The Sea Wolves (1981)

This movie warrants a technical 3/10 but for the many ways it ends up being intriguing and funny for all the wrong reasons, and the way it is all carried along by a briskly-paced direction. The clumsy misogyny of Roger Moore's character, the tendency of the all-too-obvious Mata Hari type person to corpse when Roger delivers his lines, and so many other things worth a chuckle. Gregory Peck attempting an English accent is a hoot. The movie's alleged basis in fact is interesting as the story has an archetypal oddball-Brits-pull-it-off-again feel. However there is no missing that dialogue is pitiful, the relationships implausible - both brotherly and romantic. The smutty banter is straight out of Carry On film tradition. There's so little to feed the mind on the menu with no real historical context, and a meagre helping of just a few very thin back stories. So to get the best of this film, do adjust your expectations and take this quirky offering lightly, and in good humour and to best enjoy the ride.

A great film, some of the best actors from the 60s and 70s all together in a well shot, well directed movie. Gregory Peck, David Niven, Patrick Macnee, Trevor Howard, and not forgetting Roger Moore to name just a few of the many great actors in this film. This slightly elderly cast is a delight to watch, not just a tribute to this true story, but to the actors themselves who have brought us so many great movies. I Have watched this movie many times now, and I never get bored. And why would I, it has the delightful Barbara Kellerman as Mrs Cromwell, this was a really good choice, I cant imagine anyone playing this part better. Finally RoyBudds soundtrack, cleverly blended around the fantastic Warsaw Concerto (possibly one of the most exciting pieces of music ever written) gives the film great atmosphere, and feeling especially the scenes with the cunning and ruthless Mrs Cromwell.

It's one of those very British war/adventure flicks. This one is based on a true story actually. It's a bit of an oddity to find something like this in 1980. I mean you have STAR WARS, INDY, and... ummm... this. It has a distinct 50s or 60s feel to it. It has that GUNS OF NAVARONE feel (in no small part because Peck and Niven are on board) but with what looks like half the budget. And basically all the heroes here are old enough to be collecting social security checks. And yet despite all these oddities and quibbles it somehow feels like a comfortable pair of old shoes. You got stalwarts like Peck, Niven, good ol' Roger Moore (in between his MOONRAKER and FOR YOUR EYES ONLY 007 period), Trevor Howard, Patrick Macnee, etc. It's a boys adventure (errr... old men adventure) and doesn't really offer anything new. No real surprises or twists or really suspenseful moments here. And yet it's like an old friend that you can always appreciate. Not a great film (not even as good as THE WILD GEESE) but good enough to kick back and enjoy on a boring night. About on par with FFOLKES (also with Rog Moore) which came out the same year. Also funny to see 70s fashion in a film which is supposed to be set during WWII. Oops.

True WWII story about a commando-style mission undertaken by a group of middle-age semi-retired British Cavalrymen in 1943 . The crew of veteran saboteurs (most of them formed by veteran actors as Trevor Howard , Patrick Mcnee ,Morgan Sheppard , Terence Longdon and several more besides ) commanded by Gregory Peck and David Niven are assigned the dangerous operation by the general (Kenneth Griffith) to blow up a German ship called Ehrenfels that carries a radio station located in the port of Marmagoa . They must destroy a transmitter in Goa , a Portuguese colony and neutral territory . As the end credits of this movie state , "during the first 11 days of March 1943, U-boats sank 12 Allied ships in the Indian Ocean , after the Light Horse raid on Goa, only one ship was lost in the remainder of the month¨. The film is dedicated to the memory of the honorary colonel of the Calcutta Light Horse , Admiral of the Fleet the Earl Mountbatten of Burma , K.G. 1900-1979 . The producers wish to thank the Government of India and Administration and peoples of Goa and to pay tribute to commander B.S. Davies whose skill and courage at the helm of ¨Phoebe¨ contributed so much to the success of the mission . There are not the ¨Sea Wolves ¨of the title also called ¨Wolf pack¨ , that refers to the Nazi U-boats that are doing the shipwrecked and damage on the Allied fleet.This exciting film contains intrigue , suspense , noisy action scenes ,fascinating battles and an enjoyable love story with treason and tragedy between Roger Moore and Barbara Kellerman who results to be the main fascination of the film . Other chief excitements about the movie, will be in the intervention of famous British secondaries who realize professionally competent interpretations , some of them with no more than a line or two to say as Allan Cuthberson ,Patrick Allen , Donald Houston , Jack Watson , Grahame Stark , John Standing , Percy Herbert and several others . Vibrant and rousing musical score by Roy Budd with agreeable final song titled ¨The precious moment¨ sung by the usual Matt Monroe . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Tony Imi . The picture finely directed by Andrew V. McLagen is based on the book ¨Boarding party¨ by James Leasor who took actual events for his writing , these are the following : On reserve since the Boer War, they are most noted for their attack with members of the Calcutta Scottish against the German ship, Ehrenfels. The operation was organized by SOE's India Mission. It was kept covert, to avoid the political ramifications of contravening Portuguese neutrality in Goa, and was not revealed until thirty-five years afterwards, in 1978. The Ehrenfels was known to be transmitting information on Allied ship movements to U-boats from Mormugao Harbour in Portugal's neutral territory of Goa on 9 March 1943.The Light Horse embarked on the barge Phoebe at Calcutta and sailed around India to Goa. After the Ehrenfels erupted in a fireball and was sunk by the team of British saboteurs, British intelligence dispatched an open message over the wire falsely warning that they would invade Goa. The crews of the other two German ships in the Harbour, the Drachenfels and Braunfels, received the message and scuttled their ships in Goa's Harbour in the belief that they were protecting their ships from capture by the British. Italian ships in the Harbour were also destroyed. In 1951 all three ships were salvaged.