The Sea Wolves *** (1980, Gregory Peck, Roger Moore, David Niven, Trevor Howard) – Classic Movie Review 5490

Director Andrew V McLaglen and producer Euan Lloyd’s similar spirited 1980 follow-up to The Wild Geese (1978) stars Gregory Peck, Roger Moore, David Niven and Trevor Howard, the esteemed veterans with a then combined age of 251 years old. The Sea Wolves reunites much of the cast and crew of The Wild Geese.

The star quartet of much-liked old-time performers valiantly lead the true wartime story of an over-the-hill British cavalry unit’s attack on a German radio transmitter during World War Two. The transmitter is aboard a German ship safe in a harbour in neutral Portugal’s territory of Goa, so the British veterans must go there under cover to attack the ship.

Peck and Moore play Colonel Lewis Pugh and Captain Gavin Stewart, who convince their British chief to use the veterans from the Calcutta Light Horse, led by Niven’s retired Colonel W H Grice, to travel to Goa on the old ship Phoebe, pretending to be holiday-making drunken businessmen. They are all civilians, ex-soldiers, about 60 years old.

The best things about the movie are the larky, frolicking performances, McLaglen’s feisty direction and Reginald Rose’s vigorous, sometimes suspenseful, screenplay, based on the novel Boarding Party by James Leasor.

The real-life incident was Operation Creek, the Calcutta Light Horse’s covert attack on 9 March 1943 against a German merchant ship transmitting information to U-boats from Mormugão Harbour in Goa.

Also in the cast are Barbara Kellerman, Patrick Macnee, Patrick Allen, Bernard Archard, Faith Brook, Martin Benson, Kenneth Griffith, Wolf Kahler, Robert Hoffmann, Daniel van Husen, George Mikell, Júrgen Andersen, Martin Benson, Allan Cuthbertson, Edward Dentith, Clifford Earl, Rusi Gandhi, Percy Herbert, Patrick Holt, Donald Houston, Victor Langley, Terence Longden, Michael Medwin, William Morgan Sheppard, John Standing, Graham Stark, Keith Stevenson, Jack Watson, Moray Watson, Brook Williams, Marc Zuber, Scott Finch, Farid Currim, Mohan Agashe, Martin Grace and Stephen Peck.

It is also known as The Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse.

The Sea Wolves is directed by Andrew V McLaglen, runs 120 minutes, is made by Lorimar Productions, Richmond Light Horse Productions, and Varius Entertainment Trading, distributed by Rank Film Distributors (1980) (UK) and Paramount Pictures (1981) (US), is written by Reginald Rose, based on the novel Boarding Party by James Leasor, shot in widescreen by Tony Imi, produced by Euan Lloyd, scored by Roy Budd, and set designed by Syd Cain.

Moore also made North Sea Hijack [ffolkes] in 1980 with McLaglen.

Sir Roger Moore.

RIP the suave, greatly loved and admired Sir Roger Moore, who died on 23 May 2017, aged 89.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5490

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