The Sea Wolves (1981)

the audience applauded

Just what I expected

Good concept, poorly executed.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

1943 and those dastardly Nazis are sinking allied ships in the Indian Ocean and the British Special Operations Executive have to destroy the Nazi transmitter in the neutral state of Goa Supposedly based on a true story of derring do there's a good story in here somewhere but it never seems to take off . From the outset we're treated to some very clumsy story exposition where characters constantly refer to events and organisations that they'd know all about . You'd think these characters were appearing in a film or something and by being constantly reminded that it is a film you're constantly taken out of it . By having Roger Moore in the starring role you'll be reminded that he's a rubbish actor and a rubbish Bond and THE SEA WOLVES does feel like a sub par Bond movie Another noticeable thing is the crowd scenes where everyone wears present day clothes , well present for the late 1970s where the height of fashion is flared blue denim jeans and a colour clashing T-shirt . Distracting isn't a strong enough adjective and to get around this the director starts shooting in medium close up which is no less distracting and having to use a deserted beach as an establishing shot . If you've ever been to India you'll know that the Swastika is plastered everywhere so perhaps he deserves some credit for shooting a location scene where it doesn't feature THE SEA WOLVES is a well meaning film centered around a true life story featuring some old sweats taking the fight to the Nazis during the war but both the protagonists and the audience deserved much better

..."We all do." No I'm not talking about "The Expendables 2", but actually from the film this bit of dialogue was actually stolen from; the 1980 boy's own adventure "The Sea Wolves". A classy, star-studded cast (Gregory Peck, Roger Moore, David Niven, Patrick MacNee, Trevor Howard, Kenneth Griffith and Patrick Allen) features in this rather dull, if big-scale old-fashion war-spy adventure of old men (pretending to be drunk businessmen who shower themselves in alcohol while parting on a clunker of boat) in exotic locations (in neutral Goa) dealing with Nazi radio ships who were involved in the sinking of allied ships. For most part even with its clowning nature and inspired plot threads these true World War 2 exploits come across as colourless and tired, just like its stars. The lead-up reconnaissance groundwork by Peck and Moore's characters can somewhat meander. The cast become distractions. Peck is simply going through the motions, Moore does his casual Bond shtick (being enticed by the lovely Barbara Kellerman) and MacNee enjoys standing on his head. Andrew V McLaglen's handling of the action is competent and there's a plethora of it, but simply it lacks the thrills and energy to sustain its long-winding length. McLaglen also did the similar, if much more exciting "Wild Geese".Sturdy, but mechanical entertainment.

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.

Pretty much a period piece when it came out -- not the content, but the style of movie-making itself -- 'The Sea Wolves' is another of those examples of cinematic abuse that make the viewing of the results so disappointing an experience.A re-tread of just about any and every Brave Brits / Nasty Nazis war movie churned out by UK studios large and small in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, the surprise here is that production occurred in 1979 / 1980 rather than 30 years earlier.What's no surprise, however, is the degree of self-indulgence that infuses efforts like this, i.e., take a true-life story, promote your wares on the back of it. . . but change almost everything in it to fit box office conventions of the day.Appealingly lethargic at its outset, where the script certainly does map something of the genesis of the Ehrenfals raid, things then rapidly fall apart with the introduction of Roger Moore in a dinner jacket chatting up a villainess in a casino. Obviously nothing of the kind ever happened, and had this been but a minor diversion it may be easily overlooked. However, as the Spy Who Loved Me bit accounts for at least a third of the over-long film, it can't be ignored.If this inept fiction -- and inept it most certainly is -- doesn't do for Seawolves, then the finale certainly does: writer and director presumably got together and said ah, well, better have a shoot-out here, as if it's the OK Corral they're chronicling rather than a mission to disable a German ship.Thus it is that several scenes which never occurred in reality unfold with hilarious unreality: never have so many True Brits been shot in the arm, or missed at point blank range, than here, nor have so many really Bad, Bad Germans been mown down only to sneakily turn over after dropping dead and shooting back.It's rubbish, and annoying rubbish at that.But where Seawolves truly irks is its sustained deceit to be drama-doc rather than popular fiction. The facts are that the boarding party was detected as soon as it set foot on the vessel and the crew, thinking it was a regular Brit military operation, immediately set off charges pre-installed in the hold and engine room so as to scuttle the Ehrenfals and prevent her from falling into Allied hands.The ship was in no more than 80 foot of water so sank quickly and obligingly to the bottom, almost dragging the Phoebe with her. There was no gun battle, no hand to hand fighting, and despite SOE's ludicrous claim to have subsequently fooled the Germans into sinking the other two vessels by sending some kind of phony wireless message, the truth is that once the Ehrenfals had gone down, the crews of the other two vessels likewise scuttled theirs.Ends.Of course, the ordinary, middle-aged (and older) folks who actually participated in the raid weren't to know that. This motley bunch of solicitors, managers, accountants, jute growers, export clerks and retirees left their homes, their jobs, and their families to freely embark on a venture that could have claimed the lives of every one of them. That took guts. Real, genuine, shining courage.Seawolves, of course, has no grasp of this kind of truth, so makes no salute to it. Instead, there's one cliché after another, strung together on the pretext that, somehow, This Is How It Was.When it wasn't.Worthy of 1 out of 10 on release (for its location photography) it's today worth 4 out of 10 for the screen presence of Trevor Howard, David Niven and Gregory Peck. Sadly, we'll not see their like again. Rather more happily though, we're unlikely to see anything as embarrassingly bad as Seawolves again, either.