommon Valour and left out Rambo and Braddock. I would like to include Where Eagles Dare, except - like the Devil's Brigade - the team were not mercs but soldiers.

As much as I love Predator and Die Hard 2, I'm afraid they don't quite fit the category either.

Well, maybe Predator...

Licence To Kill

;)

It's nailed right up front with THE WILD GEESE and THE PROFESSIONALS. Reginald Rose and Richard Brooks writing, that's a lot of it right there, and the casting is terrific too.

I kinda don't think you could make one anymore, because it would all be young-folked up and made by people who probably have never held anything more deadly than a paintball pistol, or seen real violence.

Kind of like the difference between writing for TOS & moderntrek.

The trailer for Richard Lester's Cuba with Sir Sean Connery

http://www.mirrorcreator.com/files/1KF7DP3J/Cuba.VOB_links

The trailer for Paul Verhoeven's Flesh + Blood

http://www.mirrorcreator.com/files/V5OQ5B1V/Flesh___Blood.VOB_links

Ronin should have been a 007 flic, with 007 in the de Niro part, with virtualy no rewrite but straight actioner as it is. It would have easily been one of the best ever.

Lethal Weapon

trevanian wrote:

I kinda don't think you could make one anymore, because it would all be young-folked up and made by people who probably have never held anything more deadly than a paintball pistol, or seen real violence.

Cue The Expendables.

Never had any interest in it, just based on Stallone being creatively involved.

Does anyone knows the name of the song that starts at 17 seconds here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=E792CwvJK5U#!

There are no songs credited in the movie's end credit.

Thanks.

Bad link, j7.

Fixed the link I believe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E792CwvJK5U

Thanks White Tuxedo.

I've got no idea. It's like that other song Tux posted a link to a while back. Generic 80s pop rock.

Sharky wrote:

I've got no idea. It's like that other song Tux posted a link to a while back. Generic 80s pop rock.

Which one was that?

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Sharky wrote:

I've got no idea. It's like that other song Tux posted a link to a while back. Generic 80s pop rock.

Which one was that?

Some old guy (I believe an alien in disguise) driving a red sports car.

Must be THE HIDDEN (old guy was a regular supporting player on ADAM-12.)