The Sea Wolves (1981)

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

A Masterpiece!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Sea Wolves with is star filled cast must have been a bit like the Sly Stallone led ensemble Expendables back when it was released.The splendid David Niven, the reliable Gregory Peck (Yes even with that accent) join the then current James Bond, Roger Moore lead a bunch of military vets on a dangerous mission.It tells the true WW2 story . The British must attack a German ship, that is saw in neutral waters. So the send ex soldiers who are now civilians and over 60 yeas old. The trouble with "The Sea Wolves" is that whilst the story itself is a very good one, and the cast is as good it is often shockingly slow. To the point of boredom at times, but also incredibly cheesy as it tries to inject a bit of humour (Moore's trademark as Bond) into this daring tale of veterans trying to sabotage German boats. Suddenly it ends up struggling to be average.My main problem wit this movie was Moore! I'm not sure his character is meant to be as funny as he seems. He dresses in tuxedo's, gambles in casino's, seduces women and is able to knock men unconscious with a single punch (all Bond trademarks) I suppose if you love his Bond you'll like it. But some of it is so ludicrous I wondered whether it was originally conceived as a spoof comedy.I have given this 5 stars for Niven and Peck, the action a scenes at the end and for the real heroes who this story is based on.Moore actually saved spoofing Bond for his next movie, the Burt Reynolds led ensemble Cannonball Run.

The basic story is great and could have made an exciting film, but this is rather an inept production. I have never seen a greater gallery of distinguished British male actors in one film, but most of them are given very little to do. The only one to distinguish himself with his material is that underrated actor Patrick Allen. Unfortunately he's not on the screen for very long. Peck struggles to be a Brit, Niven is better but looking pretty awful at this stage of his life, Roger Moore is..well..Roger Moore which is just lovely but his stuff with the female spy is extraneous to the story and contributes to the film dragging out and becoming rather boring. It's the sort of film where you get up, go to the kitchen and make a cup of tea at any stage without worrying about what you're missing on screen. Overall there is a lack of quality and authenticity, and some aspects (eg the music, the special effects and the credits) are quite painful. The critical eye was clearly lacking in most facets of this production.

..."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.

Yep, it's another of those trans-generation pot-boilers like 'Cassandra Crossing' and 'Shout At The Devil', enabling a group of superannuated movie grandees to top-up their pension-funds whilst the new generation graduates from drama class.Although loosely based upon a true story, it hardly does the heroes credit. Gregory Peck leads a creaking cast containing Roger Moore (never a good sign), David Niven and many others in such a pedestrian actioner that there are times when it almost needs a Zimmer frame.It's a raid on some German merchant ships interned in Goa harbour. One of them is transmitting intelligence to submarines. Somehow it accomplishes this task without an aerial. That's about it. We only ever see one ship. After attaching external limpet-mines with timers, for some reason they have to board them (it) as well. Quite why is unclear, but it provides a hammy firefight or two. Tension is at best Luke-warm. The script is pretty unimaginative. Directing is by numbers. And as to camera-work - most tourists could match its ingenuity with their holiday films.Directing is the key. All of the leads know how to act. We've seen Peck and Niven working well together in the similar 'Guns Of Navarone'. Yet despite this movie being almost 20-years more recent, it doesn't pack in a fraction of the pace and tension. Old geezers don't need to be, or portrayed as, laughable old duffers. That's patronising and stereotypic. Just check-out Big Larry's Dr Zell in 'Marathon Man'. Serious and scary, or what? And couldn't they have found a couple of genuine old freighters ready for scrap and made some authentic bangs and sinkings? Apparently not; they had to raid someone's Airfix collection with fireworks. There's plenty of good Boys Own actioners out there that are really worth your time and attention. This one isn't.