I had a bug of some sort over the past weekend, flu-like symptoms and so forth, and kept somewhat low key. It’s still there, but seems to be finally clearing up.

Needless to say, I watched a lot of movies and, being me, imbibed large quantities of my favorite flu medicine, a prescription whose suffix is VSOP.

One of the DVDs I watched is one of my absolute favorite all-time action films (I hadn’t viewed it since it was released nearly 30 years ago, and had looked for it on and off for some time before finally discovering that Second Spin had about half a dozen copies — suddenly, right out of the blue, and I ordered it at once), The Wild Geese.

The Wild Geese is about mercenaries on a mission in Africa.

The acting was majorly enjoyable (Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore, Hardy Krüger and Stewart Granger), and the action was more realistic than that in most such films, as the technical director of the movie was one Colonel “Mad Mike” Hoare, a “been there, done that” real life merc who’s among the best known in his chosen field.

The above linked Answers dot com bio gives testimony to Hoare’s rather colorful professional background and references the books he’s written on same. Faulkner, Richard Burton’s character in The Wild Geese, was based on Mad Mike.

If you want to see a truly enjoyable action flick, one that’s going on three decades old yet hasn’t gotten nearly enough fanfare, this is it.

(On a note of interest, Richard Burton passed away early on during the filming of Wild Geese II, which, both without him and via the plot, etc, was, in my humble opinion, a “968 thumbs down” offering.)