''Wild Geese II'' is a 1985 British action-

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Peter Hunt Peter Hunt may refer to: *Peter Hunt (British Army officer) (1916–1988), Chief of the General Staff of the British Army *Peter H. Hunt (1938–2020), American film, television and stage director *Peter R. Hunt (1925–2002), film editor on many e ...

, based on the 1982 novel ''

The Square Circle ''The Square Circle'' is a 1982 novel by Daniel Carney. It was adapted as the 1985 film ''Wild Geese II''. After the success of his novel, ''The Wild Geese (1977 novel), The Wild Geese'' (1977) (originally titled ''The Thin White Line''), Carney w ...

'' by

Daniel Carney Daniel Carney (1944–1987) was a Rhodesian novelist. Three of his novels have been made into films. He was a brother of Erin Pizzey, also a writer. Biography Daniel Carney was born in Beirut in 1944, a son of a British diplomat. In 1963, he sett ...

, in which a group of mercenaries are hired to spring

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

from

Spandau Prison Spandau Prison was located in the borough of Spandau in West Berlin. It was originally a military prison, built in 1876, but became a proto-concentration camp under the Nazis. After the war, it held seven top Nazi leaders convicted in the Nurem ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. The film is a sequel to the 1978 film ''

The Wild Geese ''The Wild Geese'' is a 1978 war film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, and Hardy Krüger. The screenplay concerns a group of mercenaries in Africa. It was the result of a long-held ambit ...

'', which was also produced by Euan Lloyd and adapted from a novel by Carney. Richard Burton, who starred in the first film as Colonel Allen Faulkner, was planning to reprise his role, but died days before filming began, Faulkner is replaced by his brother played by Edward Fox as one of the mercenaries. No characters from the original are featured in the sequel.

Plot

;Africa, 1977 Veteran mercenary Allen Faulkner trains and then leads a group of 50 hired soldiers in an attempt to rescue deposed President Julius Limbani. After initially being successful the mission begins to fall apart; double-crossed and caught in the open, Faulkner's men are strafed and napalmed by an enemy plane. With what few men remain Faulkner looks to escape the country in an old Dakota aeroplane. With only his best friend Rafer Janders left to board the plane, Janders is shot in the leg and can't catch the taxiing plane. As the hordes of ferocious Simbas are virtually upon him, Janders calls for Faulkner to kill him, which he regretfully does. ;London, 1982 As the only surviving

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

leader in captivity,

has secrets that could destroy the careers of prominent political figures, secrets an international news network will pay any price to get. As Alex Faulkner arrives for a meeting, Robert McCann is arguing with Michael Lukas about the delay of a planned rescue of Rudolf Hess. Faulkner is escorted into the office; there he meets network executives Michael and Kathy Lukas, who ask him to free Hess - a request which he refuses. He does recommend John Haddad as a substitute. As this is happening, former Lebanese American soldier turned mercenary Haddad avoids Palestinian hitmen in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Later Kathy and Michael hire Haddad to free Hess and get him safely out of

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

. When Haddad arrives in West Berlin he stakes out the outside of

as a jogger while being spied on. He drafts plans of the outside of the prison including guard towers and entrances. The next day Haddad joins a construction team and sneaks away to get into the prison guard entrance. Carefully eluding the guards by studying their timed patrols he drafts floor plans of the hallways and cell blocks. When he leaves the prison with the construction crew, Haddad is abducted by Karl Stroebling who is a Nazi but works for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Stroebling and his thugs smother Haddad with a plastic bag over his head to torture him into disclosing details about his mission. Haddad escapes by overpowering the thugs and rolls across the street, barely missing being run over by an oncoming truck as the police arrive and witness the incident. While recovering in hospital, Haddad is visited by British Colonel Reed-Henry. Reed-Henry questions Haddad but to no avail; he leaves Haddad but suspects he is there to rescue Hess. Haddad leaves the hospital and, with Kathy, goes to Bavaria to plan the mission without interference from Stroebling. Haddad enlists his old mercenary comrade Faulkner to watch his back. Faulkner, a former British Army officer, is working as an assassin and is an expert marksman. As romance between Haddad and Kathy blossoms, the trio returns to West Berlin to find that Reed-Henry will help Haddad release Hess. Reed-Henry claims that the British secretly want to get rid of Hess because the old man's presence is a reason for the Soviets to have military in the British sector. Once again, Stroebling's thug's attempt to kill Haddad, but this time Faulkner helps him kill all but one of them. Meeting with Reed-Henry to discuss his plan, Haddad agrees to hand over Hess to the colonel in exchange for help from Regimental Sergeant Major James Murphy. Murphy, an ex-warden at Spandau prison, informs Haddad of the prison routine and helps make the mercenaries look like British Royal Military Police. Stroebling offers to remove a contract on Haddad's life in exchange for Hess and the death of Faulkner. Haddad refuses and Stroebling leaves, frustrated. The plan is finalised, with the news network, Reed-Henry and Stroebling each believing they will receive Hess. Part of the plan involves a staged traffic accident, so Haddad employs fairground

wall of death The wall of death, motordrome, velodrome or well of death is a carnival sideshow featuring a silo- or barrel-shaped wooden cylinder, typically ranging from in diameter and made of wooden planks, inside which motorcyclists, or the drivers of mi ...

rider Pierre to perform the deliberate crash. Attempting to force Haddad into a vulnerable position using blackmail, Stroebling kidnaps Kathy. In exchange for guaranteeing her safety, Haddad must have a member of Stroebling's gang Patrick Hourigan join the rescue group. Haddad and Faulkner are now joined by Kathy's brother and Lebanese mercenaries Joseph and Jamil. The group, including Hourigan, are trained by Murphy. During one of Faulkner's fever spells, Hourigan substitutes Faulkner's medication with LSD tablets causing hallucinations. After the training is finished, Hourigan taunts Murphy about an

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

ambush he participated in. Murphy shoots Hourigan dead, putting Haddad in a dilemma over Kathy's safety. Haddad enlists his final team members, Arab businessman Mustapha El Ali and his employees, to take a couple of minor parts in the rescue. To appease Stroebling, Haddad offers Michael as extra insurance. Haddad must rescue Michael and Kathy from the clutches of Stroebling. Michael creates a diversion for him and Kathy to escape but is killed during the struggle when the guard retrieves his handgun and shoots him. Moments later Haddad kills the guards and rescues Kathy. The plan goes ahead as scheduled but Pierre is killed in the staged accident. Hess is sedated with an anaesthetic, switched with the look-alike corpse from the other ambulance and placed into a waiting jeep. At the rendezvous point at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Reed-Henry tries to intercept Hess, but discovers that he has been duped into killing Stroebling disguised as a guard. Kathy, Haddad and Faulkner take a drugged Hess to and from a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

game. Together with the Austrian fans, they travel to an East German airport to flee to Vienna. They succeed by killing a curious East German customs officer. Reed-Henry confesses to his Russian superiors that Hess has escaped with his rescuers and is nowhere to be found. He accepts execution by being shot with his own pistol. ;Epilogue Haddad, and Kathy and Faulkner take Hess to a hotel in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He overhears Kathy talking on the phone to McCann about the rescue and Michael's death. Hess, knowing that he is being exploited, tells Kathy, Haddad and Faulkner that he has no desire to be a part of modern society. He has regrets about the millions of deaths. Haddad and Faulkner try to talk him into accepting his freedom, but he insists on going back to Spandau to live out the rest of his life. The following day Haddad, Kathy and Faulkner take Hess to the

French embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of France, excluding honorary consulates. France's permanent representation abroad began in the reign of Francis I, when in 1522 he sent a delegation to the Swiss. Despite its reduced presence following decol ...

where he turns himself in. An article of a newspaper in the following days tells a story about a false rumour of Hess's escape.

Cast

Scott Glenn Theodore Scott Glenn (born January 26) is an American actor. His roles have included Pfc Glenn Kelly in ''Nashville'' (1975), Wes Hightower in ''Urban Cowboy'' (1980), astronaut Alan Shepard in '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), Emmett in '' Silverado'' ...

- John Haddad *

Barbara Carrera Barbara Carrera (born Barbara Kingsbury) is an American actress, model and artist. She starred in the films ''The Master Gunfighter'' (1975), ''Embryo'' (1976), '' The Island of Dr. Moreau'' (1977), ''Condorman'' (1981), ''I, the Jury'' (1982) a ...

- Kathy Lukas * Edward Fox - Alex Faulkner *

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

- Rudolf Hess * Robert Webber - Robert McCann *

Kenneth Haigh Kenneth William Michael Haigh (25 March 1931 – 4 February 2018) was an English actor. He first came to public recognition for playing the role of Jimmy Porter in the play ''Look Back in Anger'' in 1956 opposite Mary Ure in London's West End ...

- Colonel Reed-Henry * Stratford Johns - Mustapha El Ali *

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. He was most recently the assi ...

- Michael Lukas *

Robert Freitag Robert Peter Freytag (7 April 1916 in Vienna – 8 July 2010 in Munich), known professionally as Robert Freitag, was an Austrian-Swiss stage and screen actor and film director. Life Freitag was the son of the Swiss opera singer Otto Freitag (Ott ...

- Karl Stroebling *

Ingrid Pitt Ingrid Pitt (born Ingoushka Petrov; 21 November 193723 November 2010) was a Polish-British actress and writer best known for her work in horror films of the 1970s. Early life Ingoushka Petrov was born in Warsaw, Poland, one of two daughters ...

- Hooker * Patrick Stewart - Russian general *

Paul Antrim Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

- RSM. Murphy * Derek Thompson - Patrick Hourigan *

Michael N. Harbour Michael Ninian Harbour (4 July 1945 – 9 April 2009) was a British actor. In a career spanning forty years from 1969 until his death, he took on roles in television programmes such as ''The Line of Beauty'', '' Heartbeat'', ''Casualty'', ...

- Ilya, KGB man * David Lumsden - Joseph *

Malcolm Jamieson Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to: People * Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Clan Malcolm * Maol Choluim de Innerpeffray, 14th-century bishop-elect of Dunkeld Nobility * Máel C ...

- Pierre * Billy Boyle - Devenish * Richard Burton - Allen Faulkner (archive footage) * Richard Harris - Rafer Janders (archive footage) * Winston Ntshona - Julius Limbani (archive footage) *

Brook Williams Brook Richard Williams (22 January 1938 – 29 April 2005) was a British stage actor who also made numerous film and television appearances in small roles. Biography His father was the Welsh playwright and actor Emlyn Williams. His older broth ...

- Private Samuels (archive footage) * Glyn Baker - Private Esposito (archive footage)

Production

The original film had not been particularly popular in the US but performed better around the world. In April 1984 Richard Burton and Scott Glenn were announced as stars.

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...

was asked to reprise his role from the first film, but did not like the sequel's script. Lewis Collins claimed he was originally signed to play Haddad due to a contract with producer Euan Lloyd but the role went to the American

. Burton said after making the film he intended "to retire again for at least six months." In August 1984, a week before filming was to begin, Burton died of a heart attack at his home in Geneva. Producer Euan Lloyd had just visited him. "He looked tan and healthy and had just passed his physical examination for the film after a nice holiday in Switzerland," Lloyd said. Burton was replaced by Edward Fox. In January 1985, Thorn EMI announced they had split the cost of a five-picture £38 million slate of films they had made, including ''Dream Child'', ''A Passage to India'', ''Morons from Outer Space'', ''The Holcroft Covenant'' and ''Wild Geese 2''. The film opens with a dedication to the previous film's lead actor Richard Burton, followed by a brief summary of that film. Then-77-year-old

, who portrayed

, was in poor health during filming requiring a nurse to accompany him during production. He was also beginning to suffer with memory problems. Edward Fox recalled him labouring for hours on his one long speech.

, who acted in the film but didn't have any scenes with him, did have dinner with Olivier during the production and described him as "very old and frail by this time but very gallant". Hess’s son

Wolf Rudiger Hess The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

said afterwards that Olivier’s likeness of his father was "uncannily accurate". Patrick Stewart appears in a small role as a Russian general. By his own admission, he only took the role to pay for much needed home repairs. He felt his appearance was the biggest embarrassment of his career.Archived a
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Notes

External links

* * * * *
Patrick Stewart talks about ''Wild Geese II''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild Geese Ii 1985 films British action adventure films 1985 action thriller films British action thriller films Films set in Berlin Films set in London Films set in Vienna Films directed by Peter R. Hunt Films with screenplays by Reginald Rose Films scored by Roy Budd Films shot in Berlin Films set in 1977 Films set in 1982 EMI Films films Australian action adventure films Films set in East Germany Films set in West Germany 1980s English-language films 1980s British films