MIMSY FARMER AND LEE VAN CLEEF IN 'CODE NAME: WILD GEESE'

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese (Geheimcode Wildgänse) Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2

There's a pivotal sequence in Antonio Margheriti's CODE NAME: WILD GEESE where a group of mercenaries... including British tough guy Lewis Collins, German tough guy Manfred Lehmann and Spaghetti Western legend Lee Van Cleef... are inside of a helicopter, and pilot Van Cleef says it will take a few minutes for the copter to lift...

Occurring after having already taken over an outpost, and, while waiting for liftoff, there's no impending enemy gunfire... making WILD GEESE the kind of Italian war-flick with tons of flying bullets but very little urgency or suspense...

Lee Van Cleef, Mimsy Farmer, Rene Abadeza and Manfred Lehmann in Code Name: Wild Geese

Then again it's not supposed to be a thriller... but more like one of those war-movie-buff wish-fulfillment espionage adventures that aren't expected to be taken very seriously, and yet the actors and their characters are actually pretty decent...

As in decently pretty when it comes to slightly-aged American-born European-scream-queen Mimsy Farmer as a rescued track-marked hostage, as tough as the men including two more Germans (it's an Italian/West German production) and scene-stealing native tracker Rene Abadeza, who could have had his own Asian-backed action flick...

Klaus Kinski in Code Name: Wild Geese

Just don't expect much from the biggest names in screen legend Ernest Borgnine, basically sitting behind a desk spouting exposition to the usually-shady (and horribly dubbed) German-playing-British Klaus Kinski...

The latter making up for downtime as the machine-gun wielding 11th hour menace, turning otherwise slow-burn monosyllabic Lewis Collins into a more genuinely cinematic hands-on hero...

From CODE NAME: WILD GEESE

As the plot's very simple: our soldier/agents have to blow up opium sold by a greedy general in what's supposed to be Southeast Asia's drug-riddled Golden Triangle...

The cities are filmed in Hong Kong and, like lesser-budgeted exploitation flicks from the previous decade, the jungle exteriors are in the Philippines: making CODE NAME: WILD GEESE slightly better than Roger Corman's Asian imports yet paling to the likes of RAMBO or hell, even (a bit later on) STRIKE COMMANDO.

Lee Van Cleef, Mimsy Farmer, Klaus Kinski, Ernest Borgnine, Lewis Colllins and Manfred Lehmann in Code Name: Wild Geese

Lee Van Cleef in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Bruce Baron in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Lewis Collins and Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Lee Van Cleef, Mimsy Farmer and Manfred Lehmann in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer, Rene Abadeza and Lewis Collins and Luciano Pigozzi  in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer, Lewis Collins and Manfred Lehmann in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Ernest Borgine in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer and Luciano Pigozzi  in Code Name: Wild Geese

Rene Abadeza and Lewis Collins in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer and Lee Van Cleef in Code Name: Wild Geese with Manfred Lehmann

Rene Abadeza and Lewis Collins in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer and Lee Van Cleef in Code Name: Wild Geese

Frank Glaubrecht and Manfred Lehmann in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer and Lee Van Cleef in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Klaus Kinski in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese with Lewis Collins

Mimsy Farmer and Lee Van Cleef in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer and Lee Van Cleef in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer and Lee Van Cleef in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer and Lee Van Cleef in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer and Lee Van Cleef in Code Name: Wild Geese with Lewis Collins

Bruce Baron in Code Name: Wild Geese with Lewis Collins

Ernest Borgnine in Code Name: Wild Geese with Lewis Collins

Mimsy Farmer and Ernest Borgnine in Code Name: Wild Geese with Lewis Collins

Mimsy Farmer and Ernest Borgnine in Code Name: Wild Geese with Lewis Collins

Lee Van Cleef, Mimsy Farmer, Rene Abadeza and Lewis Collins in Code Name: Wild Geese

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese